Senior home ministry officials from Nepal and India will meet in Dehradun, India, on Thursday and Friday for talks on border management and a range of bilateral security concerns, amid heightened attention to security along the two countries’ open and porous border.

The 14th meeting of the India-Nepal Joint Working Group on Border Management comes in the wake of recent unrest and communal violence in Nepal’s Tarai-Madhesh region, which shares a long border with India.

Although Nepal’s security agencies have found no credible evidence of direct or indirect links between the unrest and individuals or groups operating from India, border security and other cross-border concerns are expected to feature prominently in the talks, a senior home ministry official told the Post.

“The discussions are expected to cover issues such as religious fundamentalism, the activities of third-country nationals who could potentially be involved in instigating unrest, and monitoring their movements,” said the official.

Anand Kafle, joint secretary at the home ministry who oversees the Security and Coordination Division, will lead the Nepali delegation at the two-day annual meeting.

The ministry officials say the agenda includes cross-border criminal activities, the entry and movement of third-country nationals, smuggling, drug trafficking from India into Nepal and illegal trade in arms and ammunition.

Circulation of counterfeit currency, information sharing between the security agencies of Nepal and India, border regulations, removal of encroachments in no-man’s land, and unauthorised trade are the other agenda.

Also on the agenda are Indian assistance to Nepali security agencies, information sharing, capacity building of Nepal’s security institutions, and Nepal’s request for India to recognise its national identity card as a valid travel document.

The two sides will also review decisions taken by lower-level security mechanisms involving chief district officers on the Nepali side and district magistrates on the Indian side, as well as the Armed Police Force and India’s Sashastra Seema Bal.

“Since 2010, we have discussed religious fundamentalism, the role of third-country nationals in instigating unrest, illegal border crossings and information sharing on related matters in every meeting. We expect similar discussions this time too,” the ministry official said.

“But we are not in a position to provide any concrete evidence to the Indian side that any group or individual was involved in instigating the unrest in the Tarai-Madhesh.”

Within Nepal’s security apparatus, however, there is some apprehension that certain individuals and groups operating in India and other third countries could have strong religious or other links that may have contributed to the recent unrest.

Issues concerning radical and religious fundamentalism, the activities of third-country nationals across the border and tightening border security have routinely featured in security meetings between the two countries, ranging from the home secretary level to meetings between chief district officers and district magistrates.

Nepal and India also have a permanent local-level mechanism, the Border District Coordination Committee (BDCC), to address security issues in border districts.

“In every security-related meeting, officials from both sides discuss the risks posed by third-country nationals, religious fundamentalism and radical elements, but we have hardly been able to do anything about them,” a former Nepal Police official said.

Some of the issues on the agenda are permanent, officials said. The meeting will also review progress made since the 13th meeting, held in Pokhara last year.

Since the Boundary Working Group and the Survey Officials Committee began meeting regularly, the mandate and work of these two boundary-related mechanisms have also occasionally featured in discussions.

In earlier meetings, officials discussed the repair and maintenance of border pillars, particularly in the absence of regular meetings of the two boundary-related mechanisms.

This time, too, officials are expected to discuss trans-border criminal activities; strengthening border infrastructure, particularly integrated check posts, roads and railway networks; empowerment and capacity building of various security-related institutions; and ways to strengthen cooperation in disaster risk reduction and management.