Merely days after Tablighi Jamaat fiasco broke out in the Nizamuddin area of the national capital, when it was discovered that 8,000 Islamic preachers had gathered at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid last month, fresh trouble has been reported- this time in what can be described as cross-border Corona terrorism.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a Central Armed Police Force charged with guarding the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan Borders, has revealed a big plot to spread Coronavirus in India via the Indo-Nepal Border.
The intelligence wing of the SSB wrote a letter to the District Magistrate of the West Champaran district in Bihar, in which it stated that there is an input about suspected Corona positive Indian Muslim Nationals from Nepal to India.
The letter written by the SSB to West Champaran District Magistrate goes on to read, “Input received from very reliable sources that one person named Jalim Mukhiya, resident of Jagannathpur under Serwa police station in Parsa district in Nepal, is planning to spread Corona pandemic in India.”
Jamil Mukhiya is a smuggler and illegal arms trader, involved in smuggling of arms and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) from Nepal to India, and now he has taken the responsibility for pushing the possible Coronavirus suspects into India.
The SSB has also disclosed a Pakistani angle behind the sinister conspiracy to infiltrate India with Coronavirus-inflicted patients. It stated, “As per sources, around 200 Indian Muslim nationals (working in Muslim countries) along with five to six Pakistani nationals have arrived in Nepal via Kathmandu and presently residing in mosque/ madarsas at villages Chandanbasra and Khairwa in Nepal.”
The letter that was written on April 3 had further alerted that 40-50 Indian Muslim nationals working in other countries would arrive in the landlocked Himalayan country of Nepal on April 4 and more in the coming days.
The letter also revealed how the Coronavirus suspects might try to hide their symptoms, and stated, “As per sources these nationals were consuming paracetamol tablets for lowering temperature on the way and they may be corona positive.”
Meanwhile, Bihar Additional Chief Secretary (Home) said, “SSB did not say people have infiltrated from Nepal, they have only stated that there is a possibility. We have alerted police and Union Home Ministry has been informed. Nobody will be allowed to enter from our borders.”
Moreover, Bihar Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey has made it clear that vigil has been tightened along the Indo-Nepal Border and that the Bihar Police is working in close cooperation with the SSB in order to block any infiltration attempts.
What however makes the situation quite anxious is the fact that many of those who had attended the fateful Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi that has caused a surge in Coronavirus cases across the country, had later visited Bihar, and might have even travelled to Nepal. Maybe, the Tablighi Jamaat attendees are now trying to travel back into India.
India shares a porous border with Nepal, which is why terrorists often prefer fleeing into Nepal in order to evade the Indian enforcement agencies. Several dreaded terrorists such as Abdul Karim Tunda, among top 20 most wanted terrorists in India involved in 40 bomb blasts was arrested from the Indo-Nepal Border.
Even Indian Mujahideen (IM) Co-founder, Yasin Bhatkal, one of India’s most wanted terrorists who had claimed more than 140 lives was also arrested from Pokhra, a tourist hub in Nepal which is merely 10 kilometres away from India.
And for that matter even Ariz Khan, a terrorist who had fled during the Batla House encounter in Delhi too had been arrested from Uttarakhand’s Banbasa near the Indo-Nepal Border a couple of years ago.
He had even acquired a Nepali Citizenship card and a passport under the name “Mohammed Salim”, and had crossed back into India in order to revive the Indian Mujahideen.
As the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh Borders remain tightly fenced and closely guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF), it is the Indo-Nepal Border which has emerged as the hotbed of all illegal and anti-national activities such as Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) smuggling, illegal arms trade and even ISI-led terrorist activities.
This is the reason why terrorists love fleeing into Nepal every time they want to evade the Indian authorities. Madrasas have come up in Nepal close to the Indian Border which are believed to be funded by the Gulf- Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which gives rise to radicalism in the Indo-Nepal bordering areas.
Madrasas have mushroomed on both sides of the border, and those in Nepal also serve as ISI hubs- a reason why the Indo-Nepal Border has emerged as the hub of ISI-related activities.
A 2018 US report titled, “Country Report on Terrorism 2018” even labelled Nepal as the biggest Indian Mujahideen (IM) hub and also mentioned how the porous Indo-Nepal Border could lead to terror attacks in India.
To add up to the IM and ISI hubs in the Himalayan nation, the Indo-Nepal Border has for long been infamous as a den of smuggling and illegal trade. These illegal traders like Jamil Mukhiya could be facilitating the movement of terrorists and now that we are facing the Coronavirus Pandemic- the Corona positive patients.
We are already battling the scourge of Corona Jihad from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and Assam to Maharashtra, and now it seems that we must gear up for the next challenge cross-border Corona terrorism via the Nepal Border.