US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI5814

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 005814 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PGOV, PBTS, IN, NP, India-Nepal 
SUBJECT: INDIA AND NEPAL TO TEST BORDER CONTROLS 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: India and Nepal have agreed to a pilot 
program to check documents at only one border crossing as an 
experiment in increasing security along the 1,750 km open 
border.  MEA officials downplayed the significance of the 
decision with us, pointing out that any substantial control 
over movement across the border would take years to effect. 
However, the open Nepal border is an increasing concern to 
security forces who worry that Indian and Nepal-based Maoists 
and naxalites have been assisting each other and that 
Pakistan-supported terrorists have been entering India 
through Nepal.  Steps toward restricting movement would 
increase the GOI's sense of security regarding the Maoist 
insurgency next door, but the border is vast and softer than 
the US-Canada border.  End Summary. 
 
One Border Control Post for Now 
------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U) The "Indian Express" reported on July 26 that the 
MEA, Home Ministry, and Indian security forces had decided to 
open a pilot border control post on the main 
Lucknow-Kathmandu road at Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh state 
(corresponding to Nepalganj in Nepal) starting in November. 
Although the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship 
mandates unrestricted border crossing for Nepalese and Indian 
citizens, the governments have the right to inspect documents 
to verify that persons crossing the border are in fact of 
those nationalities.  Citizens of both nations will be able 
to present a variety of national, state and local 
government-issued identity cards to verify nationality.  At 
present, no border control posts exist, and persons of any 
nationality are able to cross without inspection. 
 
3.  (SBU) MEA Under Secretary (Nepal) Manu Mahawar told 
Poloff on July 26 that the decision to implement the pilot 
program had been in the works for "years," noting that this 
project is a joint effort with the Government of Nepal.  He 
denied that concerns about Maoists had motivated the 
decision, but pointed out that the governments of India and 
Nepal always had the right to verify the nationality of 
travelers, and that this project would serve as a 
data-gathering exercise to study the feasibility of an 
extension to the whole border.  In any case, he noted, 
imposing border controls along the entire 1,750 km long 
border would take years. 
 
Comment: A Feel-good Measure Only 
--------------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) Although this pilot program will not impact any 
person's ability to transit the long and open border, the GOI 
has been increasingly concerned about the products of Nepal's 
instability spilling over into bordering states, manifested 
both as Maoist linkages with Indian naxalites and as Nepalese 
refugees from the fighting.  The suspicion that 
Pakistan-supported terrorists also use Nepal as a transit 
route to enter India also fuels GOI worries.  The government 
has already announced plans to double the strength of the 
paramilitary force patrolling the border areas in an effort 
to interdict Maoist rebels, naxalites and terrorists, and 
this latest step, while small, adds to the trend of slowly 
transforming the long, open boundary into a bona fide 
international border. 
BLAKE