The government has picked up cross border crime as its main agenda for the dialogue, which in its second edition is going to take place in Kathmandu, informed sources at the Home Ministry. The home secretary level talks between the two countries had been initiated in 2007 with an understanding to host it every year. The talks, however, were not held last year.
A meeting at Home Ministry on Sunday has set agendas for the talks and forwarded them to Home Minister Bhim Rawal for final agreement. According to sources, Home Secretary Govinda Kusum will draw the attention of his Indian counterpart GK Pillai on a myriad of issues, including cross border criminal activities during the meeting.
“Nepal will urge the Indian side to comb out armed groups operating from hide-outs in India,” said a senior official. “Without demolishing their shelters in the Indian territory, lasting peace in the Tarai is almost impossible. “
The official said that Nepal will highlight its Special Security Plan (SSP) as a means to bolster border security and ask for India´s support to share its benefits.
The Home Minister had a few months ago identified 109 armed criminal groups in Nepal, mostly based on Tarai. However, senior officials claim that such groups far exceed that number as many of them time and again appear with political cover.
“We will address a host of issues including arms trafficking, drug smuggling and currency forgery under the cross border agenda,” the official said. He informed that Nepal will request India to apply special measures to control kidnappings and extortion, especially of the Nepali entrepreneurs from the bordering towns, by Indian groups.
The agreement to hold the home secretary level ´security talk´ was reached during Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s India visit. The date for the talks was later fixed during Indian home secretary GK Pillai´s Nepal visit.
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