“A new terror trail leads to Nepal”

By Vishwa Mohan,
Sunday,m Feb 12, ’06

Online at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1411056.cms

NEW DELHI: The rising number of Islamic institutions in some Nepal districts on the border with this country is giving Indian forces sleepless nights.

According to latest estimates, as many as 73 out of 820 such institutions in Nepal have links with anti-India elements involved in pushing terrorists, along with arms and ammunition, into India through a 200-km unguarded gap.

These revelations are part of a recent report by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the paramilitary force guarding Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders.

It has clearly pointed out that the bordering districts of Nepal have become a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism as the 73 identified madrassas are giving them shelter and helping them financially.

It has identified a 10-km stretch inside Nepal, which has witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of madrassas and mosques in the past seven years.

Though the report, submitted to the home ministry, is tightlipped about the activities of mosques and madrassas on the Indian side, it spoke at length about their proliferation in two districts of Uttar Pradesh and three districts of Bihar.

It mentions that the Indian side has witnessed setting up of 1,172 mosques, 810 madrassas and 383 mosque-cum-madrassas along the border in the past decade.

The SSB’s concern is reflected in the fact that it gave a detailed account as to how such institutions were being used by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI.

The para-military force said managers of the madrassas and the ulema had close links with the Pakistan embassy in Kathmandu and got financial assistance through Islamic Development Bank (Jeddah) and Habib Bank of Pakistan.

It also mentioned how Habib Bank has expanded its network in the border areas, including Biratnagar and Krishna Nagar in Nepal.

An official clarified that there was nothing wrong in the proliferation of such institutions provided they maintained their sanctity by not allowing fundamentalists to misuse them.

India had raised its concerns through diplomatic channels as well, following reports of misuse of madrassas by ISI for making them as its bases to accumulate arms and ammunition and provide training to terrorists before pushing them into Indian territory, he said.

The report has identified Bardia, Kapilvastu, Nawalparsi, Parsa, Bara and Saptari in Nepal and Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Araria, Madhubani and Kishanganj in India as vulnerable districts where fundamentalists, operating from madrassas across the border, have found their sympathisers.