The eighth annual Nepal-India border security coordination meeting between the Armed Police Force of Nepal and Sashastra Seema Bal of India kicked off in Kathmandu on Saturday with security officials from both sides expressing concerns over the movement of third-country nationals through the Nepal-India border.

APF Inspector General Raju Aryal and Director General of the SSB Amrit Mohan Prasad lead the respective teams at the meeting that will conclude on Monday.

“They expressed concerns about the movement of the nationals of third countries and we also expressed similar concerns,” said a senior security official who attended the bilateral meeting. They agreed to watch the movement of third-country nationals across the border, according to the official.

“They [Indian officials] indicated the movement of Chinese and Pakistani nationals from our border and we also expressed concerns about the Rohingya refugees as well as Bangladeshi nationals who started coming to Nepal after the recent political turmoil in Bangladesh,” the official added.

Rishi Ram Tiwari, spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs, said, “We discussed a slew of issues related to boundary, border, human trafficking, checking cross-border criminal activities and coordination between the two agencies in border areas.”

The meeting has been held annually since 2012, except for disruptions caused by various problems including the Covid pandemic. The primary objective of the meeting is to discuss issues of mutual concern such as corruption, drug trafficking, customs evasion and smuggling as well as carrying out activities like joint patrolling of the border and maintenance of border pillars.

“We reviewed the work done in the past year and progress made on different fronts, as well as the challenges,” said Tiwari.

They stressed the need to take the ongoing coordination between the two agencies down to lower levels so that both sides can control cross-border crimes and other illicit activities.

All necessary works on the border will be carried out jointly, he said.

The APF has set up 244 outposts along Nepal’s border with India while India has over 400 posts. Both security agencies are repairing and maintaining boundary pillars, currently in Kalapani of Darchula and Susta of Nawalparasi West.

“Our major concerns are drug trafficking from the Indian side and smuggling of goods from India,” the security official said. “We are focusing on effective communication and timely information sharing between the two security agencies to combat this perennial crisis.”

In the meeting, officials are discussing matters like setting up ‘border tourist posts’ in order to manage the movement of people through better record-keeping, and desks at every security unit guarding the international border.

The Nepali side has also raised the matter of SSB personnel often illegally entering the Nepali territory and creating trouble for the people in bordering settlements.

Joint tackling of natural disasters; preparing manpower to respond to natural disasters affecting both sides of the border; and combating the business of drugs, alcohol and other substances are also on the agenda.

After failing to hold the meeting of the Boundary Working Group, both sides have now entrusted the APF and the SSB with maintaining and repairing boundary pillars.

Nepal and India have put up 8,553 boundary pillars while over 2,700 have gone missing but erecting new boundary markers and maintenance of the damaged ones is carried out simultaneously.

At the last meeting, both sides unanimously resolved to implement additional measures to strengthen coordination and collaboration between the two border forces. Emphasis was laid on curbing trans-border crimes, smuggling of arms and ammunition, as well as combating human trafficking along the open and porous Nepal-India border.

The help desks established by both the APF and the SSB at major transit points facilitate the movement of citizens, particularly during festive seasons, according to the SSB.

There was also consensus on expanding exchange programmes and exposure visits between the forces as part of mutual capacity-building, according to a statement issued after the last meeting.

The joint mechanism was established for better coordination between the two security agencies; to exchange critical information; curb trans-border crimes; share intelligence inputs in a timely manner; create a mechanism to combat trans-border crimes collaboratively; and facilitate timely sharing of information.