NATIONAL 4 - (Spotlight Weekly)

Bordering on Security

Extended meeting between senior officials end on an inconclusive note, but leaves observers free to draw varying conclusions.

By BHAGIRATH YOGI

It was a routine type of press communique. "During the JWG meeting, the two sides reiterated their determination not to permit the use of their respective territories for activities

directed against the other. They reviewed developments since the last meeting of the JWG and had a useful exchange of views on modalities for more effective management and regulation of the Nepal-India border. They agreed to strengthen co-operation to control undesirable activities and the movement of terrorists, criminals and other undesirable elements across the border. It was reiterated that the privilege of unimpeded access across the open border enjoyed by the nationals of the two countries should not allowed to be misused by anyone, including third country nationals. Discussions on these issues would continue."

This was all the Nepalese and the Indian governments had to say at the end of an extended meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on border management, in Kathmandu, last week. Going by the joint press release, it is obvious that the two countries did not reach at any agreement on regulating or managing the so-called porous borders.

Border Area : Controversial

Both Nepalese and the Indian officials said that they have nothing to add to what the joint press release says. Neither the Special Secretary in the Foreign Ministry and the leader of the Nepalese delegation, Narayan Shumsher Thapa, nor his counterpart in the Indian Home Ministry, M. B. Kaushal, would comment on the details of the three-day talk, which later went into the fourth morning.

Before the meeting started, there were speculations in political circle that India was trying to impress upon Nepal to permit its security staff in Nepal, especially in the wake of the New Delhi-bound hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane in December, this year.

The Indian embassy in Kathmandu was swift to reject such speculations, but newspaper reports continue to speculate that the two countries have agreed on some sort of arrangement to allow Indiaís security personnel in one guise or the other to operate in Kathmandu.

Strangely, however, neither side has taken pains to deny the reports attributed to unnamed sources. "The resultant confusion," warns a professor of political science at the Tribhuvan University, "can vitiate the atmosphere of goodwill and understanding between the two traditionally friendly neighbours. Reluctance on the part of the officials to divulge what really transpired in the keenly watched meeting can only help those who are bent on sowing seeds of suspicion and mistrust between the people of the two countries," he added.

The joint working groupís Kathmandu meeting was important for more than one reason. The meeting was the third in four years. It was not held for the last two years. Recent developments had added further importance to the meeting.

As the joint press release says, the two sides "reviewed developments since the last meeting." An important development that has taken place after the last meeting was the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane. India believes the hijacking to have been master-minded by Pakistan. Bolstered by this belief India has intensified allegations that Pakistani-backed elements have been misusing the open borders between Nepal and India ìto export terrorism to India."

Against this background, it is interesting to note that the two countries "reiterated that the privilege of unimpeded access across the open border enjoyed by the nationals of the two countries should not be allowed to be misused by anyone, including third country nationals."

Coming as it did close on the heels of heightened concern in New Delhi over threat to its security from across the 1751 kilometres border with Nepal, the meeting did generate a lot of interest in Kathmandu. That the meeting went into an extra day also was indicative of the importance it carried.

But by choosing to keep the details of the deliberations within the corridors of Shital Niwas in Kathmandu and the North Block in Delhi, the Nepalese and the Indian official have failed in a crucially important area which could have gone a long way in ensuring the security of both countries. That area is: mutual trust and confidence at the people's level.