Open borders and smuggling
The Nepal-India open borders have remained a threat for both countries. The smuggling trade has flourished enormously in an organized manner. Nepal is facing a huge loss in customs revenue due to the smuggling of goods. It doesn’t mean that India is not facing such a loss. The recent gold smuggling investigation has exposed the involvement of senior political leaders in Nepal. This gold smuggling business is aimed at illegally exporting gold to India, taking advantage of the open borders. Gold smuggling is not a new practice but it is being conducted in an organized manner. Earlier, according to one retired senior bureaucrat, the then prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, had asked the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) official to open a channel for the smuggling of gold as he needed money to conduct general elections. Since then, the gold smuggling business has flourished in an organized manner. Whether it was the then home minister Bamdev Gautam or K.P. Oli, or, Pushpakamal Dahal and other senior leaders Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Nandakishor Pun, or Barshaman Pun, they were all associated with the gold smugglers.
At different times, special commissions were constituted to probe gold smuggling cases, but many of the reports have disappeared from the Prime Minister’s Office. Many times, only gold porters have been arrested, but who were the real owners of smuggled gold, were hidden as they had links with senior leaders.
All the above-mentioned leaders claim themselves to be comfortable with India, but they are found to betray India by encouraging gold smuggling. The final destination of the smuggled gold is India, as Nepal cannot consume such a large quantity. The Indian government cannot get revenue from gold imported via the smuggling route. In this way, the Indian government is also deceived.
We cannot say that the open borders are being used only for the smuggling of gold, other illegal items, including illegal drugs, are also being smuggled. Trafficking of fake Indian currency supplied to India and fake Nepali currency to Nepal has been experienced in the past. In the same way, the possibility that international terrorist groups may also enter India via Nepal and vice versa, and conduct destructive activities in India or Nepal cannot be ignored.
In conclusion, keeping borders open is not beneficial for both countries, Nepal and India. Why India is interested in keeping borders open is very surprising. Moreover, most Indian nationals or businessmen who migrated from India are found involved in the smuggling business. They are the real enemies of both countries. Also, those political leaders, who are involved in such illegal business, are the enemies of both countries, as they are exploiting government revenue in huge quantities.
The present political system in Nepal is based on money. Without spending money, one cannot become a leader. If we borrow the words of Nepali Congress leader Shashank Koirala, every time, he had to spend millions of rupees to win the election from a constituency in Nawalparasi. This is the reality: every political leader spends money to get elected in elections. Some lucky leaders get election funding from the Indian Embassy, and once they are elected, they try to exploit the Indian government’s revenue by carrying out smuggling business.
Nepal has been very badly defamed due to the smuggling business. Kathmandu has become a hub for smuggling traffic, and the TIA has become the transit for gold and drug smuggling. The only solution for curbing smuggling is to regulate the Nepal-India borders, and the necessity is to change the present money-dominated political system. If India doesn’t show interest in curbing the smuggling trade, the Nepal government should take the initiative to control smuggling by regulating its international borders and also taking strong action against those who are involved in smuggling networking. Moreover, this Western model of democracy has already failed in Nepal, therefore, this system should be scrapped by introducing a political system suitable for our soil and climate. Just recently, we were informed that India is rethinking replacing a political system suitable for India, in the same way, it is time to think about replacing the present system with a Nepal-suitable system.