OpIndia Impact: Thermal cameras to be installed on Indo-Nepal border

The OpIndia team visited the Indo-Nepal border from August 20 to August 27, 2022, to learn about the ground realities of the demographic change amid the growing Muslim population and media reports of Islamic places of worship along the border. During this time, we obtained information about the Indian districts of Shravasti, Balrampur, Maharajganj, and Siddharthnagar, as well as the Dong and Kapilvastu districts in Nepal. From September 3rd, 2022, we began posting all of the information we had gathered one by one.

This series has 21 reports published as of Saturday (September 24, 2022). The reporting has also had a significant impact on the government and administration, as witnessed not just in India but also in Nepal.

Madarsas on the Shravasti border locked

On September 6, 2022, OpIndia published a report on the increasing number of Islamic worship places in the Shravasti district. We included information regarding mazars and dargahs in common spaces in the Shravasti district in this report. During our ground reporting, we visited the Nepal border areas and obtained statements from the Khadims of these dargahs.

Our ground report has now had a significant impact. According to a report published in ‘ABP News’ on September 23, 2022, when administrative authorities from the Shravasti district went to examine the madarsas near the Nepal border, the operators of several of these madarsas were reportedly missing and these madarsas were locked up.

Thermal cameras to be installed on the Nepal border

OpIndia published a report on smuggling from one country to another on the Indo-Nepal border on September 5, 2022. In this, we mentioned certain incidents in the districts of Bahraich, Balrampur, and Siddharthnagar in which the actions of Nepalese criminals and smugglers within Nepal and within India were described with proof. Then we went over a number of events, chronologically, in which criminals or smugglers belonged to a specific group.

Aside from that, on September 21, 2022, OpIndia released a report on DSP Sunil Dutt Dubey’s remarks from the Nichlaul border in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh. He highlighted the importance of installing CCTV cameras along the Indo-Nepal border. He felt it would help strengthen the border monitoring system.

On the same day, Amar Ujala reported that the Superintendent of Police of the Bahraich district, Keshav Chaudhary, had announced the installation of thermal sensor cameras along the Indo-Nepal border. Afterward, he declared that the task of placing wires etc for this project will begin shortly. According to the report, this decision was taken by the Government of India.

DM and SP on border visit

In all of its reports on the Indo-Nepal border, OpIndia has expressly emphasised the Balrampur district. These accounts describe the takeover of territories not just on the Jarwa border, but also on routes going to other border districts and up to the city’s temples.

Following the publication of the 21 segments of our report, the District Magistrate and SP of Balrampur district jointly visited the border regions. Balrampur Police has released the specifics of this visit on their official Facebook page, and it is reported that the inspection was undertaken for security reasons.

Murderer of temple priest arrested

In its findings published earlier this month, OpIndia highlighted the growing Muslim population in Nepal, as well as the increase in Islamic worship places and religious radicalism in the area. Then we discussed how incidents of ‘love jihad‘ and ‘land jihad’ are on the rise in Nepal. OpIndia’s team also visited the districts of Dong and Kapilvastu to understand the ground situation there.

According to news released in Nepali media agency ‘Rashtra Sandesh’ on September 12, 2022, a man named Mohammad Qasim was arrested for shooting and killing 68-year-old priest Siyaram Shah of Hanuman temple in August 2020 in Nepal’s Rauthat district. The police launched an intense campaign two years after the murder. Narullahalai, the Dewahi Gonahi municipality’s then-ward president, was the main conspirator in this murder.

The first report in this series can be read here in Hindi: कभी था हिंदू बहुल गाँव, अब स्वस्तिक चिह्न वाले घर पर 786 का निशान: भारत के उस पार भी डेमोग्राफी चेंज, नेपाल में घुसते ही मस्जिद, मदरसा और इस्लाम – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Demographic change hits other side of the border too, Mosques and Madarasas mushroom in former Hindu dominated areas in Nepal: Ground report

The second report in this series can be read here in Hindi: घरों पर चाँद-तारे वाले हरे झंडे, मस्जिद-मदरसे, कारोबार में भी दखल: मुस्लिम आबादी बढ़ने के साथ ही नेपाल में कपिलवस्तु के ‘कृष्णा नगर’ पर गाढ़ा हुआ इस्लामी रंग – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Islamic flags flying atop houses and mosques, madarsas influencing businesses: The creeping Islamisation of Nepal’s Krishnanagar

The third report in this series can be read here in Hindi: नेपाल में लव जिहाद: बढ़ती मुस्लिम आबादी और नेपाली लड़कियों से निकाह के खेल में ‘दिल्ली कनेक्शन’, तस्कर-गिरोह भारतीय सीमा पर खतरा – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Rising cases of love jihad in Nepal and its Delhi connection, smuggling plaguing India’s border with Nepal: Ground report

The fourth report in this series can be read here in Hindi: बौद्ध आस्था के केंद्र हों या तालाब… हर जगह मजार: श्रावस्ती में घरों की छत पर लहरा रहे इस्लामी झंडे, OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Steady rise in mazars and madarsas adjoining Buddhist places of worship in UP’s Shravasti near Indo-Nepal border: Ground report

The fifth report in this series can be read here in Hindi: महाराणा प्रताप के साथ लड़ी थारू जनजाति बहुल गाँव में 3 मस्जिद, 1 मदरसा: भारत-नेपाल सीमा पर बढ़ती मुस्लिम आबादी का ये है ‘पैटर्न’ – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Rising number of mosques, madarsa along Indo-Nepal border: Ground report on Islamisation of village of Tharu tribe that fought along Maharana Pratap

The sixth report in this series can be read here in Hindi: बौद्ध-जैन मंदिरों के बीच दरगाह बनाई, जिस मजार को पुलिस ने किया ध्वस्त… वो फिर चकमकाई: नेपाल सीमा पर बढ़ती मुस्लिम आबादी – OpIndia Ground Report

The same report can be read here in English: Dargah and mazar built around Buddhist and Jain temple premises, illegal mazar once demolished surfaces again: UP’s Shravasti near Nepal border