Several recent reports have shown that demography is changing rapidly along India’s border with Nepal. The number of mosques and madarasas is constantly increasing. From August 20 to 27, 2022, an OpIndia team visited several areas in Nepal bordering India to observe the ground situation. What follows here is the third episode of the series of reports documenting the facts noticed by the OpIndia team.
While the shift in demography was visible, our team also found evidence that proves how the menace of ‘love jihad’ or ‘grooming jihad’ has also plagued the land of mountains. Here too, the vulnerable Hindu native women are being targeted by Muslim men, lured and brainwashed, forcefully converted to Islam and married off.
Besides, the open Indo-Nepal border is also extensively used by criminals for smuggling and other notorious activities. Our team tried and obtained some data and information about these crimes too.
In the first report of this series, it was mentioned that the OpIndia team visited the Dang district in Nepal, that falls in the Lumbini state. We entered Dang from the Jarwa border in the Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh. During the week-long trip, our team also visited the Kapilvastu district, another district of the Lumbini Province in Nepal.
Emerging menace of Love Jihad in Nepal: How young women are being lured and trapped
In June this year, a Nepalese woman named Sina Lama who lives in the Rupandehi area of the country filed a complaint at the Kapilvastu police station against a man named Sanaullah. In her complaint, she claimed that Sanaullah, who allegedly came to the hamlet to undertake a brick business, entrapped her into a love affair under false promises.
He lied about his marital status to her. Later, when she fell into the trap, he tricked her to get her to hand over 4 tolas (or around 10 grammes) of gold and 11 lakh Nepalese rupees to him, which he then took and fled.
According to Sina Lama, Sanaullah convinced her to convert to Islam and get married to him as per Islamic law. The FIR filed in the case, names Sanaullah’s father, his mother and Sanaullah as the accused.
The Delhi connection
According to details gathered, Sina Lama’s wedding rituals were performed by a Maulana of the Kapilvastu district who wrote their nikah nama (marriage contract) in Arabic. At the end of the Nikah Nama, ‘Amadullah Islampur’ was mentioned. However, what is interesting is that the form used to write the Nikah Nama was designed and printed by some Khurshid Book Depot having Delhi’s Pincode- 110006.
Notably, the areas that fall under the aforementioned pin code are Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Hauz Qazi, Chawri Bazar, Jama Masjid etc, all predominately Muslim-dominated areas of Delhi.
Smuggling business flourishing from Indo-Nepal border area: Statistics and the conspiracy
Anti-social elements on both sides have taken advantage of Nepal’s open border for carrying out illegal activities. In one such crackdown, the Siddharthnagar police of Uttar Pradesh seized 26 bottles of Napalese liquor and arrested one person identified as Saddam alias Jalaluddin in this connection on August 25, 2022. Jalaluddin is a resident of Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Notably, there are roughly 50 km between Siddharthnagar and the Indo-Nepal border, which is why many criminals prefer this route to cross the border illagally.
Mahmood Sheikh, a vehicle thief, was detained by the Shohratgarh police of Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh on August 18, 2022, as he attempted to sell three stolen bikes from India to Nepal. Mehmood Sheikh is also a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district.
Crime hub and illegal entry of Pakistanis
In August 2022, a 24-year-old Pakistani national, Khadija Noor, was arrested at the Indo-Nepal border by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a border guarding force of India deployed along its borders with Nepal and Bhutan, for trying to enter India with fake documents. She was arrested in Bhithamore along the Indo-Nepal border. Officials also recovered a Pakistani visa from her. A Nepali accomplice who was assisting her, and her boyfriend, a resident of Hyderabad, were also taken into custody.
On 31 July 2022, District Police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) officials, while conducting joint patrolling on the Indo-Nepal border, arrested one Mohammad Abid and seized heroine worth Rs 15 lakh from him. Abid was a resident of the Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh.
On 23 July 2022, Siddharthnagar police arrested Salman Ahmed, who was reportedly smuggling fertilizers from Bajaha locality situated on the Nepal border. Two bikes used for smuggling and 39 sacks of manure were recovered from the accused. Salman is a resident of Siddharthnagar, UP.
One Shahnawaz was detained on July 9, 2022 by the Shahjahanpur Police of Uttar Pradesh after he was caught smuggling cannabis from Nepal to India. The police recovered cannabis worth Rs 70 lakhs from the accused. Shahnawaz is a resident of Shahjahanpur district only.
On 6 July 2022, Siddharthnagar police of Uttar Pradesh arrested Majjibula, for smuggling fertilizers from Nepal. The police also seized a marshal jeep he used for smuggling and 16 bags of manure. The accused is a resident of UP’s Siddharthnagar.
On 3 July 2022, Siddharthanagar police arrested Ziauddin of Nepal’s Rupandehi district with as many as 280 intoxicating tablets and a knife in Mohana area.
Nepalese Parliament and ex-minister Mirza Dilshad Baig and Dawood connection
As our team moved around the villages in the Kapilvastu district, we noticed that the residents were still recounting the tales of the dreaded criminal and two-time MLA Mirza Dilshad Baig in the 1990s. Every person from whom we inquired about the ex-member of the Nepalese Parliament’s residence, pointed to the road leading to his house.
When we got close to Mirza Baig’s residence, we noticed no activity nearby.
Mirza Dilshad Baig had crossed the border into Krishnanagar in Nepal 20 years ago. He won two subsequent elections from there and went on to become the minister for housing in the Girija Prasad Koirala government.
As per media reports, Baig was reportedly the primary representative of Dawood’s gang and was in charge of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operations in the border region. It was said that Mirza Dilshad Baig was ISI one-stop shop for contract killings, gun running, drugs, explosives, and kidnappings. It is believed that Baig single-handedly made Nepal a safe haven for Dawood and the ISI.
He was shot in the bylanes of Kathmandu on June 29, 1998, by the gang of Chhota Rajan, the Malaysia-based underworld don and arch rival of Dawood Ibrahim.
Hindu leader Mangre Singh was killed on the open international border
Speaking to our team members, OP Mishra and Vidyabhushan, two activists of the Seema Jagran Manch of the Sangh of the Balrampur area recalled how in 1970s, Mangre Singh, a Hindu leader from the Jana Sangh, who was elected as the MLA of the Tulsipur constituency in the Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh was killed on the Indo-Nepal border. He made a significant contribution in helping the local Hindus.
Mangre Singh was brutally murdered in the 1990s in the dark jungles of Jarwa, a village located in the northern Indian province of Uttar Pradesh 5 kilometres south of the Nepalese border. Firoz Pappu and Masood Ahmed were named as the perpetrators following the assassination. Later, the two murderers joined the Samajwadi Party.
OpIndia’s first report of the series can be read here: 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 English version can be read here: Demographic change hits other side of the border too, Mosques and Madarasas mushroom in former Hindu dominated areas in Nepal: Ground report
OpIndia’s second report of the series can he read here: 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
