By VK Gaur

Delhi, April 09, 2020: 

Amid the suspicion of coronavirus affected members of Jamaat-E-Islami crossing over to Nepal, a high alert has been declared on the Indo-Nepal border. The expert team of NDRF has already been deployed on the border much before the Jamaat Markaz incident in Delhi.

Eighteen Nepali Muslims, who recently returned from India to Nepal after participating in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin area in New Delhi, have been identified and kept in a quarantine facility in southern Nepal's Saptari district, authorities said on April 1.

Indian authorities have launched a nationwide search for participants of the huge religious gathering amid fears that thousands present there could have carried the infection to the length and breadth of the country.

Various nationals, particularly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan come for Tabligh activities in Delhi.

Tablighi Jamaat, a global evangelical Muslim organisation conducted a meeting in Malaysia in February 2020, when travel restrictions due to the outbreak of COVID-19 were not in place in India. A March 3 New York Times report stated that this meeting had become the “largest viral vector in Southeast Asia”.

“More than 620 people connected to the four-day conclave have tested positive in Malaysia, prompting the country to seal its borders until the end of the month. Most of the 73 coronavirus cases in Brunei are tied to the gathering, as are 10 cases in Thailand. At least three coronavirus deaths have been linked to the event,” stated the report.

The same organisation which held a gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin markaz (centre) now sees a number of its members test positive for the viral disease. Preachers and people from Malaysia and Indonesia are said to have been at Nizamuddin for this congregation. This led to the area being sealed by the Delhi authorities. The event in Delhi was from March 10-13. The Union Health Ministry on March 13 said that coronavirus is not an emergency and people need not panic. The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.

More than 2,300 people were evacuated from the Markaz in Nizamuddin on April 1 by the Delhi Police. A probe was subsequently launched into the organisation, its members and prior gatherings. 

Meanwhile, around 400 Indian nationals, who gathered from different parts of Nepal to return to India, have been reportedly stranded in Birgunj area in Parsa due to the closure of the India-Nepal border.

According to Parsa's Superintendent of Police (SP) Ganga Panta, the huge mass of Indian citizens heading towards India via border in Parsa have been kept in an education faculty building .

More than 25,000 Jamaat members and their contacts had been quarantined across nearly 15 Indian states.

An estimated two million Nepalis live and work in India, many as low wage labourers and thousands of Nepalis in India started walking home after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a complete lockdown on March 24. It is suspected that some Jamaat members also might have sneaked out to Nepal through the India's 1,700km (1,056-mile) border with Nepal.

Apart from the SSB personnel, who used to investigate citizens coming from Nepal to India till now, the team of NDRF has also started working to spread awareness on the border with the screening of every human crossing to or coming from Nepal, sources has said.

On record, the Nepal government had closed its borders with India and China for a week starting Monday, in a bid to prevent a possible outbreak of the novel corona virus in the Himalayan nation.

There are a total of 37 motorable land entry points on the Indo-Nepal border, while with China, Nepal has four such entry points.

The government's decision to seal the border with India and China came following its decision to suspend all international flights to and from Nepal effective from March 22 to March 31 as a precautionary measure to control the spread of COVID-19.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli addressed the nation on 7 April. He shared updates on national situation of COVID-19.

PM Oli elaborated on the measures taken by Nepal Government to control the effects of the pandemic in the country.

“In Nepal, though only nine cases have been detected so far, we are still at high risk. The country has been in a lockdown for the past two weeks, which has been extended for another week,” he said.

He said, the government has not left any stone unturned in this fight against the pandemic and has taken all possible measures. A network, which reaches the local levels, has been created to fight the spread of coronavirus infection.

A three-fold-procedure has been created led by High-Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 formed by the government to check the spread of the virus and minimise its effects.

Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) has been created to develop information systems, human resources and other resources required to combat the crisis triggered by the coronavirus infection.

As of today, there are 30,566 quarantine centres in the country, 9,168 people currently in quarantine, 3,259 isolation beds in which 95 people are under treatment. The government has been trying to prevent the spread of infection and to take necessary measures in case of an outbreak.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method of testing has begun in all seven provinces. Up until yesterday, 1,890 tests have been conducted. Preparations have also been initiated to give pace to start testing from 10 testing centres in the seven provinces. Likewise, preparations have also started to carry out Rapid Detection Test (RDT) in districts which are currently at a high risk.

Thousands of Nepalese have returned different countries. Many of the returnees did not pay heed to government call for quarantine and follow the safety protocol.

Meanwhile, the government of Nepal has stopped land border entry through Nepal-India border. Many Nepalese are stranded. But to minimise the risk of infection, the PM said that they are forced to stop the movement at the international borders. In coordination with the Indian government, 2,147 Nepalese have been kept under quarantine across the border.

Around 700 Indian nationals have been quarantined on Nepal side. The Nepali citizens will enter the country after the completion of required time in quarantine and following necessary health check-ups.

As the virus spreads globally, infection has been seen in many Nepalese living abroad. Some of them have lost their lives. This has caused tension among the Nepali community outside.

The government expressed its support and compassion towards them. Nepali diplomatic missions abroad are working to solve the problems faced by its citizens. Support has also been extended by the Non-Resident Nepali Association among other organisations.

The Prime Minister too has been keeping in touch with his counterparts in nations where there are large numbers of Nepali workers.

In this fight against COVID-19, social distancing is the key, and therefore, lockdown is only the way at present. Stating this, the PM requested all to become one to make the fight against coronavirus successful.

Giving an example of the time five years ago - when all Nepalese became one - in fighting the consequences of the devastating earthquake, Prime Minister Oli said, more lives can be protected if this crisis is taken seriously and if we display the same resilience. He added that the government is committed towards doing its duty in the fight against COVID-19.

Two days ago, on April 7, 2020, A 65-year-old corona positive patient, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi last month, escaped from the hospital in Baghpat, UP after breaking the glass pane and cutting the wire mesh on the window. He used his clothes to form a rope and scale down the building.

Safid Miyan, a resident of Sursuri in Nepal, had been quarantined after he was found to be a member of the Jamaat. He had tested positive for the coronavirus and was undergoing treatment at the primary health centre in Khekhra. Safid Miyan was a part of a group of 17 people from Nepal, who had attended the Delhi Tablighi Jamaat gathering.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Baghpat has now issued an appeal with a photograph of Safid Miyan, asking people to inform the police if he is seen anywhere.

NEPAL – A SAFE SANCTURY & PASSAGE FOR INDIAN TERRORISTS

Nepal had been a safe sanctuary and also a passage for the Indian Terrorists from Kashmir to North East. A number of Madarsas and Mosques on India-Nepal border areas have allegedly been the safe heavens for the Islamic Militants of India.

Two years ago, The Islami Sangh Nepal (ISN), a Kathmandu-based organisation, had come under the scanner of Indian intelligence agencies for allegedly providing sanctuary to fugitive Indian terrorists.

Following the arrest of Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists Abdul Subhan Qureshi, alias Tauqeer, and Arif Mohammad, alias Junaid, in a span of less than a month since January 2018, intelligence agencies and the special cell of Delhi Police had identified a member of ISN, Nizam Khan, who had allegedly been providing logistic support to terrorists on the run.

Tauqeer and Junaid are believed to have separately slipped into Nepal sometime in 2008 after carrying out blasts and other terrorist activities in cities, including Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Khan is part of a larger network of IM co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal, who shuffles between West Asia and Pakistan under the protection of Pakistan’s ISI, according to Special Cell officials.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP),”There are some 15 major tablighi/fundamentalist organizations in Nepal, and at least five of these are well within the ambit of Pakistan’s influence and control. These include the Jamaat-e-Millat-e-Islamia; the Nepal Islamic Yuba Sangh; the Nepal Muslim League; the Nepal Muslim Ekta Sangh; and the Democratic Muslim Welfare Association. Nepal is, consequently, emerging as an important ‘staging post’ for Pakistan’s strategy of erosion and encirclement against India, and is increasingly the preferred route for terrorists movements to various areas of low-intensity conflict in J&K and the Northeast.

MOSQUES-CUM-MADRASAS ON INDO- NEPAL BORDER

“The Muslim pockets of the Terai, especially Bardiya, Banke, Rupendehi and the Parsa-Morang belt have seen increasing ‘Tablighi’ activities, and the construction of mosques and madrassas with financial flows from Pakistan – often directly from the Embassy at Kathmandu – from Saudi Arabia and from a range of pan-Islamic organizations. Over the past two decades, more than 275 mosques and madrassas have been built in just the four districts of Rupandehi, Banke, Kapilvastu and Bardiya,” according to the SATP.

The Outlook magazine quoting a March 27, 2006, report, wrote, “There are around 1,900 Madrassas (seminaries) on both sides of the India-Nepal border, including 800 on the Nepal side. Muslims constitute just 4.2 per cent of Nepal's total population, of which 96.7 percent is confined to the Tarai region bordering India, constituting some 7.32 percent of the total population of the Tarai.”

“On the Indo-Nepal border, Madrassas and mosques have sprung up on both sides in the Terai region, accompanied by four-fold increase in the population of the minority community in the region. There are 343 mosques, 300 madrassas and 17 mosques-cum-madrasas within 10 kilometres of the border on the Indian side. On the Nepal side, there are 282 mosques, 181 madrassas and eight mosques-cum-madrassas,” the Outlook reports. 

India's Task Force on Border Management, in its report of October 2000 also confirmed ominous developments along the India-Nepal border.

The 1751 km long Indo-Nepal border with Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim has been a a challenge due to a porous border and illegal immigration for economic reasons, smuggling and terrorism. Pakistan trained terrorists are known to have used this porous border to infiltrate into India as also use Nepal as safe havens and hideout. This cannot be ignored after the Nizamuddin Markaj meet of Jamaat-E-Islami, which has spread the corona virus in several states.

Image Courtesy – SpotlightNepal / THT / RSS / Al Jazazeera

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinion of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Indian Observer Post and Indian Observer Post does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

INDIAN OBSERVER POST (IOP) is a Class, Creative, and Constructive News platform which publishes ONLY exclusive and Special News / Views / Interviews / Research Articles / Analysis / Columns / Features and Opinions on the national and international issues, politics, security, energy, innovation, infrastructure, rural, health, education, women, and entertainment.  www.indianobserverpost.com  /  www.indianobserverpost.in   

IOP ON FACEBOOK - https://bit.ly/2SlmpLA

IOP TEAM BUREAUS & WRITERS - https://bit.ly/2LxOU2I

(Onkareshwar Pandey is Founder, Editor in Chief & CEO, Indian Observer Post and former Senior Group Editor- Rashtriya Sahara (Hindi & Urdu) and also former Editor, (News), ANI. http://bit.ly/2mh7hih Email - editoronkar@gmail.com  Mob - 9910150119) 

GOLDEN SIGNATURES RESEARCH & CONSULTING (GSRC)

CONTACT US FOR - COFFEE TABLE BOOKS I KNOWLEDGE EVENTS I PR I ADVERTISING I BRAND BUILDING I DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION I VIDEO CONTENT I SOCIAL MEDIA I EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS I SECTOR EXPERTISE I GLOBAL OUTREACH I MARKET SURVEY I And - GOLDEN SIGNATURE AWARDS I  Email - goldensignatures20@gmail.com