Towards a Regulated Indo-Nepal Border

Pushpita Das

Dr. Pushpita Das is Research Fellow and the Coordinator of the Internal Security Centre at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. Her areas of… Continue reading Towards a Regulated Indo-Nepal Border read more

The Indo-Nepal border is an open border, which has facilitated close social, cultural, and economic exchanges and led to a special relationship between the two countries. However, in recent times, the increasing misuse of the borders by terrorists, political activists, anti-social elements, etc. has led to the demand for the closure of the border from the Indian side. The paper posits that a closed border is not beneficial for both the countries as the social and political costs involved in such a border are immense. Therefore, the paper suggests the ‘middle path’ of a regulated open border should be adopted as a policy.