Global Watch | Nepal's new challenge is growing involvement of foreign nationals in crime

Over the past few years, Kathmandu has been witnessing a surge in the arrest of foreign nationals in the country. Most of these arrests have been due to their indulgence in criminal activities on the Nepalese soil. The Himalayan nation has a total of  35 border crossings with India, while it shares two border points with China. Immigration in Nepal is governed by the Immigration Act (1992), Immigration Rules (1994) and Immigration Procedures (2008) covering the scope, privileges and obligations associated with immigration. The  National Employment Policy of 2015 introduced a special measure in order to protect the rights of immigrant workers in Nepal whereby Kathmandu committed to ratifying international conventions that ensured the rights of immigrant workers.  The Labour Act of 2017 stipulates that international hiring cannot be done without obtaining official permits. To protect its own nationals, foreign nationals can only be retained in skilled labour positions in the absence of qualified individuals from the national talent pool.  Besides, the Labour Rules of 2018 and the Foreign Citizen Labour Permission Directive of 2018 define the procedure and scope of foreign nationals obtaining work permits in Nepal. As per  Nepal’s Immigration Rules of 1994 clauses 28 (e), (f) and (g), foreign nationals can face visa cancellation and deportation if their presence causes an adverse impact on Nepal’s peace and security or mutual harmony among people; if their conduct is found to be suspicious or if any ‘undesirable activity’ is carried out, or if their presence is deemed to cause an adverse impact on the country’s social and cultural environment. Any foreign national found guilty of committing any criminal act is dealt with according to Nepali law. Thus, one of the functions of Nepal’s Department of Immigration is to monitor, manage and control the presence of foreigners in Nepal and investigate and prosecute immigration offences, in accordance with the law. Nepal’s tourism is a major attraction to foreign nationals. The first five months this year witnessed the arrival of 4,400,257 foreign tourists in the country, following a significant slowdown in the past couple of years due to the pandemic and strict border sealing and control by China. The government data indicates that since last year, foreign tourists’ arrival has shown a remarkable recovery for Nepal tourism, a surge of about 83 per cent, according to the Nepal Tourism Board. Besides tourism, Nepal is also heavily dependent on foreign nationals who are hired for technical and human resources to implement its large infrastructural projects. Since Chinese-funded projects constitute the highest number in the country, it naturally paved the way for the increasing presence of Chinese nationals in Nepal. 500 Chinese citizens have obtained labour permit in Nepal since 2017. They constitute the largest chunk of foreign nationals working in Nepal. However, Kathmandu’s over-dependence on foreign nationals has also become a major cause of concern as more cases of criminal and other illegal activities by foreign nationals have been reported. The range of criminal activities committed by them involves border encroachments, violation of trade practices, fraud and smuggling and human trafficking, according to Nepal’s Department of Immigration. It is important to note that the presence of Chinese nationals in Nepal surged rapidly since 2014-15 and their activities in the country, too, widened. That included interference in Nepal’s politics. Increasing Chinese engagement also exposed the aggressive approach of the Chinese towards Nepalese citizens and institutions. This approach has been the hallmark of Beijing. China has exploited the huge gaps in Nepalese monitoring of its northern border due to its treacherous terrain and sparse population. These gaps have been exploited by China to their advantage, resulting in increasing Chinese encroachment and border violations. Besides border encroachments, an increasing number of Chinese nationals in Nepal are accused of a range of violations such as unfair trade practices,  wildlife smuggling,  human trafficking,  gold smuggling,  ATM hacking, forgery and cybercrimes that include  online frauds. This has made Nepalese citizens and enforcement authorities quite apprehensive about the Chinese presence in Nepal. However, Chinese authorities have been working overtime to ensure that the details of such crimes and the involvement of Chinese nationals don’t reverberate in the public domain. The arrest of  122 Chinese nationals in 2019 on the charge of their illegal stay in Nepal and involvement in financial fraud and cybercrime gathered much attention. Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS) reportedly  took over its investigation as Nepalese authorities were in the process of carrying out the prosecution. According to Nepal’s Prison Management Department, a total of 1,281 foreign nationals are  reported to be in prisons across the country. Interestingly, recent data from Nepalese Police Headquarters revealed that over the past year, Chinese nationals topped the list of foreign nationals arrested in Nepal. Out of 131 arrests of foreign nationals for illegal activities in Nepal, 42 were Chinese. With open-border arrangements, the massive increase in cross-border illegal activities has linked the immigration issue in Kathmandu with its national security as reflected in the country’s immigration reforms. Serious efforts have been made by Nepalese authorities to revitalise immigrants’ documentation process and collection of information related to them. In this regard, the launch of interface-friendly software named  Nepali Port is an important milestone. It has been designed to replace the traditional IMMI (immigration system) that was poorly designed and it provided access and control of sensitive data to a private player. The renovated data centre “Nepali Port” features all the basic biometric databases required for immigration, interconnected with broader control authorities and other agencies for information sharing. Thereby, it is a much stronger, smarter and broader security mechanism. However, one thing is clear the increasing of foreign nationals in Nepal, especially the Chinese nationals is proving to be a major challenge for the Nepalese authorities and common people. There is a huge trust deficit on this front and the increasing involvement of Chinese nationals in criminal activities would add to the deficit further. The writer is an author and columnist and has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.