Cross Border Illegal Migration and Security Challenges in Nepal

This article is about the cross-border illegal migration in Nepal-India border and aim to show the vulnerabilities of the porous borderlands, cases of Rohingya refugee are chosen for the study. Nepal and India are practicing the open-border system. The open border provides opportunities for illegal migrants to enter and exit easily which become the security concern in country. The free flow of migrated people from India and the third countries through the Southern border of Nepal creates different security challenges. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the trend of illegal migration into Nepal from the Southern border. It accounts that the open border system and its characteristics which enhance the possibilities of infiltration of criminals and terrorist groups into Nepal. The illegal flow of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar as well as several foreigners through the Southern border of Nepal shows the changing scenario of the security-related challenges. On the other hand, this issue has become an issue of the international concerned as well as the serious problem that Nepal has been faced to find out solution. The study is exploratory and descriptive in nature, and it is carried out on both primary and secondary sources. Furthermore, it has utilized governmental and non-governmental reports besides journalistic reports related to the intention of illegal migration of Rohingyas to analyze the ground reality of such activities. The researcher discovers that the open border system between Nepal and India continuously increases the security threat to both countries.