When the Kathmandu Government was investigating the Rolpa massacre which left as many as 68 troops killed last month, it was intrigued to find some headless bodies of Maoist rebels who had been gunned down by the Nepalese Army in the retaliatory fire. These fallen rebels had pale skin and were found to be much taller than an average Nepali.

The discovery was significant. It is believed now that the Maoists had simply carried away the heads of their colleagues in a bid to conceal their identity. According to the Nepalese intelligence, these headless bodies could be of guerrillas from Peru’s Shining Path movement, which goes by the same ideology as that of the Maoists.

When the information was shared with India, the first thing that struck the intelligence here was the possibility of pan-Islamic jehadis particularly from Afghanistan helping the Maoists in fighting the constitutional monarchy in Nepal. After detailed investigation, the assessment is that Maoists were providing safe passage and protection to Islamic fundamentalists to cross over to Bangladesh via the Bihar-Nepal Terai-Silliguri corridor route. In the bargain, they were making money to buy arms.

Intelligence reports indicate that Maoists are also shepherding pan-Islamic jehadis, who had fled to Bangladesh after the global war against terrorism, to madarsas in the Terai region. It seems that the headless bodies were of those jehadis who had lent a hand to the Maoists in the Rolpa shoot-out. An eye-opener to both Delhi and Kathmandu, this has made the two sides determined to jointly fight the scourge of terrorism along their borders.

During Sher Bahadur Deuba’s five-day visit to India this week, the two sides held intensive discussions to counter the Maoist challenge to the Himalayan kingdom. It was decided that the two sides would enhance intelligence sharing and border surveillance and examine ways to impart counter-insurgency training to the Nepalese Army. Royal Intelligence Bureau chief Devi Ram Sharma discussed the modalities of better intelligence sharing with his Indian counterpart K.P. Singh and Research and Analysis Wing head Vikram Sood earlier.

While Nepal recognises the primacy of its relations with India, it is also discussing the Maoist threat with the US under the rubric of the global war against terrorism. The visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell was followed by a military team from the Hawai-based Pacific Command in the first week of March. The US, without committing any military advisers to help Nepal in counter-insurgency operations, is looking towards Kathmandu’s requirement for transport equipment, including helicopters. Nepal received two Cheetah helicopters for rapid reaction to Maoist activity from India late last year.

India wants Nepal to ensure that its soil is not used by the Pakistani ISI to destabilise its eastern borders. It knows that any flare-up on its eastern front would be disastrous considering that its army is currently deployed on the Indo-Pak border. Delhi is also worried at intelligence reports that indicate a tie-up between Nepalese Maoists with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants. After the ULFA camps were smoked out from Bhutan, it seems that Maoists have decided to give shelter to these North-East insurgents and get tactical arms training in return. It is not without reason that the Maoist modus operandi is quite similar to the ULFA insurgents.

Kathmandu, on the other hand, wants India to take action against the People's War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) terrorists as they provide support and shelter to the Nepalese Maoist leaders. Time and again Nepal has conveyed to Delhi that top Maoist leaders like Babu Ram Bhattarai and Prachanda were transiting through the Indian territory. With better intelligence inputs and counter-insurgency training from India, Nepal perhaps may be able to strike at the heart of the Maoist movement.

Although security was the main topic on Deuba’s agenda, his meeting with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee covered ways to revive economic activity between the two sides and development of water resources. While Home Minister L.K. Advani suggested early finalisation of a mutual legal assistance treaty to strengthen the existing extradition treaty, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh concurred with Deuba that negotiations on the transport agreement should be completed. While these plans are likely to be realised without a hitch, the two sides know that the fight against terrorism is what will prove more difficult.