Twenty-five years after the IC-814 hijack exposed Kathmandu as a soft entry point for jihadist operatives, Nepal is once again emerging as the region’s most vulnerable flank. What was once an episodic threat has now matured into a sustained, multi-layered infiltration, driven by Islamist networks: Pakistan’s ISI and ideological patrons in Turkey and the Gulf. The danger for India is no longer speculative; it is structurally higher than anything seen in the past.
For generations, Nepal’s small Muslim population, roughly five per cent, lived in quiet coexistence with its Hindu-Buddhist majority. Precisely this social innocence has turned the Himalayan republic into fertile ground for radical actors seeking a soft launchpad. Nepal’s weak intelligence apparatus, porous border with India, inconsistent policing and a chaotic political class have created the perfect vacuum for transnational Islamist outfits that view the country as the easiest route into the Indian mainland.
Investigations in Nepal now reveal a systematic pattern of foreign penetration. In Lalitpur, authorities recently intercepted foreign nationals, including Indonesians, teaching Quranic lessons to teenagers without valid work permits. The children, many from impoverished districts such as Kapilavastu, Sarlahi and Banke, were housed in hostels linked to the Himalaya Education and Welfare Society. Annual funding, around NPR 25 million, was believed to originate from Turkey-based groups, notably SAHA International. Their entry on tourist visas suggests a deliberate effort to evade scrutiny.
Turkey’s involvement is neither accidental nor benevolent. Since President Erdoğan consolidated power, Ankara has expanded its global religious networks through “charitable” foundations, educational missions and diaspora-linked organisations. In Africa and Southeast Asia, such efforts often preceded ideological radicalisation. Nepal now appears to be following that same playbook.
The demographic and cultural shift is visible on the ground. In Kathmandu’s Thamel area, a noticeable influx of Bangladeshi Muslim settlers has unsettled local communities. Far more alarming is the construction of the Razzak Mosque in Sunsari district near Biratnagar by the Bangladesh-based Alhaj Shamsul Haque Foundation, registered only in 2022. During the foundation ceremony on July 18, 2025, its chairman, Engineer Muhammad Nasir Uddin, openly announced that the mosque would serve not only local Muslims but also as a hub for dawah among Nepal’s predominantly Hindu population.
Regional intelligence agencies now warn that the foundation enjoys indirect support from Pakistan’s ISI and maintains linkages with Turkish and Gulf-based groups. Comparable mosque-building and cultural-centre initiatives in Africa, the Balkans and Southeast Asia have, in the past, doubled as logistical nodes and recruitment bases for organisations like Al Qaeda, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Taiba and the TTP.
The consequences are already spilling into Nepal’s social landscape. In Janakpur, communal clashes erupted on June 10, 2025, after attempts by a Muslim group to occupy government land. Hindu homes and schools were targeted in what local organisations described as “land jihad”. In another incident, a Yoga Camp, a hallmark of Nepal’s cultural harmony, was obstructed by aggressive protests.
India cannot afford to view these as isolated disturbances. For decades, LeT and JeM have sought alternative gateways into India. Nepal’s open border is the most convenient corridor. With Bangladesh destabilised and Pakistan entrenched in militant patronage, Nepal’s infiltration completes a dangerous regional triad. If Kathmandu fails to act decisively, the Himalayan frontier could transform into a forward operating base for pan-Islamist insurgency. And when that happens, the tremors will hit India first, and with devastating force.
(Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an award-winning journalist, writer and editor of the newspaper Blitz, Bangladesh. He specialises in counterterrorism and regional geopolitics)
