Exclusive: ISI role suspected in Nepal riots; funds routed via Pak, Turkey, Qatar

A report says Pakistani-origin cleric Mohammad Ilyas Ghuman stayed in Dewanganj with Imam Mufti Abu Bakr Qasmi, and investigators are probing whether their meetings with local clerics were linked to the unrest.

In Short

• Illegal foreign funding allegedly reached Nepal through Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar
• Investigators probe clerics' movements, meetings, possible riot connections
• Open India-Nepal border faces renewed security concerns after recent cases

After years of continued diabolical terror plots in India, Pakistan now seems to be attempting to disturb peace in the neighbouring Nepal as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is suspected to have played a covert role in the communal riots that recently erupted in Sunsari district along the India border, exclusive details accessed by India Today show.

Investigators are examining evidence that illegal funds were routed into Nepal through networks linked to Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar. The findings form part of a preliminary report submitted by Nepal’s National Investigation Department (NID) to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The unrest began on July 26 in Kaptanganj in Sunsari district, which borders Bihar and is an important transit corridor between India and Nepal.

Authorities said clashes broke out between two communities during separate religious programmes over the use of loudspeakers and the display of religious flags.

Police intervention and subsequent firing left at least one person dead and more than a dozen people injured, including security personnel, while tensions later spread to other districts in Nepal’s southern Terai region.

According to the NID report, a Turkey-based cleric of Pakistani origin, Mohammad Ilyas Ghuman, had stayed for several days at a mosque in Dewanganj before the violence.

He was accompanied by Mufti Abu Bakr Qasmi, the Imam of Kathmandu’s Jama Masjid. Investigators are examining whether their presence and meetings with local clerics in border districts had any connection with the subsequent unrest.

The report says Islamic flags had been erected around a vacant plot associated with a Shiva temple in Kaptanganj during Muharram observances. Local Hindu residents had reportedly sought their removal for weeks before the violence.

On the night before a Shravan pilgrimage ritual, a group of Kanwariyas was allegedly attacked near a madrasa, triggering wider clashes. The NID has also identified a local electricity department employee, Naseem Ansari, as the person who disconnected power supply in the area shortly before the attack.

Security forces later opened fire while attempting to control the violence. Official figures indicate more than a dozen people were injured, while local residents have claimed the number was higher.

The NID report describes Ghuman as a prominent member of the banned Tablighi Jamaat and alleges links to organisations such as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Ansar and Hizbul Mujahideen, all of which are banned in India and several other countries.

Nepalese investigators are now probing whether his movements through Biratnagar, Rautahat, Nepalgunj and Kapilvastu were linked to meetings held in mosques and madrasas in those districts.

Investigators are also examining the presence of nine Bangladeshi clerics who arrived in Kathmandu from Dhaka via Kuala Lumpur on July 20 on 30-day tourist visas and later travelled through districts bordering India.

The report has revived concerns about Nepal being used as a base for activities directed against India.

Security officials note that the ISI was highly active in Nepal during the 1990s and early 2000s and that the 1999 Indian Airlines hijacking had exposed the use of Nepalese territory for anti-India operations.

Indian agencies have also flagged several recent cases involving Nepal-based networks.

These include the arrest of Nepali national Prabhat Kumar Chaurasia in Delhi in 2025 in an alleged SIM card supply module linked to the ISI, the arrest of Ansarul Miyan Ansari with sensitive military-related material, and the detention of Sheikh Salim in Nepal in connection with an alleged ISI-linked arms network.

Nepalese investigators are also reviewing the case of four Pakistani nationals arrested in Kapilvastu in April 2026, which some security officials believe may have had intelligence links.

Another area of concern for both Nepal and India is the rapid growth of mosques and madrasas in border districts.

Official Nepalese data show about 911 registered institutions in areas adjoining India, while authorities estimate that roughly 3,000 more remain unregistered along the 1,751-km open border.

Investigators say a substantial share of foreign funding originates from countries including Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The preliminary intelligence findings are now expected to lead to a wider investigation into funding channels, cross-border networks and the role of foreign clerics in Nepal’s recent communal unrest, with both Nepalese and Indian security agencies closely monitoring developments along the sensitive border belt.

- Ends