I:     Diplomatic intrigue

II:    The underworld warlord

III:   Working on the Gurkhas

IV:   The auctioned airport

V:    Down with India!

VI:   The Naxal connection

VII:  Another viewpoint

VIII: The ambassador speaks

There is no evidence in recorded history of any strategic relationship between Nepal and Pakistan. And there really is no reason for one.

Nepal is landlocked, jammed between India and China, relying on tourism as its key source of income and bowed under the weight of appalling levels of poverty and illiteracy. Nepal is also the world's only country with Hinduism as its official religion. While Pakistan, a nation created for Muslims 50 years ago, has declared its animosity for Hinduism and all Hindus.

Pakistan is also separated from Nepal by over a thousand kilometres. There are almost no trade ties, and no commercial interests between the two.

Despite so many disparities, Pakistan has a keen interest in Nepal, hoping to exploit its resources and porous borders with India to bring its sinister plan to fruition. It was an interest spawned after the accidental escape of two Pakistani prisoners of war from an Indian jail in 1972...

Pakistan's interest in the nation has become stronger over the years. And now Kathmandu is the Inter-Service Intelligence's informal headquarters in its proxy war against India.

From the premises of the Pakistan embassy, through the narrow, winding bylanes of Kathmandu, to the poverty-stricken hinterland and the areas hugging the 1,700-kilometre border with India, the ISI has been disbursing terror for delivery to throughout India.

Already, RDX blasts have claimed hundreds of lives in Indian metros; fake currency in the millions is being pumped in to destabilise the economy; and sophisticated weapons and terrorists are being smuggled into the country. Dons with huge smuggling empires are propped up as politicians in Nepal, to make things even easier for the ISI. Perhaps the most insidious effort of all has been the attempts to buy off the Gurkhas who serve the Indian army in the hundreds of thousands.

The extent of the ISI's operations in Nepal cannot be completely gauged. Not even the Indian intelligence agencies have a clear idea of how where its tentacles spread. All they know is that it does.

Intrigue and conspiracy of an international nature have become common in Kathmandu. Every night, in the gay hubbub of the casinos or the various hotels of this tourist nation, ISI men plot ways to destabilise India in any which way they can. And Pakistan embassy officials aid the cause by distributing fake Indian currency, weapons and RDX.

The airport occasionally becomes a crucial element in the Pakistani agents' plans. But the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 was only a curtain-raiser...

A detailed investigation by rediff.com Prinicipal Correspondent Josy Joseph in Nepal revealed an unexpected level of ISI activity in Kathmandu. He concluded that if a concerted attempt is not made, with active support from the Nepalese authorities, India will be witness to more terrorist activity. For the ISI is already preparing to criss-cross the country with bloody trails.