The smugglers emerge out of the thick morning fog that hangs low over Nepal’s southern plains, riding bicycles and motorbikes loaded with empty petrol drums and gas cylinders. They splash across a shallow stream, all that marks this part of the border with India, and disappear again into the fog.
An hour later they are back, petrol drums filled and empty gas cylinders exchanged for full ones, a disorderly procession doing what Nepal’s government has largely failed to do for four months: provide fuel to its citizens.
Nepalese people have always freely crossed the open border with India, but since September, when the local ethnic Madhesi imposed a blockade on the country’s official crossings to protest against the new Nepalese constitution, unofficial cross-border trade has soared.
“At night time there are so many people crossing, it’s like Diwali,” said a smuggler who started work shortly after the blockade began. Kumar Yadav (not his real name) added: “At least 20% of people in every village are doing this.”
Once back on Nepalese soil, the smugglers ride off towards Janakpur, nine miles away and the administrative headquarters of Dhanusha district, to sell the fuel for a small profit. Some goes to local businesses and homes and some to dealers who ship it on to the capital, Kathmandu, an eight-hour drive away.
Each individual load is small – a smuggler can only carry 40-50 litres of petrol at a time – but the thousands shuttling back and forth across the length of the border are just about the only thing keeping Nepal’s economy afloat.
At one notorious smuggling hotspot in Parsa district, on the border west of Janakpur, it is estimated that between 100,000 to 150,000 litres of fuel are being smuggled over the border every day.
“People feel compelled to do this because the Nepal government is not helping with anything,” said Kumar Yadav. “More people are doing this now than ever before.”
The protests against the new constitution began in August, led by ethnic Madhesi and Tharu political parties and activists who are demanding greater representation in parliament and public office, and the redrawing of federal boundaries to better reflect their ethnic groups.
The protesters first imposed a bandh, or general strike, across much of the Terai, the southern plains that run the length of the country’s border with India, forcing schools, businesses and public transport to shut down for months.
Soon after the constitution was signed on 20 September, demonstrators blocked the main border crossing with India at Birgunj, which receives over half the country’s imports, leading to massive shortages of fuel, cooking gas, medicines and other essential supplies across the country.
Nepalese politicians have accused India of supporting the blockade by refusing to let vehicles enter Nepal, a charge India has repeatedly denied.
The strike and blockade have created the perfect conditions for a rampant black market – a shortage of basic goods and a surplus of young men who have been put out of work by the strike. But the smugglers say the profits are low and the risks high, especially from their own side.
“If the protesters spot you smuggling fuel they may set your vehicle on fire,” said a student who took up smuggling when his school closed. “When they get you the first time they warn you not to do it again. If they catch you again, they beat you up.”
“They see you as a traitor,” said Kumar Yadav. “I support the protests … but we are just poor people. We don’t have jobs so we have to do this thing to put food on the table. How would we live otherwise?”
The smugglers have less to worry about from the local police. A senior police officer in Janakpur admitted that authorities there turned a blind eye to the smuggling. “This problem should not be solved by the police. It’s a political problem,” he said. “If the government wants fuel it must manage it, otherwise the people will manage it. No one in the government is taking responsibility.”
Last month, Nepal’s national human rights commission accused the government of openly supporting the black market. “It’s the money that is playing a role,” said Mohna Ansari, a member of the rights body. “The black marketers [are making huge profits] so where is the money going? Through some route it is reaching government officials, so they have turned a blind eye towards the smugglers.”
Meanwhile, the human cost of the blockade continues to mount in a country devastated by earthquakes last year. Nepal’s central bank recently estimated that 800,000 people had been pushed into extreme poverty by the blockade. “It has hit low-paid workers hard, especially those working in tourism and construction,” said Trilochan Pangeni, the bank’s executive director. “The blockade has turned out to be worse than the earthquake. The earthquake shook for some time, but the blockade has stalled our economy for four months.”
Since August, more than 50 people have died in the protests, mostly demonstrators and bystanders shot dead by police.
Janakpur has seen some of the worst violence. On its rutted main street, where cows and pigs rummage through piles of rubbish, hangs a poster with the faces of three people killed by police in September. One of them was a 14-year-old who, according to a Human Rights Watch report, “was dragged from his hiding place by police officers, thrown to the ground, and, while an officer stood on his legs, shot dead in the face at point-blank range”.Four months after the blockade began, there are signs that it is easing, although widespread shortages remain. On January 23, Nepal’s parliament voted through three amendments to the constitution intended to address some of the Madhesi demands, but they were immediately rejected as insufficient by the United Democratic Madhesi Front, the coalition of political parties leading the protests.
They would have had the support of Kumar Yadav. “The constitution is not a good thing,” he said. “Children of parents should have the same rights but in this family, one child is treated better than the other. It has to be equal, but it’s not.”
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