In the last one year, 51 Nepali girls enmeshed in the flesh trade in Khasa have been rescued and returned home safely.

The rescuing organizations, Maiti Nepal and Santi Punarsthapana Griha, said that all the trafficked girls were salvaged from dance bars, cabin restaurants and lodges operating in the red light area of Khasa. 

Security measures against human trafficking at Tatopani checkpost had intensified after the successful rescue of five women from Khasa and Rasuwa checkposts around two and half years ago. The rescued girls informed Maiti Nepal about Khasa being used as the new route for human trafficking for the flesh trade. All the girls were brought back home with their own consent, informed Maiti Nepal. 

According to both the organizations, human trafficking through agents and the flesh trade in Khasa have doubled in recent years. In just one year, the two organizations saved 150 women being trafficked through the checkposts.

As per a report prepared by Maiti Nepal, there are six dance bars, 20 cabin restaurants, 10 hotels, and 20 lodges in operation in the red light area of Khasa and there are at least five women engaged in the flesh trade in each one of them. 

“While most of them are forced to sell their bodies, there are some who indulge in this business of their own will,” said supervisor at Maiti Nepal, Pabitra Ghimire. 

The fresh trade has boomed because of the free China-Nepal border policy, informed Kopila Tamang, Supervisor at Santi Punarsthapana Griha. “Many girls working in restaurants in Kathmandu and Pokhara end up in Khasa, lured by hopes of making more money,” said Tamang. 

“Most of the girls get one day passes given at the border by the emigration office and they rarely return. Through our investigation, we came to known that the girls are trafficked to Kuti and Lhasa from there. The agents move them around different places every three months,” said Tamang. 

Tamang shared that most of the trafficked girls from Kavre, Kaski, Ramechhap, Chitwan and Dang districts have been found entering Tibet through the checkpost.

Published on: 28 April 2013 | Republica