Nepal, April 21 -- The government of Nepal's decision to make it mandatory to pay customs duty on goods worth more than Rs100 brought through land routes from India may appear sudden and unexpected. But this is not merely a story about the border. This is a story of the politics of fear. The story of a state that has begun to fear its own citizens. This is not just a policy change. This is the decline of priorities.

The open Nepal-India border, once kept alive by relationships, roti (employment opportunities) and everyday life, has today become a 'threat' in the eyes of those in power. And when the state starts seeing its own people as a threat, it understands that the problem lies not at the border but in governance itself.

In Nepal, t...