New Delhi, Sept. 18: India has become apprehensive about the proposed cooperation with Nepal’s border security forces after the Maoists pulled out of G.P. Koirala’s government today.

The home ministry has begun to look with suspicion at Nepal’s Seema Suraksha Prahari (SSP) that was to cooperate with the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in the run-up to November’s constituent assembly polls in that country.

“Our estimates are that 20 per cent of the strength of the SSP is of surrendered Maoists who carry weapons. We do not know whether they will be with the government or return to the Maoist fold after today,” a home ministry source said.

Following the pullout by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), India has alerted all states bordering that country.

Worried that a return to arms by the Maoists will have implications in Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the home ministry has alerted the SSB and the state governments. Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh have also been alerted.

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh border Nepal’s Terai plains where the Maoists are believed to have lost support to Madhesi groups, which are armed too. It is feared that India’s border districts could get embroiled in politically motivated clashes in the Nepal Terai, sources said.

“The Madhesi areas are about 65 per cent of the fertile land of Nepal. Since they border India, a mafia is active in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, making the region vulnerable to crime,” said Pavan Patel, a research scholar on Nepal affairs at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

India’s main concern is to prevent smuggling of arms to and from Nepal. Surveillance will be stepped up in these states with the help of district administrations.