The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), border guarding power on the India-Nepal border, has flagged a spurt within the variety of mosques and madrasas, inside 15 km from the Nepal border, in Uttar Pradesh. Whereas the variety of mosques has gone up from 738 in 2018 to 1,000 in 2021, the variety of madrasas has risen from 500 in 2018 to 645 in 2021, officers mentioned.

India shares a 1,751-km border with Nepal alongside Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim. UP shares a 570-km border with Nepal and has 30 border police stations. The development of mosques, madrasas and mosque-cum-madrasas, sources mentioned, have been flagged in seven UP border districts – Maharajganj, Siddharth Nagar, Balrampur, Bahraich, Shravasti, Pilibhit and Khiri.

SSB was arrange in 1963, following the Chinese language aggression in 1962. “A rise of almost 26% (mosques and madrasas) has been witnessed within the final three years, indicating demographic adjustments in border areas. The UP-Nepal border has additionally seen smuggling of pretend Indian forex notes and narcotics trafficking. There isn’t a extradition treaty or MLAT settlement with Nepal,” mentioned a senior authorities official.

When contacted, SSB’s spokesperson didn’t remark.

The Himalayan state has been utilized by Pakistan-based terror teams as secure havens prior to now and with Beijing’s rising curiosity in Nepal, New Delhi is anxious over the rising affect of Pakistan’s all-weather ally within the area. The UP police had, in 2019, blown the lid off a global terrorism funding racket linked to Nepal’s central financial institution. The police then claimed the involvement of Indian nationals who used to deliver cash from Nepal and use it to fund terrorist actions within the nation.

In 2013, Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal and his aide Asadulah Akhtar, who had been from Pokhra in Nepal, had been hiding there after finishing up a sequence of bomb blasts in India. The low penetration of Indian telecom operators in border areas has been flagged as one other explanation for concern by the safety institution.