According to intelligence reports, the coming together of the various outfits helped these underground outfits to extend the playing field of the Maoists from Hyderabad to Kathmandu and from Colombo to Dhaka. In fact, the cross-border confederation enables Maoists in one country to get help from other south Asian countries. This would means that extremists could trouble India from across the Nepal and Bangladesh borders. What is worrying for India is that Pakistan's ISI has already established strong bases in these countries. Though both the MCC and the PWG are at loggerheads in Bihar and Jharkhand, their battle is not on ideology, only a skirmish to establish a supremacy over the other in bid to encroach on that group's territory.

A senior Bihar Police officer admitted that the transborder confederation of extremists poses a serious threat to the security and the integrity of the nation. In a significant move the MCC-traditionally active in central and south central Bihar districts-has chosen Sheohar district in north Bihar as its new base. Incidentally, the district borders Nepal, facilitating the movement of armed guerrillas across the border. "Earlier there was absolutely no presence of Naxalites in Sheohar, but now the MCC is active there. This is a cause for worry," admits Bihar Inspector-General of Police (Operations) Neelmani. The MCC has already made its presence felt in another north Bihar district Darbhanga, which too is close to Nepal.

Amid the many tensions in a volatile subcontinent, the menace of the extreme Red is often forgotten. Yet these groups too have waged war against India now for at least two decades, claiming the lives of over 6,000 people in Andhra Pradesh and 12,000 in Bihar. And with synergy becoming a buzzword for Moaist extremists as much as corporate captains, it is unlikely this war will end soon.