Treat of foundamentalists to India Northeast say Security forces
The heads of the police forces
of Asom and Tripura, the States having long
international border with Bangladesh, have admitted that the threat posed to the security of the Northeast from the growth of
fundamentalist forces in the neighbouring country is very serious, and expressed apprehension that extremist elements might try to sneak into India through the porous border to create disturbance in the region. Talking to Zoland News Network, the Director General of Assam Police, DN Dutt admitted that the treat to the security of the region is ‘very serious’. He said that the State Police has received disturbing inputs of the attempts of the jehadi elements of Bangladesh, at the instance of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) or other agencies inimical to India to create trouble in the region. He said that such forces might have a larger game plan to create terror and the security forces have been put on high alert to foil any such attempt.
Dutt expressed the view that all the states having international border with Bangladesh must launch a coordinated effort to deal with the threat posed by the fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh and said that the issue has been discussed at various levels recently. He said that the states having border with Bangladesh should chalk out a comprehensive action plan to deal with the threat posed to the security of the nation.
The Asom DGP revealed that efforts are on to prevent personnel of the anti-India forces from sneaking into the State through the international border. He said that the Border Security force (BSF) is guarding the international border while, the second line of defence personnel of the Border organization of the Asom Police have also been alerted to prevent anyone from sneaking into the State from the neighbouring country. However, he admitted that the long riverine border is still vulnerable and despite best efforts, the riverine border could not be sealed as yet. He said that the BSF and the State Police have their limitations in guarding the riverine border, but at the same time, he said that best possible efforts are being made in this regard.
It may be mentioned here that though the Government of India decided to send five floating Border Outposts to Asom to improve vigilance along the riverine border, the Government of Bangladesh did not allow those to be brought in through the territory of the country.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Tripura Police, GM Srivastava also admitted the fact that the threat posed to the security of the region by the fundamentalist and anti-India forces in Bangladesh is very serious.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Srivastava said, “ Bangladesh is no longer the same country which India helped in liberating in 1971 and as per information available with us, the country has become the training centre of the fundamentalist and terrorist forces inimical to India.” He said that all the North Eastern states are susceptible to possible sabotage attempts of the fundamentalist forces backed by the ISI and such forces might try to use the porous border to sneak into India. He said that with intensification of the international border of India in the western sector, the fundamentalist and terrorist elements were trying to sneak into India through the border in North East. He pointed out that the ISI agents nabbed in Guwahati in 2000 managed to sneak into India from Bangladesh through the international border in Karimganj and the militants belonging to the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) arrested in Asom during the same time had gone for training in Bangladesh by taking advantage of the porous border. There have been several other instances of persons representing anti-India forces sneaking into the country from Bangladesh through the porous border. It may be mentioned here that Srivastava was the IGP (Operation) of Asom police when the ISI agents were arrested inGuwahati.
Srivastava said that Tripura has about 850 kilometres of international border with Bangladesh and about 440 kilometres of it has been fenced so far. He expressed the hope that about 80 percent of the border would be fenced by the end of this year and after the completion of the fencing, the situation would improve considerably.
The Tripura DGP revealed that recently eleven persons from Mumbai and eight from Gujarat were picked up for questioning in Tripura and a team of Mumbai police reached the state for grilling them. “The persons picked up claimed that they came to Tripura to propagate religion but we had our doubts because they had chosen the areas near the international border for their activities and their credentials looked doubtful,” he added.