20 million illegal Bangladesh migrants form 2 per cent of India’s population

Two crore illegal Bangla migrants, 600 deported last year: states report
Amitabh Sinha 
 Oct 04, 2009

New Delhi: Estimates sent by the state governments have given an official number to
what has been known informally for a very long time – that illegal
migrants from Bangladesh now comprise at least two per cent of India’s
population.

According to “very conservative estimates” of the state governments, the
total number of Bangladeshi citizens residing in India without proper
documents or permits would be in excess of 2 crore, government sources
have told The Sunday Express.

The state governments had been asked to send estimates of the number of
Bangladeshi migrants living in their states and also the number of such
people who had been deported back to their country. Most states have now
responded.

According to these figures, not more than 600 Bangladeshi migrants had
been deported to their country in the last one year and the possibility
of many of them finding their way back isn’t being ruled out.

Migrants from Bangladesh now live in every part of the country. Besides
West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and other North-Eastern states – the known
places where these illegal migrants have been able to settle down –
Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka are
new regions having large concentrations of Bangladeshi citizens. Sources
said these were also areas witnessing rapid urbanization and
development, and therefore, offering job opportunities to these
migrants.

Though it had asked for the data from the states, the Centre was still
undecided on what use to put this data to.

“This was mostly an academic exercise, not aimed at any particular
objective. The figures that have come out are only estimates, but they
are reliable estimates,” a senior government official said. He said as
of now there was no clarity on how to deal with this migrant population.

“That is something that the political leadership will have to take a
call on, probably after obtaining a consensus on the issue. Migration
from Bangladesh has huge social and economic aspects apart from having
security implications. There is no easy way to tackle this issue,” he
said.

Madrassa in Assam blamed for being a safe-haven for illegal migrants and illegal activity

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/318193.php

Assam tense as illegal migrant issue resurfaces

From ANI

Jorhat (Assam), June 17: Activists in Assam’s Jorhat district have alleged that a madrassa in Titabor region is sheltering a number of illegal migrants, and called for a 12-hour shutdown against state government’s inaction.

Activists of Jatiya Yuba Chatra Parishad and some former Madrassa-e-Islamia workers expressed fear that the migrants might be involved in various illegal activities.

“According to the Investigation Officer, 87 students are there in the madrassa and they provided photocopy of it president of madrassa, Farooq Ahmed. Others had firmly said that there are not more than 87 students in the madrassa. But they organized a press meet before the issue was raised and said that there are 150 students and they sent me a letter asking food for 150 students. Now, they are unable to provide any information on the whereabouts of remaining 63 students. In that case why the administration is not taking any steps or action against them. We hope that the state govt, especially chief minister would conduct a high level enquiry regarding this problem,” said Mukhtar Ahmed, former Secretary Madrassa-e-Islamia.

In the wake of a 12-hour shutdown called by AJYCP activists, policemen patrolled the streets to keep a check on any untoward activity.

People of the area see it as threat to their security and want the government to take action against the madrasas.

“It is a very serious problem for Titobar and entire Assam. Rebels are being trained here (at the madrassa) and then they are sent for carrying out blasts and other such activities. It has become a security problem for the locals. It is because of the porous border that people from Bangladesh enter the country easily and the state government and especially the chief minister should take strict steps to curtail the problem,” said Anuj Kumar Das, a local.

An increasingly strong student movement that has been campaigning against immigrants sparked off the current conflict.

Despite fencing its 4,000-kilometre border with Bangladesh, India has not been able to stop migrants coming to Assam.

Assam shares a 272 km (169 mile) porous border with Bangladesh.

Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2009-06-17/667474892644.html

Illegal Migrant Tension in India

2009-6-17

Northeast India is tense, after a Muslim religious school is blamed for being a safe-haven for illegal migrants and illegal activity. This has sparked youth protests in the region and the migrants have been put under surveillance.

India’s Assam state is the center of agitation over illegal migrants sheltered at Madrassa-e-Islamia – a Muslim religious school.

Muslim residents and former staff now claim that several illegal migrants have taken refuge there and are involved in unlawful activities. It boils down to a question of numbers. The Investigation Officer has counted 87 students, but the school says there are 150.

[Mukhtar Ahmed, Former School Secretary]:

“They sent me a letter asking food for 150 students. Now, they are unable to provide any information on the whereabouts of remaining 63 students. In that case why is the administration not taking any steps or action against them? We hope that the state govt, especially chief minister, would conduct a high level enquiry regarding this problem.”

Police patrol the streets to keep a tab on any unrest after a 12-hour shutdown called by the activists, Jatiya Yuba Chatra Parishad. The activists blame state chief Tarun Gogoi for not taking any action against the school, which denies the allegations.

[Anuj Kumar Das, Resident]:

“It is a very serious problem for Titobar and entire Assam. Rebels are being trained here (at the madrassa) and then they are sent for carrying out blasts and other such activities. It has become a security problem for the locals.”

An increasingly strong student movement that has been campaigning against immigrants sparked off the current conflict.

India has fenced parts of the 4,000 kilometer border with Bangladesh, but officials say this has done little to deter desperate migrants.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants from Bangladesh have swamped the tea-growing and oil-rich Assam state, in search for work and food.

Illegal Migrant Tension in India

2009-6-17

Northeast India is tense, after a Muslim religious school is blamed for being a safe-haven for illegal migrants and illegal activity. This has sparked youth protests in the region and the migrants have been put under surveillance.

India’s Assam state is the center of agitation over illegal migrants sheltered at Madrassa-e-Islamia – a Muslim religious school.

Muslim residents and former staff now claim that several illegal migrants have taken refuge there and are involved in unlawful activities. It boils down to a question of numbers. The Investigation Officer has counted 87 students, but the school says there are 150.

[Mukhtar Ahmed, Former School Secretary]:

“They sent me a letter asking food for 150 students. Now, they are unable to provide any information on the whereabouts of remaining 63 students. In that case why is the administration not taking any steps or action against them? We hope that the state govt, especially chief minister, would conduct a high level enquiry regarding this problem.”

Police patrol the streets to keep a tab on any unrest after a 12-hour shutdown called by the activists, Jatiya Yuba Chatra Parishad. The activists blame state chief Tarun Gogoi for not taking any action against the school, which denies the allegations.

[Anuj Kumar Das, Resident]:

“It is a very serious problem for Titobar and entire Assam. Rebels are being trained here (at the madrassa) and then they are sent for carrying out blasts and other such activities. It has become a security problem for the locals.”

An increasingly strong student movement that has been campaigning against immigrants sparked off the current conflict.

India has fenced parts of the 4,000 kilometer border with Bangladesh, but officials say this has done little to deter desperate migrants.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants from Bangladesh have swamped the tea-growing and oil-rich Assam state, in search for work and food.

Assam tense as illegal migrant issue resurfaces

From ANI

Jorhat (Assam), June 17: Activists in Assam’s Jorhat district have alleged that a madrassa in Titabor region is sheltering a number of illegal migrants, and called for a 12-hour shutdown against state government’s inaction.

Activists of Jatiya Yuba Chatra Parishad and some former Madrassa-e-Islamia workers expressed fear that the migrants might be involved in various illegal activities.

“According to the Investigation Officer, 87 students are there in the madrassa and they provided photocopy of it president of madrassa, Farooq Ahmed. Others had firmly said that there are not more than 87 students in the madrassa. But they organized a press meet before the issue was raised and said that there are 150 students and they sent me a letter asking food for 150 students. Now, they are unable to provide any information on the whereabouts of remaining 63 students. In that case why the administration is not taking any steps or action against them. We hope that the state govt, especially chief minister would conduct a high level enquiry regarding this problem,” said Mukhtar Ahmed, former Secretary Madrassa-e-Islamia.

In the wake of a 12-hour shutdown called by AJYCP activists, policemen patrolled the streets to keep a check on any untoward activity.

People of the area see it as threat to their security and want the government to take action against the madrasas.

“It is a very serious problem for Titobar and entire Assam. Rebels are being trained here (at the madrassa) and then they are sent for carrying out blasts and other such activities. It has become a security problem for the locals. It is because of the porous border that people from Bangladesh enter the country easily and the state government and especially the chief minister should take strict steps to curtail the problem,” said Anuj Kumar Das, a local.

An increasingly strong student movement that has been campaigning against immigrants sparked off the current conflict.

Despite fencing its 4,000-kilometre border with Bangladesh, India has not been able to stop migrants coming to Assam.

Assam shares a 272 km (169 mile) porous border with Bangladesh.

Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

Beastly Muslim mob involved in clashes in Assam, five dead

Five dead in clashes, Kokrajhar tense

Samudra Gupta Kashyap  May 30, 2009

Guwahati: Tension continued to prevail in the Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar district in western Assam following the death of five persons, four of them in communal clashes since Wednesday evening.

Trouble triggered off in Hauriyapet village in the subdivision when two persons, Shankar Das and Pradyut Das, were hacked to death on Wednesday in connection with the death of one Shahina Khatun earlier in the month of April. An irate mob later tried to to attack the police when Kokrajhar SP P K Dutta arrived at the village, compelling the police to open fire. One person, later identified as Aminur Rahman (22) was killed in the police firing.

Even as tension spread to the entire sub-division where Muslims of migrant origin have reportedly increased rather rapidly in the past two decades, two rickshaw-pullers, Momir Ali and Khalilur Rahman, were killed when miscreants attacked them with sharp weapons in Gossaigaon on Thursday.

Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner K Narzary, meanwhile, said the situation was tense but under control on Friday due to heavy deployment of security forces. Normal life was paralysed in the district due to a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Bengali Youth Federation (BYF) demanding a judicial probe into the incident.

Educational institutions, shops and banks remained close while vehicular traffic remained off the roads, Narzary said. Attendance in government offices was also almost nil. Hundreds of truck carrying essential items to different Northeastern states were stranded at the Srirampur inter-state gate due to the bandh on Friday.

“There is tension in Gossaigaon, but the situation is under control. A few persons have been already arrested by the police, and at least one of them in connection with the incidents,” Narzary said.

Hariyapet village has been witnessing tension for the past couple of years over an alleged dispute of boundary between a temple and a mosque. There is also a pending land dispute between the two communities over establishment of an idgah maidan and a cremation ground for the past few months.

State Agriculture Minister Pramila Rani Brahma visited the area and met family members of the deceased. She also met leaders of both the communities and asked them to live in peace and harmony. Gossaigaon incidentally shares borders with West Bengal and is close to the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Pakistani flags spotted flying in Lakhimpur, Assam

Pakistani flags again spotted in North Lakhimpur
Font size: Editor 05 February, 2009
There is report of a simmering tension in North Lakhimpur district as two Pakistani flags were seen flying in two interior areas on Wednesday. Confirming this, police officials told reporters that the name of Pakistan was clearly written in English in both the flags

Both the Pakistani flags were spotted in Malagaon near Dikorng chapori in Lakhimpur district and the local residents said they have not seen any body hoisting the flags.

On receipt if the complaint, a police team led by the district superintendent of police Mrinal Deka rushed to the spot and seized the two flags. Investigation is in progress.

The incident is said to an attempt to incite communal clash in the areas inhibited by both Hindus and Muslims.

AGP’s Muslim MLA in Assam alleged to have ISI links

AGP sacks top leader, links to Pak ISI alleged

By Our Special Correspondent
Guwahati

Jan. 14: The Opposition Asom Gana Parishad on Wednesday removed one of its general secretaries, who is an MLA, for his alleged links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

This came to light when Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said during a debate in the Assam Assembly that AGP general secretary Nurul Hussain had met some jailed ISI undertrials with the court’s permission.

Mr Hussain admitted he had gone to meet the undertrials, who were from his constituency.

The AGP served a showcause notice to Mr Hussain, fearing the issue might snowball into a major controversy before the Lok Sabha poll as the party had taken a pro-BJP line and was already in the final stage of seat-sharing discussions.

“The party decided on Mr Hussain’s removal after it was not satisfied with his clarification,” said AGP spokesman Apurba Bhattacharya. He was removed as general secretary as well as from the party’s steering and executive committees.

The Congress minister told reporters: “The AGP should stop criticising us that the Congress is weak with the ISI as their own general secretary had met them inside the jail.”

The AGP had criticised the Congress and charged it with being soft towards ISI undertrials, saying that they managed to get bail as the Assam police had failed to file proper chargesheets.

The AGP has also formed a three-member committee, comprising Dr Kamala Kalita, Pabindra Deka and Sahidul Alam Choudhury, to further investigate the MLA’s alleged ISI connections and to submit a report on this to party president Chandra Mohan Patowary. Dr Kalita is the committee’s convenor.

Bodo militants, not Islamic terrorists masterminded serial bombings in Assam: Police

Bodo militants masterminded serial bombings in Assam: Police
11 Nov 2008, 1001 hrs IST, IANS

GUWAHATI: Twelve days after the wave of bombings in Assam that killed 83 people and wounded 300 more, police on Tuesday said evidence suggests the  involvement of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in triggering the explosions, rejecting earlier theories of Islamist terror groups being directly involved in the attacks.

Police and officials of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the serial bombings of Oct 30 claim to have almost reached the final stage of the investigations with all evidences pointing towards the NDFB, in a ceasefire with New Delhi since 2005.

The sequence of events before and after the explosions in Guwahati (three blasts), Kokrajhar, Barpeta, and Bongaigaon are sensational.

Investigators have found that three Maruti cars used in the Guwahati bombings were all purchased by NDFB cadres, while a motorbike used in the Bongaigaon blast was also owned by a NDFB rebel.

No police official, however, would like to come on record.

According to investigators, plans for executing the serial blasts were chalked out by NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary, believed to be based in Bangladesh. Daimary was apparently unhappy over the slow progress of the peace talks with New Delhi and did the planning with the support of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI). The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had a minimal role in the blasts, officials said.

“The NDFB masterminded the bombings with the ULFA giving a helping hand to the terror strike with support from the HuJI. But it was the NDFB that is primarily responsible,” a police official said, requesting not to be named.

The run up to the blasts:

Oct 28: The three vehicles used for the blasts in Guwahati arrived here from different locations and were parked at a house in the Gorchuk area, in the city’s outskirts.

Oct 29: All the three vehicles were packed with explosives in the same place.

Oct 30: The three cars were driven to the allotted parking lots in the city for the big terror strike. One of the cars was driven by a man named Thumri Narzary, believed to be a NDFB cadre. Police are now in possession of the call list of Thumri’s mobile phone and the location from where he called based on mobile tower positions. After parking the car at the chief judicial magistrate’s court, Thumri left Guwahati for an unknown location.

Thumri’s mobile phone was later tracked at Rangia, 70 km from Guwahati, and then in Kokrajhar. After Kokrajhar, Thumri’s mobile phone could not be tracked.

The owners of the three cars used for bombings were traced to Baksa district in western Assam. The NDFB’s designated camp is located in Baksa. Police and security forces have cordoned off the NDFB’s camp since Monday night, suspecting some of the kingpins of the blasts could be hiding inside the barracks.

The NDFB has denied any involvement in the explosions and has blamed the government for trying to derail the peace process.

Authorities are now contemplating an end to the three-year-old ceasefire with the NDFB after the investigations.

Government appeasement and inaction leading to frightening spectre of organic, mushroom-like growth of Indian Muslim jihadi terrorist cells in different parts of India

The Indian jihadi net
B Raman
November 03, 2008

The number of fatalities in the serial explosions in Assam on October 30, has gone up to 75, with the death of some  of the injured  in the hospitals. Another about 300 persons are undergoing treatment in the hospitals and some of them are stated to be in a serious condition.

According to the police, there was a total of nine blasts timed to take place in four different cities or towns in the state between 11 and 11.30 am. The most devastating in terms of casualties (35 killed), property damage and psychological effect on the people were the three in Guwahati, the capital. In all these three cases, the improvised explosive device (IED) was kept in the boot of cars. The use of the boot for keeping the explosives enabled the perpetrators to keep more explosive material than one could in a bicycle or in a tiffin box. In the Ahmedabad [Images] blasts of July 26, the explosive device was kept in a car near a local hospital.

Motor-vehicle- borne IEDs also cause more casualties due to the splinter effect and large fires, which have a traumatic effect on the local population. Many who rang me up after the Guwahati explosions remarked that the scene with cars burning reminded them of what they had been seeing on the TV about similar incidents in Baghdad. This kind of trauma one did not witness during the earlier serial explosions in three towns of Uttar Pradesh [Images] in November last year, in Jaipur [Images] in May, in Bangalore and Ahmedabad in July, in New Delhi [Images] in September and in Agartala in October.

The three cars had been kept parked with the IED near a vegetable and fruit market at Ganeshguri below a fly-over, in front of the office of the Kamrup Deputy Commissioner, and near a police station in the Fancy Bazaar.The Ganeshguri area is near the high security complex of the capital.

There were three explosions in the town of Kokrajhar in which 21 persons were killed. The IEDs were kept inside bags. A bag left in a local fish market seemed to have caused the largest number of casualties. Kokrajhar is the town headquarters of the Bodoland Territorial Council. There were recently violent attacks on illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by sections of the Bodo tribals. Eleven persons were killed in two explosions in the Barpeta area. There was one explosion in the Bongaigon area, which does not appear to have caused any fatality. According to one report, the IED left in the Bongaigon area, which initially failed to explode, exploded after the police found it and were trying to defuse it. Ten persons were injured.

Forensic experts have not yet identified the explosives used, but the local police have been suspecting that the perpetrators had probably used a mix of the RDX and TNT. If they had used a high-power explosive like RDX and kept it in the boot of a car, the number of instant fatalities must have been more. Anyhow, one has to await the forensic report.

The traumatic nature of the explosions, the like of which Assam — particularly Guwahati— had not seen before caused an outburst of public anger against the authorities for failing to prevent the explosions. This necessitated the imposition of a curfew in some parts of the capital.

While Assam has been seeing for some years well synchronised serial blasts — either in different places in the same town or in different towns simultaneously — those blasts were carried out with low-intensity explosives with low lethality. The synchronisation, the lethality and the expertise in assembling the IEDs exhibited in the October 30 blasts show the availability of lethal explosives and better expertise in using them.

It is the assessment of the local police officers that the United Liberation Front of Assam, the ethnic terrorist group which has been fighting for an independent  Assam, does not have the kind of material and expertise used on October 30. Only jihadi organisations — of local as well as Bangladeshi origin — have such material and expertise. Among such organisations are the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami of Bangladesh known as HUJI-B to distinguish it from the HUJI of Pakistan and the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, which had carried out nearly 450 synchronised explosions of low intensity IEDs in different places in Bangladesh on August 17, 2005.

The JUM’s activities in Bangladesh are in a state of disarray following the arrest, trial and execution of some of its principal leaders by the Bangladesh authorities last year. While the Bangladesh authorities have been able to neutralise its top leadership, its middle-level leadership, infrastructure and trained cadres are still intact. Its capability for carrying out serial blasts of the nature seen on October 30 is unimpaired. The leadership, infrastructure and trained cadres of the HUJI-B are also intact.

The Assamese police authorities, therefore, suspect that the explosions were  more likely to have been carried out by one of these organisations or both, with the role of the ULFA, if at all there was any, limited to providing local logistics.

The ULFA itself, through a spokesman based in Assam, has strongly denied that it had organised the explosions. The denial might have been motivated by the strong public anger over the blasts.

An organisation identifying itself by the abbreviation ISF-IM has claimed responsibility for the blasts in a text message sent to a local TV channel in Guwahati. The authorities think that these abbreviations stand for Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen. A local jihadi organisation by the name Islamic Security Force had come to notice in 2002, but it had not indulged in such activities so far. The text message might have been sent from a stolen mobile. Before the recent Olympics [Images] in Beijing [Images], there was an explosion in a bus in Kunming. The perpetrator of that blast had also claimed responsibility in a text message sent from a cell phone. He could not be traced by local authorities.

Before the visit of Bharatiya Janata Party L K Advani [Images] to Shillong on September 28 and 29, the local police and media reportedly received two e-mail messages holding out threats against him. One of these messages was from a local law student named Mominul Haque. He was identified as the suspected originator of this message and arrested. The second message purported to be from what was described as the north-east branch of the IM. It was reportedly received by a local media house on September 25. The originator of the message gave his name as Ali Hussain Badr, field commander of the IM in the north-east. The message said: “Our main objective is to blow Advani to pieces. Our suicide bombers are ready for this prestigious assignment. Advani’s Hindutva demand seems to push India into a fascist mould and, as is well known, the proclaimed and identified main enemy of the architects of Hindutva (are) the Muslims and the Christians. Apart from the Babri Masjid demolition to the Gujarat massacre and the recent attacks on churches in Orissa, Karnataka, and some parts of Madhya Pradesh, Advani has always tried to portray the Muslims and Christians as inveterate enemies of the Hindus. This will be history in the making in the state of Meghalaya when our suicide bombers will rock Shillong. Stop us if you can. We have already set our foot in Shillong to kill Advani.”

The Shillong police took added precautions and no terrorist strike took place during Advani’s visit. The serial blasts in Agartala took place two days after his visit to Shillong.

It is difficult to comment on the authenticity of these messages sent in the name of the IM because the originators had not given any indicator of authenticity. After the Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts, the originators had given such indicators in the form of pictures of the IEDs at the spot where they were left.

For the present, I am inclined to agree with the assessment of the local police that there is a greater evidence of jihadi involvement than ULFA involvement. The ULFA, being an ethnic terrorist organisation, generally takes care to target mainly non-Assamese from other parts of India working and living in Assam. It avoids indiscriminate placing of the IEDs which might kill Assamese as well as non-Assamese Indian nationals. The jihadis kill indiscriminately. The October 30 killings appear to have been indiscriminate

If one carefully analyses the various serial blasts which have taken place in different parts of India since November 2007, one could notice an organic, mushroom-like growth of jihadi terrorist cells in different parts of  India — self-radicalised, self-motivated, self-organised with self-planning and self-execution of the strikes — with each cell motivated by its own local grievances, but with all these cells having an as yet invisible connectivity with a single brain and a single source of inspiration orchestrating them.

The police of Ahmedabad, Delhi and Mumbai have been able to identify and arrest the individual perpetrators, but they still do not have an idea of the brain and the command and control of these perpetrators.

The intelligence agencies and the police have been repeatedly taken by surprise and there are many inadequacies in their performance. But I find it cruel to keep criticising them all the time because they can be effective only if the political leadership allows them to be effective.

Despite the wave of serial blasts and mass casualties caused by the jihadis, the present political leadership in the government of India and the Congress continues to be in a denial mode. For them, the Muslim votes in the forthcoming elections are more important than the lives of innocent men, women and children. They are not prepared to admit that some Muslim youth have taken to jihadi terrorism of the al Qaeda kind. To admit that would amount to admitting that their policy of mollycoddling the Muslims has proved counterproductive and is threatening the unity of the country and its well-being. One can see evidence of this disturbing mindset in the case of the Assam blasts of October 30 too. While the professionals have been saying that the jihadis have done it, the political leadership is not mentally prepared to blame the Indian jihadis.

In the face of the inaction by the government, the Indian Mujahideen is growing, like the Internet, organically — with nobody knowing where is the beginning of this Jihadi Net, where is its end, how the various jihadi cells are connected with each other and who is facilitating their connectivity. It is a frightening scenario.

B Raman

Assam: Shubh Deepawali in 1947, Diwali Mubarak’ in 2010, Deep wale Ali ka salana Urus’ in 2030

Masses point to jehadi problem in Assam with SMS
Guwahati | Tuesday, Nov 4 2008 IST

Even as police continue to stumble for leads on the solitary SMS claiming responsibility for the Assam serial blasts, another kind of SMS is doing the rounds in the state, reflecting the anguish of the people against the government’s failure in checking infiltration and jehadi activities.

The state, still struggling to come to terms with the magnitude of devastation, has found this novel way of expressing its deep anguish at the government’s alleged inaction and the frightening dimensions of the problem.

Text messages are being sent out across the state warning of the situation Assam would face in the next five-ten years if the unabated influx from Bangladesh, held directly responsible for growing jehadi activities here, was not stopped immediately.

A popular SMS that surfaces whenever the drive against suspected Bangladeshi immigrants gains ground is one that is written in a text resembling Urdu, with the message ending with a text in English saying ‘Just practising staying in Assam!’.

Another popular SMS finds inspiration from the ‘Buy two, get one free’ offers of stores, with the SMS mentioning an imaginary phone number and address with a ‘Bumper offer’ of ‘Buy 1 Bangladeshi, get 2 Bangladeshis free’ with ‘unlimited stock’.

A new SMS that has emerged after the serial blasts runs a parody on the changing mannerisms in offering Diwali greetings due to the ‘growing Muslim population’. From ‘Shubh Deepawali’ in 1947, it goes on to become ‘Happy Diwali’ in 2000, to ‘Diwali Mubarak’ in 2010, to ‘Shab-e-deep mubarak’ in 2020 to finally end as ‘Deep wale Ali ka salana Urus’ in 2030.

Such SMS, portraying the gravity of the situation due to unabated influx with a pinch of humour, surfaces in the state whenever a disturbing situation arises due to illegal settlers.

However, the most baffling SMS this time round has been the one sent by a little-known outfit, Islamic Security Force (Indian Mujahideen), to a private TV channel here a day after the serial blasts claiming responsibility.

The nine synchronised blasts of October 30 in Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon have left 82 dead so far and over 800 injured.

— (UNI) — 04CA12.xml

Assam vulnerable to growing presence of Muslim terror groups

Assam vulnerable to Islamic terror groups
K Anurag in Guwahati
November 01, 2008

Assam has been standing vulnerable in view of the growing presence of several Islamic militant groups and fundamentalist organisations. Thursday’s serial bombings reflected the grave threat given that Assam Police pointed an accusing finger at jihadi groups for the blasts.

Though nobody is ready to exonerate the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, the investigation is now more focused on Islamic militants groups and fundamentalist organisations having either bases or links in the state. The police are not ignoring the ULFA angle in the course of investigation into Thursday’s blasts.

A security source said Islamic fundamentalist groups upsurge would pose a much bigger challenge to the state than the three-decade-old insurgency spearheaded by the banned ULFA. Senior security officials in Assam huddled for a late night meeting on the day of serial blasts to evolve a strategy to counter the threat from fundamentalist outfits.

Assam government recently informed the state assembly that two Islamic militant groups, including the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, were particularly active across Assam, and that a number of persons belonging to different such outfits were also lodged in different jails of the state.

Some militant organisations that are active in the state include the Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam, Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, Islamic Liberation Army of Assam, United Reformation Protest of Assam and People’s United Liberation Front.

The army, engaged in counter-insurgency operation in Assam, has been warning the state government about the ISI links of Islamic militants active in the state. The army recently informed the state government that the Muslim United Liberation Tiger of Assam was becoming more active in Lower Assam areas given that it had recovered a cache of explosives, including IEDs from the outfit.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani [Images], who visited Assam on Friday, alleged that the Students’ Islamic Movement of India had links with the Assam-based MULTA and Muslim United Students Association. He called upon the Government of India to clear the matter before the people in the interests of national security.

It was in Guwahati where the first arrest of any ‘ISI operative’ was ever made in the country. The Assam Police had in August 1999 arrested four terrorists in the heart of Guwahati, two of whom were Pakistani nationals — Md Fasiullah Hussaini alias Hamid Mahmood alias Khalid Mehmood of Hyderabad (Sind) and Md Javed Waqar alias Md Mustafa  Abdul Rahman Danish of Karachi. Both of them were alleged to be top activists of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Subsequently, Assam Police had arrested 13 more persons, all local youths. One of them was one Nurul Amin, who was convicted for life by a Delhi [Images] Court in connection with the Connaught Place abduction of two British nationals carried out by Harkat-ul-Ansar headed by Masood Ajhar. But interestingly, Nurul had escaped from custody while being taken by the police to a hospital for health check up in October 2006.

However, nine years after they were arrested, four persons, including Fasiullah Hussaini and Md Javed Waqar, were released by a session’s court in Guwahati on June 11 due to lack of ‘solid evidence.’

Also was released along with these two Pakistanis nationals was one Billal Miyan, who was a Bangladeshi national arrested in West Bengal. All of them were acquitted of their charges filed under sections 121, 122 and 153 (A) of the IPC, which included allegations of waging war against India, criminal conspiracy and sedition etc.

Their acquittal by the court of law triggered hue and cry in the state with All Assam Students Union accusing the Congress-led government in the state of making the case soft against the ‘ISI operatives’.

Meanwhile, a senior police official said that as external force inimical to India would not be able to carry out such devastating serial explosions sans logistic help and support from local groups.

Huji’s islamic plan in Assam: Foment trouble and bleed India

Why HuJI has found a new hotbed

Manan Kumar
01 Nov 2008

When clashes erupted between ethnic Bodos and ‘immigrant Bangladeshi’ Muslims in two rugged-terrain districts of Assam early last month, many predicted that it was only the manifestation of a simmering issue, and the worse was coming. They didn’t get it wrong: a deadly serial bomb blast ripped through the state on October 30.

The blasts were preceded by shrill anti-India war cries from several Bangladeshi Muslim-dominated villages of northern Udalaguri and Darrang districts where Pakistani flags were hoisted. The incident exposed the damage that a vote-hungry government can do to its people even as the virus of communal hatred was spreading wide and fast. The retaliation came this Thursday as several Upper Assam towns were rocked by explosions.

The scale and precision of the latest blasts and the steady flow of intelligence point a clear finger towards the involvement of Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) of Bangladesh,  born in 1992 with the assistance of Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front.

But the warning that India’s Northeast, particularly Assam, is going to the next target of HuJI’s jehadi terror has been on the wall for quite some time. Worried conflict analysts had been pointing to the brisk demographic changes occurring in parts of Assam and the increasing infiltration of ISI-backed HuJI-B into that state’s Bangladeshi Muslim pockets. Terror would be exported from the eastern borders rather than the west, they had cautioned.

With Pakistan under pressure from the US to bring an end to its association with jehadi outfits, the Northeast, with its 200-odd insurgent groups and a clutch of weak governments, becomes an automatic choice for the ISI to exploit the region’s fragility. The Pakistani intellegince agency also found a natural ally in Bangladeshi fundamentalist elements.

From late 1990s onwards, Bangladesh has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of madrassas. The aim of these schools, originally meant to impart Quranic education, has been to create a large base of fundamentalist youth. The same period also saw the HuJI-B and other fundamentalist outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir making increasing efforts to destabilise Bangladesh and establish Islamic rule in Dhaka.

In June 2001, about 25 al Qaeda activists visited HuJI training camps to prepare its cadre for much tougher terror tasks. It is no coincidence that during the same time, Bangladesh was alerted to the cries of Amra Sobai Hobo Taliban, Bangla Hobe Afghanistan (we will all become Taliban and we will turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan). The HuJI, having created a strong base in Bangladesh by then, turned its focus to the troubled Northeast following instructions from ISI and al Qaeda. The immediate motive was obvious: foment trouble and bleed India by penetrating Assam’s migrant Bangladeshi Muslim population and preparing them to undertake terror attacks.

The long-term objective of HuJI, security agencies believe, is to cut supply lines to the Northeast by severing India’s Chicken Neck corridor. Even Census 2001 shows that the migrant Bangladeshi Muslim population on both sides of the corridor had increased manifold.

Sources in the intelligence agencies claim that HuJI-B has since then not only forged alliances with groups like United Liberation Front of Asom, Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council and Peoples’ Liberation Army. It also established bases and sleeper cells in Kokrajhar, Naugaon, Karimganj, Bokaghat and Lumding.

Latest intelligence reports indicate that ISI has provided more men and material for military training to HuJI and its agents, including men from Taliban and al Qaeda. They are training both Bangladeshi and Indian cadres of HuJI in Kurigram and Rangpur areas of Bangladesh.

manan24@rediffmail.com