Bangladesh stand worries India

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, March 26 –

Bangladesh Government’s soft stand towards the leaders of the militant groups taking shelter in that country is turning out to be a major security concern for India and till date, the Government of India has not been able to put adequate pressure on the Government of the neighbouring country to evict the militants and radical forces using the territory of that country, highly placed official sources admitted today. Meanwhile, the stand of the Government of India on the issue of talks with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) remains the same and the Government is not too keen on talking through mediators after the talks with the People’s Consultative Group (PCG) failed to yield the desired results. The Centre is also of the view that the talks with the militant group must be held without any pre-condition and the top leaders of the outfit must come for talks.

Sources pointed out that time and again, the Government of India requested the Bangladesh Government to take action against the leaders of the anti-India forces taking shelter in that country, but till date, no such action has been taken and the attitude has not changed even after the caretaker Government assumed office. According to information available with the Indian security agencies, the top leaders of the ULFA including its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and the commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah are still in Bangladesh, while, the ULFA is still maintaining makeshift camps in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Coxes Bazar areas.

The Government of Bangladesh has also not handed over ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia to India after his jail term in that country ended. Sources said that after Chetia’s jail term ended in Bangladesh, a petition was filed in the court with the appeal that he should not be handed over to India. The matter is still pending before the court and though the Government of Bangladesh is claiming that Chetia was in “protective custody”, Indian security agencies are of the view that he has been able to move freely and was in touch with the other leaders of the outfit. Sources also said that the ULFA C-in-C Paresh Baruah visited Thailand at least twice within the last six months and it is believed that he was in Bangkok to fix arms deals with clandestine dealers. However, for some time, the Indian security agencies failed to keep track of the movements of Baruah outside Bangladesh after he changed passports.

Indian security forces alleged that the militant groups are receiving direct of indirect help from the DGFI, the intelligence agency of Bangladesh. “Of course, DGFI is not providing weapons to the militants as weapons are easily available in the clandestine markets. But according to information available with the security forces, DGFI personnel are helping the militant leaders to ensure their free movement and there have been instances when the security forces along the border on the other side kept a blind eye whenever the militants were on their way to enter India,” sources added.

Sources revealed that apart from the ULFA, almost all the major militant groups of the North East have their bases in Bangladesh and the leaders of the outfit could operate easily from those bases. However, these issues were not discussed seriously during the recent visit of Bangladesh Army chief to India. Sources described the visit as a “goodwill visit” and it was aimed only at improving the relations between the two countries.

The presence of fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh also posed a grave security threat not only to North East but also to entire India as several recent fundamentalist attacks in different parts of India including the blasts in Hyderabad and Varanashi and the attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, were linked back to Bangladesh. Sources said that though immediately after taking over power, the caretaker Government in Bangladesh acted tough on forces like Harkat ul Jehadi Islami (HUJI) and Jamat E Islami, Bangladesh, the pressure on these groups eased in recent times because of the reasons best known to the Bangla authorities.

Meanwhile, the Government of Myanmar has also not acted tough on the militant groups of North East having bases and camps in that country despite assuring the Government of India to do so. Last year, the Government of Myanmar promised to launch “coordinated operations” with the Indian security forces against the militant groups having camps in that country, but the assurance is yet to be translated into reality on the ground and only a few sporadic operations have so far been launched against the militants by the army personnel of Myanmar from time to time.