EAST INDIA WATCH

1946 Direct Action of Jinnah Re-Enacted - Part 2

2009-07-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

V. Sundaram

Minority Hindus in certain pockets of Muslim majority Murshidabad District are under a siege today. The trouble started on July 10, 2009 in Beldanga Sub Division of that District when certain criminal Muslim elements let loose unprovoked violence against the Hindus.

Tapan kumar ghosh, National convenor, Hindu Samhati

Many Hindus were killed and battered. Their shops were burnt. Women were molested. Till yesterday evening an embargo was placed on media personnel visiting the riot torn area for reporting and news coverage.

In these columns yesterday (Please see Part 1 of this article below) I had mentioned that the anti-Hindu CPI(M) Government in West Bengal today is re-enacting in Murshidabad District the same macabre communal drama of DIRECT ACTION of the evil duo M/s Mohammad Ali Jinnah and H.S Suhravardy — I am referring to the carnage of Hindus in Calcutta City which took place on August 16, 1946. The stage for the gruesome Calcutta killing was set by the Premier of Bengal H.S Suhravardy who masterminded the Hindu Genocide. The Government of Bengal remained silent for two days and watched the mass killing of Hindus with a Nero-like impassivity. The British Governor F Burrows, sat like a marble statue in his Chambers, ‘seeing no evil’ and ‘hearing no evil’. Burrows and Suhravardy were acting in criminal collusion. When the Sikhs of Calcutta were provoked to come out into the streets with their flashing swords to give protection to their defenceless and abandoned Hindu brethren, the tide of killings took a different turn. With the Sikhs and the Hindus coming together in self-defence against the Islamic marauders the tide was turned with equal fury against the murderous Muslim bullies. The Governor and the Prime Minister, seeing that the Muslims were now at the receiving end, now felt the ‘supreme call of duty’ and felt constrained to call the Army to quell the riots.

The number of men, women and children slaughtered on the streets of Calcutta City was over 10,000 and the seriously maimed and injured 15,000 and those rendered utterly penniless and homeless 100,000. A British correspondent of Statesman, Kim Khristen, wrote: ‘I have a stomach made strong by the experience of war, but the war was never like this. This is not a riot. It needs a word found in mediaeval history, a fury. Yet ‘fury’ sounds spontaneous and there must have been some deliberation and organisation to see this fury on the way.’ The culpability of Suhravardy in this sordid criminal operation was laid bare by the local Army Commander and the Chief Secretary of the Bengal Government before Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, who visited Calcutta in the last week of August 1946.

Like the Suhravardy Government of Undivided Bengal in August 1946, the CPI(M) Government in West Bengal today is even more virulently anti-Hindu. Many of the Marxist cadres consist of jihadi Muslims who are in league with Islamic terrorists. The same situation obtains in Malappuram District, Kerala. There also there is a marriage of political convenience between the CPI (M) and the two Muslim terrorist parties like the NDF and the PDP. Continuous violence is let loose by these elements against the innocent Hindu population in Malapuram District. This is done with the full political approval and administrative support of the Marxist Government of Kerala.

In these columns In a series of three articles titled ‘CPI(M) Led Islamic Terrorism at Ganga Sagar’ published on 19, 20 and 23 June, 2008, I had observed as follows: “The Hindus of India and even more so, the Hindus of West Bengal and Kerala, have now come to know that the leaders and the members of the CPI(M) are their greater enemies than the Islamic terrorists. Wherever they are in power, they are determined to put even the anti-Hindu and anti-Sanatana Dharma record of famous Islamic marauders in History like Mohammed of Ghazni, Mohammed of Ghori, Balban, Allaudin Khilji, Babar, Aurangazeb, Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali to everlasting ignominious shame. It is against this background that Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh and the Hindus of Bengal have come forward in a determined and united manner to establish Hindu Samhati to protect the Hindus of Bengal against the murderous attacks of CPI(M) Party men and their Islamic terrorist allies. With an incredibly tremendous enthusiasm, a new Hindu Social forum called ‘HINDU SAMHATI’ was launched in Kolkata at the Bharat Sabha Hall (erstwhile Indian Association Hall) on the 14 February 2008. Belying all expectations the venue overflowed with supporters and activists and many willingly endured the entire 4 hour long session standing on their feet as seats were already filled up. The session was convened by Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh and was conducted by Sri Upananda Brahmachari. Senior and prominent Hindu leaders from all over India attended this launch to address the gathering and to extend their support and solidarity towards the cause for which Sri Tapan Ghosh and his compatriots have instituted this forum.

’I spoke over the telephone, yesterday to Tapan Kumar Ghosh, President of the Hindu Samhati, Calcutta. He gave me the following message regarding the policy of Muslim appeasement at all costs followed by the West Bengal Government.

‘A fresh chapter of minority (Muslim) appeasement has been opened by the ruling Marxists of West Bengal after their debacle in the recent Parliament Election. Now the appeasement is not barely a promise. It is getting to turn into a reality. Though the Constitution of India does not provide space for any sort of reservation along religious lines, the government and other political parties together can not resist the temptation to extend reservation facilities in the government services by any means. Tax payers’ money is being poured in the name of providing education to the minorities. Despite the fact that reservation for any religious community is not entertained by the Constitution of India, government of West Bengal is set to open special morning session in the three leading colleges of Kolkata exclusively for Muslim students. After the electoral punch received from the Muslims in the recent Parliament election which evidently laid the basis of an unprecedented disaster of omnipotent Marxists in Bengal, the rulers are now determined to regain the chunk of Muslim vote with fanatic desperation. Even a replacement of our comical Chief Minister Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharjee with a new unknown Muslim personality might also be a part of their desperation in near future. Then the circle will be full. Mamata Banerjee, the leader of opposition, who claimed distinguished notoriety for being a drama queen in the past, is another emblem of Muslim appeasement in our unfortunate state. This trail of events is being seen as a prelude of an ever increasing demands of Muslims that will be raised in the next years, however illicit and illegitimate, and will finally culminate in the formation of another MUSLIMSTAN in the subcontinent.’

On the 1st Anniversary of its birth, on 14th February 2009, the activist of HINDU SAMHATI, under the heroic leadership of Sri Tapan Ghosh, took the following Oath at Shraddhananda Park, Kolkata.

We will not tolerate any displacement of any Hindu from Hindustan.
We shall not allow any injustice, torture and humiliation of Hindus.

The dignity of Hindu Mothers and sisters is much more valuable than our lives.

We will save the dignity of them all even at the cost of our lives.

We must not allow our sisters to convert to other religions.

We will protect our God & Goddesses and their Temples at all costs in spite of all terror and however long and hard the road may be.

We shall never allow the ingress of Bangladeshi Infiltrators in this land.

We will struggle for total Justice for all the Hindus of Bengal till our last breath.

Never shall we compromise with any injustice, even we be beheaded. We shall not retreat. We shall never surrender. Never!!!

Never shall we bend our Heads. Never shall we tolerate humiliation. We shall follow the Sermon of Lord Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagabad Gita.

Swami Pradiptanandaji (Kartik Maharaj)

Let me now go back to the scene of anti-Hindu riots in Murshidabad District. Tapan Ghosh told me that the battered Hindus of Beldanga town are fearing that the famous President of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, the highly revered Swami Pradiptanandaji (Kartik Maharaj) may be attacked by communal Muslims. The Swamiji is now away from his Ashram; he has gone on a pilgrimage to Mansarovar-Kailas. He is expected to return in 5-6 days. Bharat Sevashram Sangha is a Hindu charitable non-governmental organisation in India. It was founded in 1917 by Acharya Srimat Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj. The Sangha has hundreds of ashrams in India and other countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Bangladesh. It has initiated several missions to African countries, Malaysia, and Indonesia; monks from the Sangha have accompanied United Nations delegations to Syria and Lebanon.

The Hindus of Murshidabad District are concerned about the safety of Swami Pradiptanandaji (Kartik Maharaj). It is understood that some Muslim terrorist elements are planning to assassinate him when he returns from his pilgrimage. Hindu leaders of the area have expressed the view that the Government of West Bengal should take immediate steps to give total police protection to this Swamiji. Otherwise, he may meet the same fate as Swami Laxmananda Saraswati of Khandmal in Orissa who was killed in August 2008.

The fears of the Hindus of the area about the physical safety of Swami Pradiptanandaji (Kartik Maharaj) do not seem to be unfounded. On October 31, 2008, two terrorist organisations (HUJI-B AND SIMI) sent a threatening letter to Swami Pradiptanandaji, warning him and the Hindus of the area to desist from participating in the Dugra Puja celebrations. In terms of Talipanization, Murshidabad District today seems to have become a part of Islamic Bangladesh now. Both the Central Government and the Government of West Bengal must take immediate action to give full protection to this Swamiji.

To be contd...)

(The writer is a retired IAS officer)

e-mail the writer atmailto:atvsundaram@newstodaynet.com

1946 Direct Action of Jinnah Re-Enacted - Part 1

2009-07-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

V. Sundaram

The print and electronic English media have conspired together against the innocent Hindus of West Bengal by completely blacking out the news regarding the savage communal attack on the Hindus carried out by the criminal Muslim elements in Murshidabad district on July 10, 2009.

Murshidabad district (Bengali:) is a district of West Bengal in eastern India. Situated on the left bank of the river Ganges, the district is very fertile. Covering an area of 5,341 km² (2,062 sq mi) and having a population 5.863 million (according to 2001 census) it is a densely populated district. The Baharampur town is the headquarters of the district.

Jinnah and Suhravardy’s Direct Action in Calcutta City on August 16, 1946

More than 12 Hindus have been killed and hundreds have been injured including 10 Policemen and one DSP rank Police Officer in Murshidabad District. Two village markets and hundreds of Hindu houses and Hindu shops were looted and burnt. Firing between the Police and Muslim rioters were going on for more than 48 hours till July 12’ 09. BSF and CRPF men have been deployed to help the local police and the RAF. Our English Newspapers and TV Channels have completely suppressed this news. All of them seem to be more concerned about the fight that is now going on between the Muslim Chinese and the non-Muslim Han Chinese in Urumqi, the Capital of Western Xinjiang region, in China.

Most important fact that should be noted is that Murshidabad is a Muslim majority district bordering Bangladesh and unauthorized infiltration of Muslims — the favourite vote banks of CPI(M) and Sonia Congress parties — has been rampant from 1980. When the Congress party was losing it’s political hold in Assam and in the North-Eastern region, the Congress Government of Indira Gandhi deliberately brought in the ILLEGAL MIGRANTS (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983 (IMDT Act) to create an endless flow of Muslim vote banks largely consisting of Congress sponsored Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh. This anti-national Act brought in by Indira Gandhi was struck down by the Supreme Court of India in July 2005. Muslims became the most favoured citizens of India under the IMDT Act of 1983 because under this Act legal rights were conferred upon Bangladeshi Muslims to settle down in Assam or any other part of India and become Indian citizens. On the other hand, in a dastardly act of reverse communal discrimination, the Indians from the rest of India were denied the right to settle and vote in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The general approach of the Government of India in all matters relating to the Hindus in absolute majority is to oscillate in a deliberate manner between policies and programmes that are specially anti-Hindu, specifically anti-Hindu, particularly anti-Hindu, generally anti-Hindu and generically anti-Hindu.

The Muslims were in minority in Murshidabad District on August 15, 1947. Today they are in absolute majority. The fact that is being deliberately suppressed by both the Government of India and the Marxist Government of West Bengal on the one hand and the nationally / socially irresponsible Media, both print and electronic, is that in many of the Muslim-majority pockets of West Bengal today, the politically pampered Muslims are behaving in the most the intolerant and oppressive manner in which they behaved towards the Hindus in West Pakistan and East Pakistan during and after the dark days of partition. The recent Muslim- Hindu riots in West Bengal….

Let me give some more specific facts about the recent communal riots in Murshidabad District. All the trouble started in Jhaubona High School in Jhaubona village coming under Nawda police station in Beldanga Sub Division in Murshidabad district. Out of a total of 1000 students in this school, about 50% are Muslim students. For long the Muslim students have been demanding to offer Friday Namaz inside the school. BUT SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND THE HINDU STUDENTS RESISTED IT APPREHENDING THAT IT WILL CREATE A VIRTUAL MOSQUE INSIDE THE SCHOOL. Consequently, the furious Muslim students made objection against Saraswati Puja in the school and the school management has been compelled to stop Saraswati puja last year in the school. Suddenly in a fit of passion, all the Muslim students in this school unilaterally planned to offer Friday Namaz on July 10, 2009 by force inside the school without any permission from the Head Master or the School Management. Hindu students protested against the move to convert the school into a make-shift mosque. As a result altercation started at 12 noon on July 10, 2009 between the two groups of students.

Muslims were totally prepared for an armed rioting. Through cell phone they spread the false message that Hindu students attacked Muslim students in the school. Within 10-15 minutes, thousands of Muslims led by the students of nearby Trimohini Madrasa rushed to the school. They attacked the Hindu students in the school. They also indulged in acts of violence in the big village market of Trimohini. Many Hindu shops in the Trimohini market were burnt and looted. Further the armed Muslim rioters attacked the three Hindu villages of Jhaubona, Trimohini and Darapara. Many Hindu houses were burnt and looted in these three villages. According to reliable reports, in one house 4 Hindus died in the fire, including a father and his daughter who were burnt alive. In all, more than 12 Hindus have been killed and more than 150 Hindus have been seriously injured. The injured persons were admitted to Baharampur and Amtala hospitals. I have disturbing news to the effect that all the people living in the Hindu villages coming under Nawda and Hariharpara Police Stations are keeping themselves awake through out the night. They are scared of a possible Muslim attack upon their villages.As noted earlier, the Murshidabad district is a Muslim majority district. All the areas coming under the jurisdiction of 3 Police Stations in Beldanga Sub Division – Beldanga, Nawda and Hariharpara – are Muslim majority areas. Beldanga Sub Division is a communally explosive area bordering Bangladesh.

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has been elected from Janghipur Parliamentary Constituency in Murshidabad District. The area where the recent communal riots have taken place do not come in Pranab Mukherjee’s constituency. The affected area (Beldanga Division) comes in Baharampur Parliamentary Constituency. Before the elections, Pranab Mukherjee had given a political assurance to the Muslim voters in his constituency that he would take immediate action to open a branch of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in the Murshidabad District in the event of his being elected as MP from that area. Now that he has been elected, as a gratitude to the Muslims of this district, Pranab Mukherjee announced in his finance Budget in parliament that he would allocate a huge sum of money to establish a campus of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in this district. All of us are aware that this AMU had spearheaded the separatist movement for creation of PAKISTAN in pre 1947 years.

But tragedy is that a few days ago, Pranab Mukherjee visited his Murhsidabad Constituency on Sunday, the 12th of July, 2009 to personally announce this decision to his Muslim voters. He was fully aware of the fact of the communal rioting which had taken place) on Friday, the 10th of July, 2009 in Murhsidabad District (portion of the District not coming under his Constituency) which had left so many Hindus dead and many grievously wounded. ‘And yet for reasons best known to himself, he did not care to visit the riot-affected area in the same Murshidabad District.!!’Seeing what is happening to the Hindus today in Murshidabad District and other areas of West Bengal, I cannot help observing that the Government of West Bengal and the Government of India are acting in unison to re-enact the same violent drama of ‘Direct Action’ which was jointly enacted by Mohammad Ali Jinnah and HS Suhravardy, the then prime Minister of UNDIVIDED BENGAL, on August 16, 1946 in Calcutta City.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s call for Direct Action on July 27, 1946

On the 27th of July 1946, Mohammad Ali Jinnah gave a call to the Muslims to observe August 16, 1946 as “Direct Action Day”. Jinnah declared: “The Muslims of India wouldn’t rest contented with any thing less than the immediate establishment of independent and fully sovereign State of Pakistan. ... Now the time has come for the Muslim Nation to resort to Direct action. ... We have taken a most historic decision. Never before in the whole life history of the Muslim League did we do anything except by constitutional methods. Today we have said good-bye to constitutional methods. Throughout the painful negotiations the two parties with whom we bargain held a pistol at us — one with power and machine-guns behind it and the other with non-co-operation and the threat to launch mass civil disobedience. The situation must be met. We also have a pistol.’

To be Continued

(The writer is a retired IAS officer)e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com

http://www.newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33

Islamist militants regrouping in Bangladesh

2009-05-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

KUSHTIA (BANGLADESH):

Forty top leaders of Islamist militant outfits are regrouping with their 10,000-plus cadres in south-western Bangladesh in districts bordering India's West Bengal state, authorities have said.

Bangladeshi authorities say they gleaned this information after interrogating Hizb-ut-Towhid militants who were arrested in this border town last week.

Hizb-ut-Towhid is an Islamist terror group run by Bayezid Khan Panni. The outfit is banned in several countries.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has now asked the home ministry to update its dossiers on militant bodies.

The ministry found that of the 33 groups identified so far, four were banned by the Khaleda Zia government after protests at home and an international outcry against activities of the Islamist militants.

The Daily Star quoted unnamed sources in the intelligence agencies as saying that the law enforcers were trying to hunt down the chiefs of those outfits holed up in various districts.

The Hasina government has set up a 17-member task force headed by State Minister for Home Tanjim Soheh Taj to tackle the spread of militancy.

The outfits operating in the region are Allahr Dal, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (Huji) and Hizb-ut Towhid.

Panni is currently leading Hizb-ut Towhid. He has written several books to indoctrinate his followers and also distributes leaflets.

According to police, during interrogation Hizb-ut Towhid men told them Panni invited them to prepare for "direct combat".

Police said a large number of members and leaders of the organisation are well-trained and motivated.

Elections-2009: The Fight for Bengal

2009-04-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Ranjit Roy

Left in Bengal likely to suffer a jolt in Lok Sabha elections

Three consecutive reverses in West Bengal Assembly by-elections have put the ruling Left Front in a fix on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls. The Left leaders in general and the CPM in particular could not find a way out to recover before the three-phase Lok Sabha polls in the State slated for April-May. They are still licking the wounds inflicted by the Opposition in the panchayat polls and in Assembly by-polls. The Left candidates have lost by a record margin at Sujapur in Malda, Nandigram in east Midnapore and recently in Bishnupore in south 24 Parganas. The political observers here have described the humiliating defeat of the Left as rural Bengal’s revolt against the communist’s destructive agrarian policy. If the trend continues then the Left in West Bengal is likely to lose between 20 and 22 seats out of a total 42 Lok Sabha seats this time.

In order to convert the rural upsurge against the Left, the Trinamul Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee, has lost no time to forge an alliance with the Congress to prevent major split in the anti-Left votes in West Bengal. After much dilly-dallying over seat sharing between the two parties, it is finally settled that the Trinamul and its allies together will contest in 28 seats and the Congress will field its candidates in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies all over the State. The BJP with its marginal presence (about three per cent votes recorded in recent by-polls) in the State has decided to go alone in the fray. BJP is contesting in 41seats out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal. As a result, the Left now has to take a united anti-Left Opposition on the basis of 1:1 at least in 18 constituencies after 32 years of its uninterrupted regime in West Bengal.

Although Marxists put up a brave front claiming that they have won 2001 Assembly elections handsomely against the united opposition by the Trinamul-Congress combine and again in 2004 Lok Sabha polls against the BJP- Trinamul combine, they are now aware about a strong anti-Left wave prevailing in rural Bengal after the blood-bath in Singur and Nandigram. Moreover, even during the last parliamentary elections when there were no Nandigram-Singur episodes, the Left Front together had bagged 35 Lok Sabha seats just by securing a little over 50 per cent of the total votes polled. The CPM alone had bagged 26 seats despite the fact that the party had secured only 38.56 per cent of valid votes polled in 2004 parliamentary elections. No doubt, the split in anti-Left votes had always helped the Left Front winning the maximum seats both in the Assembly and in Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal so far.

Muslim anger

Soon after assuming power with overwhelming majority in 2006 Assembly elections, Bhattacharjee’s government has started grabbing fertile agricultural land for distributing it to dubious business promoters in the name of industrialisation. This led to widespread protests from farmers who were hard-core Left supporters during the 2006 assembly elections. Moreover, the Sachar Report on social, economic and educational status of the Muslims in West Bengal has exposed the Left that they are no longer the friends of the Muslims. The Muslims in West Bengal have voted en masse for the Left during the past 30 years without fail. Now the 27 per cent voters in the Muslim community in the State feel that they are betrayed and cheated by the Left. They are now desperately seeking to teach a lesson by voting against the Left. The poll reverses witnessed in three assembly by-polls are all Muslim dominated rural constituencies.

The Muslims apathy against the ruling Left has given a unique opportunity to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress to build its support base in rural Bengal. Strangely, while the BJP and the Congress ignored the Muslim sentiment in West Bengal, it is Mamata Banerjee who has taken initiative to convert the Muslim’s anger into a political upsurge against the Left. She now plays the same Muslim communal card only to exploit the Muslim vote bank that the CPM once played to win elections in West Bengal

Strangely, the BJP was the first major political party to take the plight of Nandigram to a national platform. The BJP was the lone national party to send a parliamentary delegation, led by the leader of the Opposition, LK Advani and Rajya Sabha Member, Sushma Swaraj, to Nandigram after the carnage there. The delegation was well received by the Muslim villagers there. But the State BJP leaders have failed to take advantage of welcome visit of the central BJP leaders and make it into a firm support base.

Although Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress stole the limelight, she has never cared in the past to improve the social and economic status of the Muslims. Trinamul Congress is a predominantly urban-based political party and has never ventured in rural areas before the Singur-Nandigram farmers’uprise against the CPM. Mamata is a clever opportunist political leader who found the Muslims as well as Hindu farmers revolt against the State government’s destructive farm land acquisition policy a God-gifted opportunity to appear as a Messiah before the poor land losers and turned their anger and frustrations against the ruling Left. She quickly distanced herself with the BJP only to please the Muslims and forged an alliance with the Naxalites and other such ultra-Left forces to have a dent in rural sectors. These ultra-Left forces with their limited resources and influence are active in rural Bengal during the past 32 years of the Left rule. They joined under the Mamata’s flag only to gain political respectability and protection from the police repressions.

Left arrogance

The chief minister,Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s arrogance has added to the misery of the Left further. Soon after taking the reins of the government from Jyoti Basu, his successor Bhattacharjee had promised that he would change the work culture of the government and would make the administration accountable to the people. Bhattacharjee’s tall promises and his personal clean and intellectual image on the one side and utter disunity in the rank and files of the Opposition on the other have helped the Communists to sweep the Assembly elections in 2006 for the seventh consecutive term. The Left Front won 235 seats in a 294-member State Legislative Assembly. The electoral success and media hype have made Bhattacharjee so arrogant that he has declared that government will acquire farm land all over the State for industry without discussing this policy matter in the Cabinet. When the Opposition raised the question of legality in the action of the government, an angry Bhattacharjee retorted, “We are 235 in the Assembly. We don’t care what they are saying.” This arrogance generated from absolute power has simply corrupted the government administration. Moreover, this is for the first time in the long Left rule in Bengal, other Front partners have openly revolted against the CPM’s high-handedness in acquiring farm land for industrialists. No doubt, Bhattacharjee’s unreal industrialisation dream has brought doom for his government as well as his party within two years of assuming power for the seventh consecutive term. Political observers are now keeping their fingers crossed over the success of the Left in the Lok Sabha elections this time.

Any foreign hand in Assam terror?

2009-01-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Rajinder Puri

Official police agencies have claimed categorically that Monday’s bomb blasts in Assam were carried out by the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa). The blasts coincided with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s visit to Guwahati. They occurred along the route he was to take. They heralded the New Year. They occurred on the day when the government’s new anti-terror law went into operation. Did the timing contain a message? If so, from whom?

Pakistan is reputed to guide the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. Does any foreign power influence Ulfa? Consider the events immediately preceding the Assam blasts. China’s Vice-Foreign Minister He Yafei visited Pakistan to advise the President, the Prime Minister and the army chief to talk peace with India. All three made conciliatory statements. The Chinese dignitary then telephoned External Affairs Minster Pranab Mukherjee from Islamabad advising him to reciprocate. He indicated willingness to visit India and facilitate the process.

A leader of deputy minister rank advising the governments of India and Pakistan amounted to barely concealed impudence. Beijing clearly was attempting to assume the role of Big Brother in South Asia. Mr Mukherjee quite properly snubbed the Chinese vice-foreign minister by refusing the offer and not inviting him to New Delhi. Shortly thereafter terrorists targeted Assam. But does any foreign power influence Ulfa, which reportedly carried out the attack? After an earlier Ulfa attack in Assam, Indian police and intelligence officials late October 2008 had claimed that the outfit was seeking shelter in China. They claimed that Ulfa’s top commander Paresh Baruah was camped near the Burma-China border seeking sanctuary. Indian intelligence officials said that an estimated 50 Ulfa militants were holed up in China’s Yunnan Province led by Partha Jyoti Gogoi.

In quick succession after India’s snub to the Chinese official the Assam terror occurred. Should one draw any conclusions from this?

(The writer is a veteran journalistand cartoonist)http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4&theme=&usrsess=1&id=238737

On the Offensive---Islam in Assam, India

2009-01-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Monalisa Gogoi

Assam is a case study of illegal Bangladeshi migrants on the warpath, natural when the border with an overpopulated country isn’t sealed, says TSI''s Pranab Bora Sixty-five-year-old Lakhiram Bodo describes every moment of the past three months in the relief camp as ‘harrowing’. Despite belonging to the Bodo community – the earliest inhabitants of Assam, and the supposed ‘bhumiputras’, he and the entire Bodo population of Dalgaon Batabari were thrown out of their homes by Bangladeshi immigrants in a matter of minutes. Today, their existence at the relief camp has been brought down to this: a tin shed, four kgs of rice, 1.1 kg of dal, 250 ml mustard oil and some salt, “per person, per week”.

“Fifty years ago, there were hardly a hundred such families here; today there are thousands of families. When they attacked us after the first skirmishes in August this year, we couldn’t resist them; our village was burnt and they killed our people…” Bodo’s voice trails off.

Dalgaon Batabari – near Rowta in lower Assam – is one of many villages that has borne the wrath of the immigrant Bangladeshi, albeit with citizenship papers available everywhere, thanks to the corrupt babus and an apathetic administration that thrives on the Bangladeshi votebank. On August 14, the Bodos brought out a procession opposing the Assam Bandh called by the Muslim Students’ Union of Assam (MUSA) that was protesting against the “harassment of genuine Indian Muslims who were being thrown out of upper Assam districts such as Dibrugarh”, as 23-year-old Badrul Islam, MUSA president, says. The total immigrant Muslim population in lower Assam is about seven million. At the time of independence, the Muslim population in Assam stood at 1.9 million. Now, the average growth rate of Muslims in Assam stands at 18 per cent; that of Hindus at 14. Six of Assam’s 27 districts now have a Muslim majority population. While in 13 districts, the growth rate of Muslims is less than 30, in seven it is less than 40. In Karbi Anglong, it is as high as 73.6 with the population going from 10,000 to 18,000 in 10 years.

Statements from two state Governors – SK Sinha and Ajai Singh – along with the Gauhati High Court in recent times now buttress what organisations like All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), that led the six-year-long anti-foreigners’ agitation beginning 1979, have said all along: that the state has been inundated by Bangladeshis who endangered the very existence of local communities. It was the detection of hundreds of Bangladeshis in the voters’ rolls in 1979 at Mangaldoi that sparked AASU’s anti-foreigners agitation.

Yet, the modus operandi of political groups who speak for the illegal migrant remains the same. MUSA’s Islam accepts that census reports show dangerous population growths in these districts, where other indigenous communities showed normal growth. Yet, every time suspected illegal migrants moving to the upper Assam are handed over to the police, the MUSA protests against the “inhuman treatment meted out to them”. The August 14 bandh call was one such protest.
The October 30 serial bomb blasts in Assam – the state is now home to a number of Islamic militant groups – that killed 90 and injured hundreds was a culmination of events. The blasts were claimed by the militant group Islamic Security Force (Indian Mujahideen). While the Congress-led government continues to blame the blasts on militant groups like United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), till date nothing has come out of its so-called investigation.

Sitting in his small “Office of the Muslim Marriage, Divorce, Registration and Kazi” at Dalgaon, Qazi Md Afzal Hussain, an Assamese Muslim says: “During my father’s time, this was a place of forests where tigers have killed people.” Now, Dalgaon is dominated by immigrants, where Muslims have wiped out tribal belts. As for empowering the Bangladeshi migrant woman – most of them illiterate and some bearing up to 20 children, Hussain says he hasn’t heard of the new nikahnamah released by the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board.

The results are evident. As opposed to the sparsely populated Bodo relief camp at Rowta; the displaced immigrants lodged at camps at Dalgaon lives in squalor, the camps overpacked with unthinkable living conditions. Bashid Ali, one of the inmates, claims their village was attacked by Bodo and Bengali Hindu people, an indication that the Hindu and Muslim Bangladeshis are now at loggerheads in what, all said and done, is a war for land. The rate at which the immigrant Muslim rampages through the districts of Assam is something that local communities have found impossible to resist. At the receiving end is not just the Bodos, Karbis, Assamese or Bengalis but also the original Assamese Muslim (known as goria), a community that has broken away from the so-called Muslim ‘minority’. “Expect a Bangladeshi as Chief Minister within the next 20 years in this state,” says Nekibur Zaman, Gauhati High Court lawyer, an Assamese Muslim and founder of an organisation ‘Khilonjia Muslim Unnayan Parishad.’ “They may call themselves minorities but there are 20 Bangladeshi MLAs even now in the state Assembly.”

For the “mainstream” politician, all of it is to be shrouded in skewed, convenient statistics. Maulana Fazlul Karim Qasimi, a goria Muslim and the convenor of the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), agrees that there is a conspiracy: “For many political parties, keeping the immigrant population an uneducated, proliferating Bangladeshi lot helps their interests, as children born today will vote after 18 years.” Its victims are both the immigrants and local communities. The toll in the August-October clashes stood at over 50. Add to that the 855 students killed during the Assam agitation, followed by the thousands who have been killed during the insurgency that was an offshoot of the agitation. And as people here point out – this is what is happening to India in its northeast, thanks to the our calloys and self-thanking politicians.

http://www.thesundayindian.com/04012009/storyd.asp?sid=6360&pageno=1

Kayani comes out of the closet

2009-01-03T00:15:00.000-08:00

Rajinder Puri

At last, General Pervez Ashfaq Kayani has come out of the closet to vindicate an apparent truth that the world had refused to acknowledge. Namely, that it is Beijing and not Washington that calls the shots in Islamabad. America wields clout with the politicians. China has control over the army. The army controls the politicians. Ergo, China controls Pakistan.

Condoleezza Rice, John Negroponte, Richard Boucher and Admiral Mullen were at the head of a procession of US bigwigs who trooped into Islamabad to read the riot act to politicians and the army. There was no impact. Islamabad remained defiant. When politicians such as Nawaz Sharif did speak the truth they quickly retracted to toe the army's line. Worse, even in the comparatively outspoken media, with a few honourable exceptions, noted columnists endorsed Pakistan's farcical state of denial inspired by the army.

Well, China's vice foreign minister came to Islamabad and offered gentle advice to the politicians and the army. Whoosh! General Kayani deflated like a punctured balloon and somersaulted 180 degrees to promote de-escalation! Beijing therefore has left nobody in doubt about Pakistan's source of defiant strength. What lesson should India draw from this? Primarily that it should not be carried away by silly sentiment.

If China has pressured Pakistan now it is for the same reason that it reluctantly climbed down on the Indo-US nuclear deal. With America, Russia and Europe ranged against Islamabad's role in terrorism, China cannot afford to be bracketed with Pakistan which is increasingly perceived as a rogue state. So take with a bucket of salt China's newfound endeavour to restrain Pakistan. Focus instead on the fact that Pakistan's role against India during the last few decades in Kashmir and elsewhere was sustained and encouraged by Beijing.

Nothing has changed as yet. Witness the nitpicking shyster arguments parroted by Pakistani politicians and news columnists that the evidence presented by India on the Mumbai blast would not stand scrutiny in a court of law. What they need to effectively answer is whether the captured terrorist, Kasab, is Pakistani or not? Did the terrorists come by sea from Pakistan or not? The rest is irrelevant.

But Pakistan remains adamant on the core issue. General Kayani has a lot more to do than make a lame statement to restore confidence. India will smell change only after the civilian government in Pakistan visibly enforces its writ on the army. That most likely will be done only after the Communist government in Beijing succeeds in visibly enforcing its writ on China's People's Liberation Army.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2009-01-01&usrsess=1&clid=1&id=265039

ISI of Pakistan planning to bomb Kolkata

2008-12-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

Manan Kumar

NEW DELHI: After wreaking havoc in Mumbai, major towns of West Bengal, including Kolkata, are next on the hit list of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

Top sources in the Union Home Ministry confirmed that a group of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al- Islami (HuJI) terrorists has made repeated attempts to enter India recently from Bangladesh through the ‘chicken neck’ corridor.

“There is a possibility that some HuJI terrorists have already crossed over with arms and ammunition and are heading to team up with Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), Indian insurgent group, to carry out lethal terror strikes in West Bengal during end-December and early January,” sources said.

Another intelligence report on Wednesday stated that ULFA militants in Bangladesh are likely to enter through the Karimganj district of Assam, a temporary departure from their established routes of transit in Meghalaya.

Both the states have been alerted by the Centre. The alerts come close on the heels of the arrest in Jammu of three Pakistanis, one of them allegedly an army regular. The trio had come from Dhaka and apparently lived in Kolkata before proceeding to Jammu and Kashmir.

Working in cahoots with Bangladesh’s espionage agency Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the ISI, with its sinister plan of ‘bleeding India through thousand wounds’, has made contacts with several Indian insurgent groups.

The recently carried out blasts in Assam that killed 89 were part of this design where the handlers in Bangladesh had roped in ULFA and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

KLO that came into existence in 1995 with the help of ULFA is active in six districts of West Bengal _ South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, Malda and Darjeeling _ and four districts of lower Assam - Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara.

Intelligence agenciesclaim that both ISI and DGFI have made KLO an active partner with HuJI and are constantly helping it to upgrade its strike power by supplying arms, ammunitions and explosives.

“KLO chief Jeevan Singh is sheltered in Bangladesh, and is a protégé of the ULFA,” a senior official said. He hangs around in northern Bangladesh, close to his home constituency. Singh, along with Ranjan Daimary of the NDFB and Paresh Baruah of ULFA are said to be paying off the debt of protection from the HuJI-ISI nexus through "disturbing" eastern India. “Keeping them there cannot be a charitable deed, they would have to pay a price,” said a senior official.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=ISI+planning+to+bomb+Kolkata&artid=pKpK7D5qi2U=&Title=ISI+planning+to+bomb+Kolkata&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-+Islami&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=

2008 saw emergence of Islamic militancy in Assam

2008-12-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

Sanjoy Ray / GUWAHATI

The year 2008 though witnessed lesser casualties of terrorist violence in the State compared to 2007, it, however, saw the emergence of Islamic militancy in the biggest way, even overpowering the impact of decade-old home-grown insurgency. More than 200 civilians have been killed in the State so far (Mid-December), besides 16 security personnel and about 130 terrorists taking the tally of casualties of insurgency to 369.

Of the 130 terrorists killed across the State, around ten were suspected HUJI activists, seven of them were killed in an encounter with the Army in the Dhubri district in September this year.

The month of October this year witnessed killing of around 90 civilians, eight security personnel and 18 insurgents. The month of April remained the most peaceful phase of the year with only 11 deaths taking place.

Last year, the total number of casualties of terrorist violence was around 437, which included 269 civilians.

As many as 29 blasts have rocked the State till mid-December this year, the October 30 serial blasts, which claimed around 90 lives being the biggest ever terrorist attack the region has ever witnessed.

The growing prominence of the outside players in the State came into the fore on October 30, when nine serial blasts ripped apart the State, including three in Guwahati.

Though investigations into the incident is yet to reach any logical conclusion, the preliminary investigation revealed that the perpetrator of the blasts was not the usual ULFA, but were orchestrated by powers, suspected to be the HUJI, from across the border, with Bodo militants providing logistic support.

“The State is facing a new kind of threat and the focus of law-enforcing has more or less shifted to cross-border terrorism than home-grown, with Islamic fundamentalist groups, operating from foreign lands, emerging as the new players in the game of blood and pushing the State’s insurgent outfits, including the ULFA and NDFB, to roles of side players,” concedes a senior Assam Police official while talking to The Assam Tribune.

“We, however, are not undermining the strength of any outfit, be it ULFA, NDFB or some splinter group,” the official stated.

The year 2008 saw the ULFA suffering revolt in its ranks and the proximity of its top leaders with Bangladeshi groups drew flak even from its own members, resulting in unilateral ceasefire agreement by the A and C company of ULFA’s 28 battalion. The potent wing of the outfit decided to join the mainstream with top leaders including Mrinal Hazarika, Joon Bhuyan and Jiten Dutta, leading the cadres.

The Dima Halom Daogah (Jewel faction), popularly known as Black Widow, also made its presence felt, unleashing a reign of terror with killings and blasts in the North Cachar Hills, killing at least 25 people, including police and railway personnel, within a week in May.

In the aftermath of the blasts, the NDFB leadership in designated camps in the State decided to replace Ranjan Daimary as the C-in-C with Dhiren Boro.

The All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), fighting an armed battle for rights of the Adivasi people, suffered a major setback when its ‘C-in-C’ Mangra Oran alias David was arrested this month from Jharkhand.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=dec2608/at08

Crucial poll in Bangladesh

2008-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hiranmay Karlekar

The general election in Bangladesh, scheduled for December 29, will be most critical for that country’s future. Referring to it, American Ambassador to Bangladesh, Mr James F Moriarty, told the US Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington on December 11, “The country could achieve a peaceful transition and become a model of a relatively prosperous Muslim majority democracy… Or it could return to the winner-take-all obstructionist politics of previous years.” According to a recent report in Bangladesh’s leading English-language newspaper, The Daily Star, he further told the commission, a Government-funded advisory body created in 1998 to monitor religious freedom around the world and make policy recommendations to the US Administration, that if “Bangladesh stumbles within the coming months, it could become a breeding ground for terrorists and groups wishing to operate in South and South-East Asia”.

It is not difficult to recognise the validity of Mr Moriarty’s observations and identify the forces that could make Bangladesh a breeding ground of terrorist groups. His observation that Bangladesh could “return to the winner-take-all obstructionist politics of previous years” clearly points in the direction of the four- party alliance, of which the two principal constituents are Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, that ruled the country from 2001 to 2006. The BNP was by far the senior partner with 193 seats in the 300-strong Jatiya Sansad or National Parliament, and having polled 41.4 per cent of the votes cast. The Jamaat came a distant third with 17 seats and 4.28 per cent of the votes polled, way behind the Awami League, the main Opposition party, which won 62 seats and secured 40.02 per cent of the votes.

Yet the Jamaat called much of the shots in the coalition Government, stalling action against fundamentalist terrorist organisations like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and Ahle Hadith Andolan Bangladesh. Though international pressure forced the coalition Government to ban these terrorist outfits and arrest their leaders, the organisations remained active. This, it was widely alleged, was made possible by the Jamaat’s support.

In fact, the Jamaat’s Amir, Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, and general secretary, Mr Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid, had for a long time even denied the existence of the Operations Commander of the JMJB, Siddiqul Islam, or Bangla Bhai. Understandably, its relations with these organisations have been like those of Pakistan’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah with the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.

Besides, the Jamaat used its participation in the Government to increase its massive business empire which funds its welfare and other activities aimed at expanding its support base and maintain its organisational infrastructure. It had its followers placed in universities, the armed forces, security agencies, the administration and the judiciary, often having the rules bent for the purpose. Also, thanks to generous help from Mr Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid, who was Minister of State for Social Welfare, there was a vast increase in the number of fundamentalist Islamist NGOs while secular NGOs were subjected to crippling harassment and persecution.

Not surprisingly, Bangladesh became a seething pit of murderous Islamist violence — directed against the secular civil society, the intelligentsia and the Opposition parties like the Awami League — during the rule of the four-party coalition. The horror of the situation was dramatically underlined on April 21, 2004, when a murderous grenade attack was launched at an Awami League rally in Dhaka. Though Sheikh Hasina, the prime target, survived, 22 Awami League leaders perished.

It was symptomatic of the BNP’s visceral hatred for India that some of its leaders insinuated that New Delhi was behind the attack and an inquiry by a former judge with links with the party blamed a neighbouring country without mentioning India. Not so long after the incident, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, Mr Mohammad Morshed Khan, publicly warned India that if Bangladesh was India-locked, the seven States of north-eastern India were Bangladesh-locked and that he could wipe out India’s $ 3 billion annual trade with Bangladesh by just issuing one statutory order!

Needless to say, insurgent outfits like the United Liberation Front of Asom, active in north-eastern India, who had earlier been described by Begum Khaleda Zia as “freedom fighters”, received full support from Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, which has close links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Simultaneously, there was a sharp increase in the incidence of terrorist attacks on India emanating from Bangladesh. That the trend continues, particularly in the North-East, during the current caretaker Government’s regime, was underlined by Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement in the Lok Sabha on December 15, “The Government of Bangladesh has a responsibility to control the HuJI. In the long run, Bangladesh is hurting itself (by not containing terrorism).

The incidence of terrorist strikes against India from Bangladesh will increase sharply if the election brings the four-party coalition to power. Given the groundswell of support for the Awami League, this will happen only if the election is rigged. Many fear the election will be rigged because both the BNP and the Jamaat managed to install their supporters in the election machinery when they were in power. They have not been weeded out.

Also, attempts at intimidating Hindus, who traditionally support the Awami League, from voting have been reported form districts like Jessore, Khulna, Satkhira, Faridpur, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Jhalakathi, Pirojpur, Chandpur, Noakhali, Pabna, Bagerhat, Narail and Barisal where pockets of Hindu population exist. Hindus are being quietly told not to vote if they want to avoid the kind of communal carnage and gang-rape of their women that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 general election. Intimidation has also been reported from districts like Sherpur, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, and Sylhet, which have sizeable pockets of indigenous ethnic minority communities who also traditionally support the Awami League.

New Delhi must mount pressure through the international community to prevent rigging. Poll observers being sent from various countries must be very alert. In any event, India must further step up its fight against terrorism. An important first step will be halting cattle smuggling to Bangladesh which is paid for through hawala transactions, much of the proceeds from which goes to funding terrorist activity here. Do we have the political will for it?

http://www.dailypioneer.com/144689/Crucial-poll-in-Bangladesh.html

India Increases Vigilance Along Border With Bangladesh Amid Terrorism Threat

2008-12-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

By Steve Herman (Voice of America)

India government officials say they have ordered closer surveillance of land borders amid concerns of more potential terrorist strikes inside the country by militants infiltrating from either Bangladesh or Pakistan.

India has increased vigilance along its border with Bangladesh. Domestic media reports say officials made the move following intelligence that suspected militants have entered the state of West Bengal.

There are specific concerns about members of Harkat ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which operates in both Bangladesh and Pakistan, and has been blamed for urban attacks in India in recent years. There are also worries about potential strikes by separatists targeting West Bengal and Assam, who are believed to have camps across the Bangladeshi border.

The director general of the Border Security Force, M.L. Kumawat, tells reporters security has been stepped up in the wake of such intelligence.

"We have asked our people to be highly alert and see that in no circumstances people from other countries can come into our country," he said. "We have heightened our vigilance, heightened our alertness and I can assure you that border guarding forces are much more alert than they were ever before"

The border with Bangladesh is notoriously porous with smugglers routinely moving across it without challenge. Kumawat says that border is of particular concern.

"About Bangladesh border, as you know, we have 4,096 kilometers of border on our eastern frontier and there are some areas where we do not have a fence, even now," he said.

India's home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told the parliament on Wednesday that he is ordering faster construction of additional fencing along the Bangladesh border.

The minister, who took responsibility for internal security in wake of last month's Mumbai terror attack, also says diplomatic efforts are being made to have the Bangladeshi and Burmese governments take action against anti-Indian insurgents on their soil.

India blames the Mumbai attack on at least 10 radical Islamic terrorists who infiltrated by sea from Pakistan.

That has prompted top Indian government officials to vow to upgrade and unify coastal and port security. At present India has no coordinated system for defense of its shores with security responsibilities divided among more than 20 separate ministries, agencies, departments and civilian and military forces.

http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-19-voa33.cfm

India-Bangladesh border threatens India's security

2008-11-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

The reports point out that with easy availability of arms, ammunition and explosives from China via Myanmar and the unholy alliance of terrorists are set to wreak havoc in India as evident from the recent blasts in North India, Tripura and Assam.

by Rupam Banerjee

THE ROLE of Bangladesh has attracted serious scrutiny over the recent serial blasts in India. The Bangladesh Government’s repeated assurance of taking strong actions against terrorist groups appears to be hollow as a section of the Bangladeshi civil and military officials have been working hand in hand with the agents of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan to help out the Islamic terrorists and the militants from India’s North-eastern states and West Bengal.

In fact, according to the intelligence reports, these ISI agents and Bangladeshi officials have now been coordinating between the Indian militants and Islamic terrorists to carry out subversive activities in India.

The reports point out that with easy availability of arms, ammunition and explosives from China via Myanmar and the unholy alliance of terrorists are set to create havoc in India as it is evident from the recent blasts in North India, Tripura and Assam.

The reports have also mentioned that the militants from Assam,. Tripura, Manipur and West Bengal have already undergone a series of training along with the members of the Islamic Jihadi Council (IJC) in the use of different kind of explosives, including RDX and TNT under the supervision of some ISI and Bangladeshi experts.

According to the reports, the Islamic Jihadi Council is comprised of activists from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), Lashkar-e-Toiba (L-e-T), Taliban, and Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups, who are now settled in different parts of Bangladesh.

The reports also point out that under the supervision of the ISI and Bangladeshi experts, the IJC members, most of whom are trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan, have been working together with the members of different militant groups from North-East India for carrying out subversive activities in India.

Besides utilising the militants from the North-eastern parts of India, it is feared that the ISI and the IJC may even use the Maoists to carry out serial blasts in different parts of the country. The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had already arranged meetings between the ISI agents and the Maoists, both in Bangladesh and Nepal.

Reports from across the border said that at least 20 teams, comprising Indian militants and Islamic terrorists, had been formed after extensive training on use of different kinds of explosive to carry out clandestine activities in different parts of India.

These teams had reportedly established contacts with their linkmen in Jalpaiguri, Siliguri, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata in West Bengal. Each team is comprised of at least seven members.

The Intelligence agencies blamed the attitude of the Bangladesh Government and poor management of Indo-Bangla border for the recent spurt in serial blasts in different parts of India. The concerned officials also stated that lack of cooperation from the Bangladesh authorities and insufficient border security forces made it virtually impossible to crack down these militant groups.

They also pointed out that the recent handover of 17 ATTF militants by the Bangladesh Rifles was merely an eyewash. The seventeen militants actually belonged to a breakaway group, which wanted to surrender before the authorities in Tripura. The Bangladesh Rifles intercepted the seventeen militants and put them behind the bar. Later, they were handed over to the BSF authorities.

However, Bangladesh authorities are not leaving any stone unturned to play host to the leaders of Indian militants like Anup Chetia, Paresh Barua and Jiban Singh. Most of these leaders have been running businesses in and around Dhaka and Chittagong with the money extorted from the Indian businessmen and the so-called help from their ‘friends’ in Bangladesh Government.

West Bengal, Assam and Tripura have been demanding for a long time deployment of more Border Security Force battalions for proper manning of the Indo-Bangladesh border. But the Centre continued to turn a deaf ear to their demands.

A senior West Bengal official said that serial blasts were designed to destroy the basic fabric of the country. He further added that it is high time Centre paid more attention to the international border with Bangladesh. He also warned that any further delay would just aggravate the situation.

The official also added that the concerned authorities have intensified vigilance along the border and other vulnerable areas to prevent any subversive activity by the unholy nexus of Islamic terrorists and Indian militants.

SOURCE: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=148632

Anti-national forces behind clashes

2008-10-11T22:08:00.000-07:00

GUWAHATI – The joint delegation of the Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, North East Zone (ICITP), All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AAKRSU) and the All Dimasa Students’ Union (ADSU), which recently made a visit to the strife-torn areas of Udalguri and Darrang districts, has demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the group clashes which has so far claimed 55 lives. In a press conference organised at the Guwahati Press Club here today, the delegation also suspected the hands of anti-national forces like Jehadis and other fundamentalist groups, who they believe, were instrumental in instigating the clash between the Bodos and the suspected Bangladeshis.

“We believe that the State Government is not dealing with the situation in the manner it should have. Besides, repeated contradictory statements made by Chief Minister, Director General of Police and the Army has further worsened the scenario in the affected areas,” said Jebra Ram Muchahary, president, ICITP, adding, “This is the right moment for the Centre to step in and initiate necessary steps to book the culprits so that such incidents are not repeated anywhere else in the country.”

Taking strong exception to the hoisting of a Pakistani flag in one of the affected areas, Muchahary said, “The incident of hoisting of a Pakistani flag is a matter of shame not only for the State but the entire country, and those responsible for doing so must be dealt with a firm hand.”
Urging the civil society to play an effective role to stabilize the current scenario, Dr Ram Dayal Munda, chief president, ICITP, national committee, said that the State Government has been found wanting as far as resolving the issues of the affected people is concerned.

“The issue of hoisting the Pakistani flag in Assam has been appreciated by a section of the Pakistani media, which is a nasty sign for the country,” Dr Munda pointed out.

AKRSU president Biswajeet Rai further asserted that the clash between the two groups is part of a deep-rooted conspiracy masterminded by a vested interest circle operating at the behest of anti-national forces.

“We, during our visit, had seen that there is a still a sense of uncertainty in the minds of the people. As far as security arrangements are concerned, it is definitely not up to the mark,” Rai asserted.

“If the Government does not take urgent steps to safeguard the interest of the indigenous people, we would be forced to retaliate in our own way,” Rai warned.

“The involvement of a third party behind the group clashes is certain, and it is the job of the Government to unearth the force behind it,” said Prafula Hafila, president, ADSU.

The joint delegation of ICITP, AKRSU and ADSU also informed that it had submitted a memorandum highlighting the demand for a separate State of Kamatapur at the first session of the ‘Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ held at Geneva from October 1 to October 3.

Meanwhile, the Assam Minorities Students’ Union today organized a sit-in demonstration in protest against the group clashes at the Lakhidhar Bora Khetra premises here.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=oct1208/at07

Bangladeshi Hindus - Coveted Enemies Under the Vested Property Act

2008-09-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

By Rabindranath Trivedi

Dhaka , (Asiantribune।com) : The Vested Property Act (VPA), a controversial law in Bangladesh that allowed the Government to confiscate property from individuals it deemed as an enemy of the state. Before independence it was known as the Enemy Property Act and is still referred to as such in common parlance. The act is criticized as a tool for appropriating the lands of the minority population The vested property was known in Pakistan as ‘enemy property' after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

On 6 September 1965, Pakistan proclaimed a state of emergency under the Defense of Pakistan Ordinance at the outbreak of war with India. In exercise of the powers conferred by the Ordinance, the Central Government of Pakistan promulgated on the same day the Defence of Pakistan Rules. Under the rules, the Governor of East Pakistan passed an Order on 3 December 1965 regarding enemy property by which the property of the minorities was declared “Enemy Property”.

Renamed as Vested Property Act

After Bangladesh won independence through bloody War of Liberation against Pakistan in December 1971, President of Bangladesh in his Order No-29 of 1972 ,changed the nomenclature to Vested Property Act without altering the contain of the law। After a long struggle and a bloody war of Independence the rise of Bangladesh naturally conveyed the message to the democratic and progressive forces that the communally promulgated Enemy Property Act would not continue।

Surprisingly enough the existence of the Act is inconsistent not only with the UDHR but also with the provisions of the constitution itself। In Independent Bangladesh on 26th March of 1972 Bangladesh (Vesting of Property and Assets) President's order No. 29 replaced former Enemy Property Act. But it was a classic irony that Bangladesh saw the continuation of two mutually opposed things simultaneously, One a secular democratic constitution in 1972 and the other the continuance of the Enemy Property Act though in a new name. Bangladeshi Hindus become coveted enemy under VPA. What does it mean? ’

The VP Act was practically declared void by promulgating 'The Enemy Property (Continuance of Emergency Provisions) (Repeal) Act XLV in parliament on 23 March 1974। But immediately after words another declaration named the Vested and Non-resident Property (Administration) Act XL VI of 1974, brought the above act into force। This Act was later amended on 27 November 1976, by the Enemy Property (Continuance of Emergency Provision) (Repeal) (Amendment) Ordinance 1976.

The government, or any officer or authority as directed by the government, was empowered to administer, control, manage and dispose of, by transfer or otherwise the enemy property or enemy firms known as 'vested property'. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in a judgment said:” Since the law of enemy property itself died with the repeal of Ordinance No.1 of 1969 on 23 -3-1974 no further vested property case can be started thereafter on the basis of the law which is already dead.
Accordingly, there is no basis at all to treat the case land as vested property upon started VP Case No-210 of 1980। (58 DLR 2006 pp 177-185). A writ petition has been filed in the High Court of the Bangladesh Supreme Court in August 2008 for annulment of VPA,The Government of Bangladesh has, within the framework of this law, taken possession of property declared to belong to the enemy, by appropriating the property of members of the Hindu minority who had migrated to India, or by appropriating the property of people who were heirs or co –owners. Since then the issue has been rolling with ordinances, amendments, circulars, memos, and committee and so on. But no tangible action has yet been taken by the Government to solve the contentious issue of minority Hindus.

Though renamed as the Vested Property Act in 1974, the law still retains the fundamental ability to deprive a Bangladeshi citizen of his/her property simply by declaration of that person as an enemy of the state। Leaving the country through abandonment is cited as the most common reason for this, and it is frequently the case that Hindu families who have one or several members leaving the country (for economic as well as political reasons) have their entire property confiscated due to labeling as enemy.

The enactment of Enemy (Vested) Property Laws which are at the heart of the matter relating to the various socio-economic problems of the minorities in Bangladesh has not come all on a sudden। This act is actually the culmination of many discriminatory ordinances passed one after another by the ruling elites of both Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Chronologically they are: The East Bengal (Emergency) Requisition of Property Act (XIII of1948), The East Bengal Evacuees (Administration of Property) Act (VIII of1949), The East Bengal Evacuees (Restoration of Possession) Act (XXII of 1951), The East Bengal Evacuees (Administration of Immovable Property) Act(XXIV of 1951), The East Bengal Prevention of Transfer of Property and Removal of Documents and Records Act of 1952, The Pakistan (Administration of Evacuees Property) Act (XII of 1957), The East Pakistan Disturbed Persons (Rehabilitation) Ordinance (No 1 of 1964), The Defence of Pakistan Ordinance(No। XXIII of 6th September, 1965), The Defence of Pakistan Rules of 1965,The Enemy Property (Custody and Registration) Order of 1965, The East Pakistan Enemy Property (Lands and Buildings Administration and Disposal Order of 1966.

The Enemy Property (Continuance of Emergency Provision) Ordinance No। 1 of 1969. Bangladesh (Vesting of Property and Assets) President's (Order No. 29 of 1972). The Enemy Property (Continuance of Emergency Provisions) (Repeal) Act (XLV of 1974), The Vested and Non-Resident Property (Administration) Act (XLVI of 1974). The Vested and Non-Resident (Administration) (Repeal) Ordinance 1976 The Ordinance, (No. XCII of 1976). The Ordinance No. XCIII of 1976.

As Pakistan was established on the two nation theory from the very beginning the rulers were quick to smash any kind of democratic movement. They deliberately used communal tactics to drive out religious minorities’ from their home land and to suppress all kinds of movement.
It may be recalled that "Transfer of Property Act" is ignored in case of the Hindus by keeping the Enemy Property Act as the Vested Property Act। So the property based crisis deepened and disturbed society at the root.

One report makes it clear how with the promulgation of the Vested and Non-resident Property (Repeal) Ordinance by President A। M. Sayem during the rule of General Ziaur Rahman, many government officials became the owners of lands earlier held by the Hindus.

With this process of eviction of the Hindu peasantry and their ejection from the villages has appeared a new class of land grabbers। The gradual disappearance of the Hindu peasantry from the Bangladesh countryside, the same report shows, reached a new phase with the circular of 23 May 1977 on the Ministry of Lands of the Government of Bangladesh which empowered the Tehsildars to find out the lands suitable for enlisting as enemy property.

Since there was a provision for rewarding the successful tehsildars they felt encouraged to bring many undisputed properties of the Hindus under this list।

Hindu peasants were thus left with no alternative, but to move on, as they could not expect any remedy from the additional deputy commissioner, the sub-divisional officer, or the circle officer who, like the tehsildar, were similarly entrusted with the responsibility and similarly promised reward। While steps for disposal of vested properties were under way at different levels, the President Genl. H M Ershad issued an order to stop disposal and fresh enlistment of vested property by an announcement on 31 July 1984, in the conference of the representative of the Hindu community held at Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka.

In pursuance of the announcement of the President, the Ministry of Land Administration and Land Reforms issued a memo on 23 November 1984 reiterating that disposal of vested property and further enlistment of any property as vested would stop on 21 June 1984, and that any action taken in contravention of the announcement of the President should be treated as cancelled। The government, however, issued a memo on 1 June 1989 revoking the ban on renewal of lease and eviction from vested property on certain conditions.

On November 4, 1993, the then BNP Government led by Begum Zia made another declaration for scrutiny of the census list of the enemy properties। This declaration was another initiative to use the 'Act' to harass and oppress the religious minorities in Bangladesh. In a changed political situation the present govt. issued two circulars from the ministry of land on November, 14, 1996 the gist of which is –

1. Not to enlist any more property as enemy vested properly.(b) Without prior permission of the land ministry no member of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian communities shall be evicted out.

2. In land survey the land property of religious minorities should be properly assessed During Awami League Government (1996-2001),the Vested Properties Return Act, 2001 is not only tokenism.

It may well be the beginning of legalising the omissions and commissions committed under a patently discriminatory law. Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government annulled this VP Act in 2001. It wanted to return the 'Vested' property to their original Hindu owners. The move was criticised as a 'political tokenism' aimed to appease minority voters prior to the general elections.
Hindu properties continue to be' vested'- a recent observation

Nearly two lakh Hindus have lost 22 lakh acres of their land and houses during the last six years, a Dhaka University Professor Abul Barkat says in May 2007 . At the current market price, the value of the 22 lakh acres of land (one acre roughly equals three bighas) that the Hindu families were displaced from is Tk 2,52,000 crore, which is more than half of the country’s gross domestic product, he says Some 12 lakh or 44 per cent of the 27 lakh Hindu households in the country were affected by the Enemy Property Act 1965 and its post-independence version, the Vested Property Act 1974. Prof. Barkat points out that 53 per cent of the family displacement and 74 per cent of the land grabbing occurred before the country’s independence in 1971 .
About 1.2 million households and 6 million people belonging to the Hindu community have been directly and severely affected by the Enemy/Vested Property Act. The community has lost 2.6 million acres of its own land in addition to other moveable and immovable property. The approximate money value of such loss (US $ 55 billion) would be equivalent to 75 per cent of the GDP of Bangladesh (at 2007 prices). The EPA/Vested Property Act has compelled Hindus to break family ties. Stress and strain, mental agony and a fuelling of religious fundamentalism have been the offshoot. The deprivation led to the growth of a communal mindset in what had been a historical secular climate and context.

The Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Sangbad (21st March 1977) alleged that at that point in time, according to the government's own figures, 702,335 acres (2,842 km²) of cultivable land and 22,835 homes were listed as enemy property.According to a report of the Land Ministry in October 2004,submitted to a parliamentary standing committee "445,726 acres of vested property out of 643,140 acres ended up in encroachment across the country. “Grabbers gabbled up more than two thirds of vested property as the government lost control over the lands as the custodian and its long-line dithering blocked anti-encroachment efforts,” the report said. (The Daily Star, 15 October 2004) Professor Abul Barkat and his co-authors have accurately projected the economic history, lapses in the land laws, willful negligence of the bureaucracy and greed of the politicians for property.

Prof Barkat found that no list of the people evicted or the quantum of lands grabbed on the basis of the Vested Property Act has been prepared till date. Instead, politically powerful people grabbed most of the land during the reign of the BNP-led alliance government between 2001 and 2006. Politically powerful people grabbed most of the Hindu lands during the reign of Begum Khaleda Zia's. Forty-five per cent of the land grabbers were affiliated with the BNP, 31 per cent with the Awami League, eight per cent with Jamaat-e-Islami and six per cent with the Jatiya Party and other political organisations, the New Age and the Daily Janakantha, on 27 May.07 quote Prof Barkat. The affected Hindu families met with more incidents of violence and repression in the immediate-past five years of the BNP-led government than in the previous five years of the Awami League government, the Barkat research report concludes. (NewAge, Janakantha, Manabzamin,27 May.07)

The US State Department in its Human Rights Report in 2007 says: "During the year the government did not take any measures to implement the 2001 Vested Property Return Act providing for property restitution to persons, mostly Hindus, who had their property seized by the government after the 1965 India-Pakistan war".

USCIRF Report issued in May 2008 says : In light of Bangladesh's upcoming national elections, currently scheduled for December 2008, the Commission recommends that the U.S. government should ask the Bangladesh Government to: repeal the Vested Property Act, discriminatory legislation that has been used unjustly to seize Hindu-owned property in the decades since Bangladesh's independence and has continued to be used under successive governments to reward well-connected members of the majority community in Bangladesh.

Exodus of Minority

Migration is the ultimate consequence of black laws since 1948, state communalism, discrimination, persecution and oppression on minorities. The readers will get an accurate scenario of migration from the following statistics. In 1947 the proposition of the religious minorities was 29.7% of the total population. Before 1971 it was 19.6%, in the 1974 census it was 14.6% and in1991 it was 11.7%. and now in 2001 it is 9%. The average number of family member in Bangladesh of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian is 5.7, 5.5, 5.9, 5.4 respectively. The statistics shows that 1 crore 25 lakh people migrated in the Pakistan period and 1 crore in the Bangladesh period-from 1971 to the present. Even government statistics admit that the number is around 50 lakh. The weekly Holiday showed in 1991 that from 1974 to 1991 29 lakh 50 thousand humiliated Hindus left Bangladesh to become a 'stateless-citizens' in India and their present number became 1.5 crore since the period between1974 and 2006.

But in reality, as Professor Barkat study shows the Hasina largesse did not benefit the Hindu minority, who owned land at the time of partition. In fact, it ended up displacing most of them from their ancestral land. While trying to review the impact of the law on the land ownership of the Hindu community, we have to get rid of this uncivilized state of affairs to establish a civilized society.

Otherwise, we have to face a bigger historic catastrophe,' Professor Abdul Barkat, who teaches economics, insists in his research paper, 'Deprivation of affected million families: Living with Vested Property in Bangladesh'. It is needless to say that Vested Property Act is a law against the spirit of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The Act has violated the fundamental rights of a class of people guaranteed in the Constitution of Bangladesh: Those discriminatory laws and post seventy-five constitutional amendments not only hurt the feelings of the minorities severely, their confidence on Bangladesh state machinery have been dwindled; they have been effectively transformed into second class citizens.

It is needless to say that Vested Property Act is a law against the spirit of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The Act has violated the fundamental rights of a class of people guaranteed in the Constitution of Bangladesh:

Article-27, "All citizens are equal before the law and are entailed to equal protection of law”,

Article-28(1), "The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth",

Article-29(1) "There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in respect of employment or office in the service of the Republic" and

Article 29(2) "No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office in the service of the Republic."

The story of Pakistan is one of remorseless tug and pull between the civilian and military rulers on the one hand, and the liberal and religious forces on the other. In the process, the country has failed to become a democracy, a theocracy or a permanent military dictatorship. The chief casualties have been the rule of law, the state institutions and the process of national integration, with grave consequences for the civil society.

Despite 15 years of formal democracy in Bangladesh, the army remains unaccountable to the public, who cannot freely criticize it due to constitutional forbidding. Even the liberal Awami League party uses religion in all its activities and does not clearly advocate reinstitution secularism in the constitution. Political leaders of all spectrums oppose civil society activism in the name of traditional religious values.

The culture of intolerance, hatred and violence of political parties goes hand in hand with terrorist activities that have "intruded into the popular psyche" since the mid-1990s. The state's total failure to check terrorist threats to democracy is ascribed by many to the fact that Bangladeshi rulers themselves patronize Islamic fundamentalism.

Politicization of the bureaucracy and judiciary and the absence of internal democracy within parties are other obstacles to democratic practice. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely says Lord Acton." So not dictatorship, but democracy -- a government of not one man but of all people -- is now the norm in almost all countries of the world. But the quality of democracy obtaining here is abysmally low. The reasons are not far to seek.

Corruption has eroded the vitals of democratic institutions all over the country. A large segment of Parliamentarians, who make laws and frame the guiding principles of governance, and the bureaucrats who implement the same, barring a few, indulge in corruption. That is why democracy in Bangladesh took different shape and size under bootish regimes and became demo-crazy of power.

Reza Hossein Borr , a leadership consultant (email: balochfront@aol.com) writes about Pakistani leaders : “A country begins its decline when its politicians and leaders begin to lose respect for integrity, competence, performance of duty and serving people. These are the issues that can break down any country. No country can survive without integrity of its leaders. No nation can survive without competent professionals running the affairs of the country at an acceptable level every day. No nation would survive when its leaders do not have on lasting commitment for serving the people and creating conditions in which the masses feel that their lives get better and better every day. No nation can survive if oppression and brutality becomes the routine of the day with a sense of impunity in those who commit oppression.

If we look back at the history of Pakistan so far, none of its leaders had any dignity to realise their end and accept it gracefully. General Ayoub Khan dominated the country for some time. When his time was over he could not realise it and therefore he continued oppression. There were demonstrations against him everywhere. The public called him a dog and finally threw him out of power in disgrace.

He came to power with pride, called himself Field Marshal and left like a dog. His successor, general Yahya Khan was even worse than him. He caused the disintegration of Pakistan, massacred millions of Bangladeshis. His army raped thousands of women. He was the person who accused you Ayoub Khan of mismanaging the country and corruption, however he himself turned to become even worse than his predecessor. He had to leave and live in disgrace too because of not realizing that his time was all over.

Z Ali Bhutto had the same fate. General Zia hanged him for corruption and murder. Zia became the target of the same fate. He did not hand over the power with dignity and grace until he was killed in an aeroplane crash. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif both defied public. Both did not learn from the history of their predecessors. None of them retained their respect and dignity. Both of them were fired and sent into exile in disgraceful manners.

General Musharaf took over the power from Sharif promising that he would clean the country and would bring prosperity and dignity to the nation though shortly after assuming power he followed in the steps of his predecessors and repeated their mistakes. Today he is the man without dignity. He has lost respect. And he would go in disgrace like his predecessors. It seems that Pakistan is the land of disgraceful leaders. The leaders of Pakistan are either killed or sent into exile in disgrace, yet there are hundreds of army generals and politicians who would do everything possible to face this fate.

The Pakistani generals and politicians certainly know how to take over the power. They certainly do not know how to retain the power and how to manage and lead Pakistan. They surely do not know how to hand over the power gracefully and with dignity before they have lost all the respect. They come with grace and go in disgrace. They come with dignity and go without dignity.”(www.globalpolitician.com) Bangladesh also stripped with the legacy of Pakistan.

In Bangladesh, being a minority means being a victim of oppression, torture and discrimination. The educated Hindus, who could play a leadership role in the community, left the country. The poor, who lacked leadership qualities, stayed back. Eminent personalities of the minorities who stayed on in Bangladesh live in the cities, so there are none to look after them in times of distress. As a result the minority community, a very much-advanced component of our population, is unable to contribute to country’s development activities. So, we need not to produce more evidences, rather looking forward the needful action from the non-party caretaker Government led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed to repeal the VPA as he is committed to establish democracy and rule of law.

Rabindranath Trivedi is a retired Addl.Secretary and former Press Secretary to the President of Bangladesh, Secretary General Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) Bangladesh National Chapter

- Asian Tribune

Missing: a million BanglaDesh visitors

2008-08-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

by NISHIT DHOLABHAI

New Delhi:

Over a million Bangladeshis who have entered India legally through Bengal since the 1970s cannot be traced, official figures said today.

The disclosure, made by the Border Security Force, swivels the spotlight from the problem of illegal immigrants who have been streaming in across the border for decades.

BSF director-general A.K. Mitra said that between 1972 and 2005, the entry of over 1.2 million Bangladeshis had been cleared by immigration counters on the Bengal border. “There is no record that they have returned,” he said.

Mitra was speaking to reporters on his return from the India-Bangladesh border co-ordination conference held in Dhaka through this week.

Concern over Bangladeshis overstaying their visa or illegally entering India took centre stage in the past two years after a series of blasts were linked to radical Islamic groups with connections in Bangladesh.

Home ministry sources said talks between the home secretaries of the two countries were on the cards, where the issue of the missing Bangladeshis would be discussed.

Thousands from Bangladesh come to Bengal every year, mostly for medical treatment in Calcutta, while hundreds visit the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer Sharif. This is apart from the thousands entering Assam through the north-eastern border.

While many of these Bangladeshis are believed to have moved into Delhi, Mumbai or smaller but prosperous towns like Jaipur, the bulk of them live in Bengal.

“Yes, there is demographic and geographical closeness, but for several years the state government has been trying its best (to deal with those overstaying),” a senior Bengal police officer said.

Driving away illegal immigrants, too, has become more difficult than before, the officer admitted. State officials pin the blame on procedural changes made by Dhaka.

Suspected illegal immigrants are first tried in a court and then convicted. The state government concerned then sends the list of names to the BSF, which forwards it to Bangladesh Rifles. It is then up to the Bangladesh government to confirm the nationality of the illegal immigrants and take them back.

“There are many who have completed jail terms but have not been accepted by Dhaka. What do we do with them?” a Bengal police officer told The Telegraph.

However, experts say deportation does not pose as much of a problem as detection of illegal immigrants. BSF officers complain that investigating agencies do not inform the force of arrests, undermining security concerns. “We only come to know through newspapers,” DGP Mitra said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080826/jsp/nation/story_9744332.jsp

All Assam Student's Union to revive 1980’s mission

2008-08-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

- Students gear up for fresh agitation

Guwahati:

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today announced that it was gearing for another Assam Agitation to take the “oust-Bangladeshi mission” it had started in the eighties to its logical conclusion.

“We are gearing up for a vigorous agitation. We would like to tell the government that we are not going to sit quietly till all the clauses of the Assam Accord are implemented,” AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya said on the eve of 23rd anniversary of the signing of the accord.

The AASU launched a hunger strike from 6 this morning to protest the government’s failure to implement the Accord and deport Bangladeshis.

The strike will continue till the official hoisting of the national flag tomorrow.

The student organisation demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Tarun Gogoi set a time-frame for the implementation of the Assam Accord.

“The Prime Minister and chief minister, after unfurling the national flag tomorrow, should let the people know by when the government will honour the commitment they made to the people of Assam 23 years ago,” Bhattacharyya said.

By not implementing the accord, the government was dishonouring a non-violent movement spearheaded by the people of Assam, he said.

The AASU also criticised the chief minister for flaying Gauhati High Court’s remark on infiltration. “We are cautioning the chief minister against making any flippant remark on the Bangladeshi issue. It is unfortunate that to protect the interest of Bangladeshis, the chief minister is even making light of a court observation,” he said.

The Opposition AGP and BJP also lambasted Gogoi today for being dismissive of the court’s observation about Bangladeshi migrants. Gogoi had yesterday said the court’s remark that a Bangladeshi would become a kingmaker in Assam was “sweeping and provocative”.

AASU activists, along with members of the Hindu Yuva Chatra Parishad, today handed over 122 suspected Bangladeshi nationals to police in Sonitpur district.

Police said the suspected migrants were on their way to Kharupatiya in Darrang from Dibrugarh in a hired bus when the activists waylaid them at Bihaguri and took them to Tezpur police station.

A two-member division bench of Gauhati High Court, on the other hand, gave 18 persons, who were declared foreigners by the foreigner’s tribunal and the single bench of the court, one more chance to prove their citizenship.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080815/jsp/northeast/story_9697332.jsp

AASU activists stage a dharna in Guwahati on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections.

When a Court Verdict Ignites Assam

2008-08-12T14:57:00.001-07:00

By Nava Thakuria

The influx from Bangladesh to Assam (India) remained a major issue of concern for the Assamese civil societies and advocacy groups since early Seventies. The All Assam Students Union (AASU) led historic Assam Agitation to the outcome of the prolonged anxiety of the indigenous people of the State against the illegal Bangladeshis living in Assam. The movement staring on 1979 to deport millions of Bangladeshis from the State that had united all social and advocacy groups for the cause.

The issue of influx once again came alive after a historical judgment by the Gauhati High Court. The court observed in one of its verdicts that illegal Bangladeshis, who used to get Indian passports because of callous approach of police and passport authorities, were slowly becoming the 'king makers' in Assam, as many politicians started using them as their traditional vote banks. The landmark judgment of the high court on July 23, also observed that a strong political will to free Assam from illegal Bangladeshis was the need of the hour. The judgment was passed while disposing the petitions of 61 petitioners after they were pronounced as foreigners by the respective Foreigners' Tribunals.

In one Md Kamaluddin's case, the court ruling said that he was in possession of a passport issued by the Pakistan government for his travel to Bangladesh. After coming to Bangladesh, he stealthily came to Assam, stayed back and even filed a nomination during the 1996 State Assembly polls. This can happen only in Assam, it said.

It also stated that in due course of time, the Bangladeshis had 'incorporated their names in the voters' lists on the basis of which they must have cast their votes'. Thus the petitioners and such other large number of Bangladeshis present in the State of Assam have a major role in electing the representatives both to the Legislative Assembly and Parliament and consequently, in the decision-making process towards building the nation. They have become the kingmakers, the judgment added.

The day, if phenomenon continues, is not far off, when the indigenous people of Assam, both Hindus and Muslims and other religious groups will be reduced to minorities in their own land and the Bangladeshis who are freely and merrily moving around the fertile land of Assam, will intrude upon the corridors of power, the court ruling warned, adding that neither the Centre nor the state governments can disown their foremost responsibility of defending the borders of the country, prevent any trespass and make the lives of citizens safe and secure.

Meanwhile, the media in Assam start pouring news, editorial and analysis on the issue. The AASU leaders have taken the advantage of the situation to materialize the public anger against the authority for their failure in detecting and deporting the illegal Bangladeshis from the State. Criticising the concerned authority and also both the governments at Dispur and New Delhi for their failure to detect and deport the illegal foreigners from Assam, the students leaders even appealed to the common people not to employ suspected Bangladeshis in any domestic and industrial works.

The initiative of the students' body has been supported by various other organisations including Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad, North East Students Organization, Assam Public Works, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Assam, Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad, with political parties like Asom Gana Parishad, Trinamul Gana Parishad, Bharatiya Janata Party with others, who subsequently initiated different campaigning against the Bangladeshi citizens, illegally taking shelter in various parts of India.

The AASU leaders (President Shankar Prasad Ray, general secretary Tapan Gogoi and adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya) argue that the influx from Bangladesh have already increased the threat to the indigenous communities of the region. Moreover it has emerged as a threat to India's integrity and sovereignty with those infiltrators possessing the capacity to grab political power in Assam in near future. The student activists were also worried that the Jehadi elements might have entered Assam with the help of those Bangladeshis and could place the region at severe risk any time.

They have already launched a series of agitational programmes in support of their demands starting on August 6. The student activists demonstrated in front of the regional passport office at Guwahati on the day, as it was indicated in the court verdict that illegal Bangladeshis managed to get Indian passport from the office with false documents.

The Sentinel*, a Guwahati based English daily, editorialised the issue of Indian passport, which was managed by some Bangladeshis on false pretexts, saying, "What is the ultimate proof of Indian citizenship if even a foreigner can get an Indian passport?" It also added, "A passport is a document issued by our government permitting us to travel to other countries....How many countries will agree to give us visas on our passports once it becomes known that even a foreigner or a terrorist from another country can acquire an Indian passport without verification?"

Next phase of agitation by the student's organization begins on August 10 with public rallies in various parts of the State. It will be followed by another demonstration beginning on the early morning (6 am) of August 14 to the time of flag hoisting on August 15 on Independence Day to raise voice against the government for their failure to implement the Assam Accord effectively. The Accord was signed between the agitating leaders and the Union Government of India on August 14, 1984 to culminate the Assam movement. More public meeting and processions on August 20 and a torchlight rally on August 26 will follow it, the students' body declared. *

The Assam Tribune*, the oldest English daily of Northeast, in one of its editorials commented that the development 'brings to the fore issues that have sinister implications for the security and integrity of not just Assam but the entire country'. It also reveals that 'despite it being an open secret that unabated cross-border infiltration from Bangladesh is fast reducing the indigenous populace of Assam to a minority, the response from the Congress-led State Government as well as the Centre has been one of utter indifference'.

It also added, "Let alone admitting to the fact that more and more Bangladeshi nationals are getting themselves registered as Indian citizens - thanks to their easy access to crucial documents like ration cards and even passports - the State Government seems to be reluctant even to admit the presence of infiltrators, and has all along been maintaining a casual approach on the issue. If the State Government needed any further proof of cross-border influx as also the evil designs behind the infiltration, the High Court ruling should wake it up from its slumber."

The deportation of illegal foreigners from Assam however runs in slow pace. Statistics made available to the media reveal that only 12,846 persons were declared as foreigners under the provisions of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act (during 1985 to 2005 July) and 1547 of them could be deported. No one knows where the rest has gone. Quoting the Border Police, the local media reported that another 30,000 persons were declared foreigners under the provisions of the Foreigners Act (during 1986 to 2008 March). Among them, 674 were deported, but once again the rest got vanished.

Facing the heat of growing public resentments, the State government has come out with declaration that it had already detected over 4 hundred thousands suspected Bangladeshis living in Assam. The Assam government spokesperson, Himanta Biswa Sarma has recently announced during a press conference that the government had also 'charge-sheeted 3,92,000 suspected Bangladeshis before the Foreigner's Tribunal Act'.

"If the Government is really serious in detection and deportation of foreigners without harassment of genuine Indian citizens, the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be expedited and photo identity cards should be given to all genuine Indian citizens on the basis of that," commented in another editorial of the daily, adding that the Government of India must try to sign an extradition or push back treaty with Bangladesh, as at present, the Bangladesh government refuses to accept the persons sought to be pushed back.

Nava Thakuria is an independent journalist based in Guwahati, Northeast India, whose main interest is in socio-political developments of Northeast India and neighbouring Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh.

http://newsblaze.com/story/20080812054437nava.nb/topstory.html

Illegal Bangladeshi Migrants Threat To Nation: Delhi High Court

2008-08-12T13:55:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI

Observing that influx of illegal migrants from other countries poses a “threat to the integrity and security of India”, the Delhi High Court today allowed the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) to deport five members of a family to Bangladesh, reports PTI. “The largescale influx of illegal migrants has led to large tracts of sensitive borders which has serious implication for internal security,” said justice S L Bhayana in a judgement.

He dismissed a petition filed by a Bangladeshi woman, Razia Begum, seeking a stay on the deportation order passed by FRRO in April this year against five members of her family and said the ration card and nationality certificates obtained by them were forged and fabricated.

Rejecting the woman’s claim that they have been staying in Mehrauli area since 1980, Justice Bhayana said “The influx of Bangladeshi nationals who have illegally migrated poses a threat to the integrity and security of India. The FRRO is duty bound to take all necessary measure”.

On December 27 last year, the staff of FRRO had apprehended 16 Bangladeshis as they were allegedly staying in the country without valid documents. The FRRO passed an order on April 23 this year for deportation of the illegal migrants.

“The order of deportation is not a punishment but a method of ensuring the return to his own country of an alien who has not complied with conditions. Hence Bangladeshi nationals who have migrated illegally have no right to remain in India and they are liable to be deported,” the court said.

Expressing concern over the continuing influx of Bangladeshis into India, the judge said “on account of variety of reasons, including religious and economic, it is difficult to make a realistic estimate of the number of illegal migrants...”.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=aug1308/at02

72 Hour Deadline To Bangladeshi Migrants to Leave Tinsukia

2008-08-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

DIBRUGARH

Twenty-two students’ and youth organisations today joined hands in Tinsukia to demand immediate detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis in the district, and served a 72-hour deadline to the illegal immigrants to leave the district voluntarily or face dire consequences. The groups include the Tinsukia district units of AASU, AJYCP, All Assam Muttock Yuva Chatra Sanmilan, All Moran Students’ Union, ATTSA, TMPK, Tai Ahom Yuva Parishad, Bengali Yuva Chatra Parishad, and Bhojpuri Students’ Union, among others.

Office-bearers of the 22 organisatons met this morning at Tinsukia to chalk out an agitational programme for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis in the district. They later briefed the media about the decisions taken, which include the 72-hour deadline starting Tuesday morning.

Speaking to this newspaper, youth leader Birinchi Neog said: “The Gauhati High Court, a former Governor of Assam... all have expressed concern at the alarming influx of illegal foreigners. These persons have to be detected and deported at any cost.” He said Assam needs to have an Inner Line Permit system in place to discourage outsiders from settling in the State, as is enforced in Arunachal Pradesh.

Neog squarely blamed the Assam government and the district administrations for miserably failing to detect and deport the huge number of illegal Bangladeshis. He stressed on the urgent need for a special task force to detect and deport illegal foreigners in Assam.

AASU information secretary Pulok Gohain said the government should go about its task of detecting and deporting illegal foreigners with a sense of urgency, rather than issuing threats to the citizens to refrain from taking the law into their own hands. “It is because the ministers and officers are conniving with illegal foreigners which is forcing the civil population to take steps to save the state,” he added.

Migrants rounded up: Meanwhile, in keeping with the ongoing hunt for illegal Bangladeshi settlers, the district unit of AASU today compelled the district administration here to identify aliens by laying siege on a hamlet on the bank of the Brahmaputra near Chandmari Ghat. AASU workers rounded up more than a hundred suspected Bangladeshis from the settlement that housed nearly 35 families. As men were away for work, those rounded up included mostly women and malnourished children. The members of the student body also reportedly resorted to aggression as they forced entry into the homes of the suspected aliens and wrecked their huts. Huts and belongings of a few families were also set ablaze.

However, AASU activists denied committing any such violent acts.

The student body later handed over the suspects to the police for verification. Additional Superintendent of Police (Border), SR Mili also rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. The claim of the AASU that the settlers are Bangladeshis could not be confirmed, as the police verification was going on till the filing of this report.

Tinsukia Correspondent adds: Today’s meeting held in Tinsukia urged both the district administration and police to take initiative for detection and deportation of the illegal migrants and also appealed to all the ward members of both gaon panchayats and civic bodies to keep strict vigil against the presence of foreign nationals in their respective areas.

It also urged the public in general of the district not to employ and provide any shelter to doubtful citizens and urged the civic bodies to re-examine the licenses of the rickshaw-pullers. The meeting also urged all the parties, organisations or individuals concerned not to give any communal colour to the foreign nationals issue.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=aug1208/at05

'One lakh legal Bangladeshis missing in India'

2008-08-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

PTI Shillong

Security forces are on the look-out for over one lakh Bangladeshis who had entered the country legally and have gone missing, a senior police officer has said.

"Over one lakh Bangladeshis who entered India with valid passports and visa are traceless as on date," Meghalaya'a Additional Director General of Police Kulbir Khrishna said while speaking at a seminar 'Changes in Security Perspective of Indo-Bangladesh' here. He said the number of these missing Bangladeshis could be ascertained as they had valid documents. However, the total illegal migrants in India could be astounding, he said.

Pointing that there was evidence to show the involvement of HuJI, which has proximity to Bangladesh's intelligence agency DGFI and Pakistan's ISI, in a number of terror attacks in the country in the recent past, Khrisnan said the porous border has fomented the movement of insurgent elements and illegal migrants.

"The seat of power in Bangladesh is occupied by elements who come from different streams of thoughts. This makes it further difficult to deal with the problem," he added.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story5%2Etxt&counter_img=5

West Bengal not keen on hosting Taslima Nasrin

2008-08-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

..

The controversial Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasrin's return to India is likely to put the Bengal government in a spot. She had to be packed off last year after a riot-like situation gripped Kolkata. Now she wants to be back in the City of Joy.

THE SPECTRE of Taslima Nasrin is back to haunt the Left Front government in West Bengal. The controversial author returned to India from Sweden and landed at New Delhi days before her visa was to expire. Her visa expires on August 17 so there was no way the Centre could have refused her entry.

The writer had to leave Kolkata in a hurry following violent protests in November, 2007 by a section of the minority community over her writings. A near riot-like situation gripped Kolkata and the army had to be called into stage a flag march. She was packed off to Jaipur by the Bengal government only to face the ire of a section of the community in Rajasthan. She was later bailed out by the Centre and put in a safe house under virtual house arrest. She left the country four months ago and is now back to the safe house in the outskirts of New Delhi.

Taslima has been pining to return to West Bengal and had complained of suffering from claustrophobia, isolated as she was at the guest house unable to meet people. She left the country because of this. Earlier, she had called the guest house a “chamber of death”.

Now she is back and is said to have expressed a desire to return to Kolkata. The home ministry is expected to write to the state government seeking a response.

However, the Bengal government is not at all happy with her return. The state chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb told the media that the state government had not received any request from her to return to Kolkata. Neither has it received any communiqué from the Union Home Ministry. He said the decision would have to come from the highest level, if there is any communication from New Delhi or the writer.

It is evident that Taslima is not welcome in Kolkata. Although equations at the Centre between the Congress-led UPA and the Left have changed and the Centre may not act with as much alacrity as it did last time in keeping her confined in New Delhi and not allowing her to return to Kolkata.

At the Indira Gandhi International Airport yesterday, she was received by security and intelligence officials and driven to the guest house.

Meanwhile, Taslima has requested for a permanent resident permit. It is yet to be decided whether her visa would be extended beyond August 17. The way things are shaping up another round of unseemly controversy over the controversial writer seems to be in the offing.

http://india.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=139145

Anti-Bangladeshi wave in Assam

2008-08-09T01:12:00.000-07:00

Syed Zarir Hussain Guwahati

Cops push illegal immigrants back
Bengali-speaking Muslims urge caution

Assam is witnessing a massive uprising against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, commonly referred to as 'foreigners'. The State authorities have stepped up their drive to arrest and push back Bangladeshi immigrants, and student groups are busy identifying suspected foreigners and handing them over to the police.

The spurt in official action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and anti-foreigners activism follows stinging comments by a Gauhati High Court judge in a recent ruling. "Bangladeshi infiltrators have not only intruded into every nook and corner of Assam, but have already become kingmakers," Justice BK Sarma said in his judgement, ordering the police to detain and deport 49 foreigners, among them a Pakistani citizen, who had appealed against the ruling of Foreigners Tribunals.

Pointing out how the Pakistani man had entered Assam from Bangladesh and contested the State Assembly election in 1986, Justice Sarma commented, "This can only happen in Assam." He went on to add, "The day is not far when the indigenous people of Assam -- both Hindus and Muslims and other religious groups -- will be reduced to minorities in their own land."

The past week witnessed the arrest of seven illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in eastern Assam's Nagaon district after the Gauhati High Court pronounced them foreigners. They were pushed back into Bangladesh through the border point of Mahisasan in southern Assam's Karimganj district.

But six of them were back in Assam by Thursday. "There is no formal agreement between India and Bangladesh and hence the only way to expel such immigrants is by simply pushing them back across the border," a senior Assam police officer said.

Even as the State authorities were enforcing the court judgement, in which 61 persons were found to be infiltrators, student groups -- including the All-Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) -- also started hounding suspected foreigners. Last week, AASU and AJYCP activists rounded up nearly 50 suspected Bangladeshis from various parts of the State and handed them over to the police.

The anti-foreigners issue has gathered momentum with Opposition parties joining the protest. "Very soon, several Assam districts will be swamped by Bangladeshi Muslims and the State will be ruled by a Bangladeshi Chief Minister," warned former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Bijoya Chakravorty.

The sudden surge of anti-foreigners sentiment has resulted in apprehension among Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are at the receiving end of the AASU and AJYCP action against non-Assamese daily wage earners. "The victims being picked up by the student volunteers are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims. This trend is dangerous, to say the least," warned Hafiz Rashid Choudhury, leader of the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), a minority-based political party.

"We want that all illegal immigrants who entered Assam after March 25, 1971, be expelled. But caution is needed to ensure that genuine Indians are not harassed," he added.

The State Government has also cautioned the Opposition against 'communalising' the issue. "It is unfortunate that some parties are trying to dub all Muslims as foreigners. If that happens, even Indian Muslims in Assam would oppose the anti-foreigners drive," State Government spokesperson and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. "We must defeat such designs. A foreigner is a foreigner, be it Hindu or Muslim," he added.

The AUDF maintains that action cannot be initiated against religious minorities just on the assumption that they could be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. "We are against providing shelter to any illegal immigrant from Bangladesh. But any action such as pushing back or deporting foreigners must be carried out within the existing legal framework," AUDF president Badruddin Ajmal said.

The AUDF chief said that the Government must immediately upgrade the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and make arrangements for issuing identity cards to all citizens. "It will help genuine citizens and avoid unnecessary harassment," he said.

The AASU had led a six-year-long agitation against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants between 1979 and 1985. The movement ended with the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985 which fixed March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of East Paksitanis/Bangladeshis staying illegally in India.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story1%2Etxt&counter_img=1

Taslima Nasrin's Return "Will Not Be Accepted By Muslims In India".

2008-08-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Criticising the centre for facilitating return of the controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen to India, Muslim organisations in Kolkata on Friday called for her immediate deportation from the country.

Holding a meeting under the banner of All-India Majlis-e Sura, the organisations said, "we are deeply disappointed and dejected by this step of the Centre, specifically Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee, that he has allowed Taslima to return to India."

Seeking her immediate deportation from India, they said, "we are looking forward to a positive response from the Centre."

"The Centre's step has definitely hurt sentiments of the Muslim community in India," said a statement signed by Aziz Mubaraki, Additional Chief Secretary to Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan mosque.

All-India Minority Forum President Idris Ali described Taslima's return to India as "unfortunate and unexpected" and said it "will not be accepted by Muslims in India".

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=6cd40ac6-1d3d-40f0-910f-57bfe04660e9&MatchID1=4737&TeamID1=8&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1194&MatchID2=4728&TeamID3=2&TeamID4=3&MatchType2=1&SeriesID2=1191&PrimaryID=4737&Headline=Taslima's+return+comes+under+flak&strParent=strParentID

Taslima Nasrin returns to India

2008-08-08T22:25:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, (PTI)

Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, who was dramatically bundled out from West Bengal in November last year, returned today after spending more than four months in Sweden.
The 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer, who has been a target of Islamic fundamentalists, arrived at the Indira Gandhi International airport this morning and was immediately whisked away by security agencies to an undisclosed destination, official sources said.

The future plans of the doctor-turned writer, who shot to fame with her controversial book "Lajja", were not immediately known. Her visa is valid till August 12. She has been requesting for permanent residentship in the country but the Government has not taken any decision on the issue.

Taslima had left India on March 18 for Sweden after she was kept in a safe house in the national capital for more than four months. Taslima, who had not been allowed to see any visitors during the period, had described her confinement as living in "a chamber of death". PTI

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/C158906B6772053D6525749F0039588B?OpenDocument

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Bangaldeshi author Taslima Nasreen returns to India

New Delhi, (ANI):

Taslima Nasreen, the controversial Bangladeshi writer, who had to leave India in March this year, arrived in the national capital on Friday and was immediately whisked off to an undisclosed location.Official sources said that her visa for India is valid till August 12, but did not disclose her future plans would be.

Nasreen was dramatically bundled out from West Bengal in November last year and eventually left the country for Paris before shifting to Sweden in April.

The 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer has been a target of Islamic fundamentalists in India and in other parts of the world for her controversial writings, including books ”Lajja” and ”Dvikhandita”.

In May this year she said she would like to stay in Tripura when she returns to India if not allowed to stay in Kolkata.

Talking to ”Ajker Fariad”, a leading Bengali daily here over telephone from Sweden, Nasreen said she felt like being buried alive in Sweden. She said that as she writes in Bengali, she should be allowed to stay in a Bengali-inhabited place.

I will request the West Bengal Government to allow me to stay in my Park Street home. If this fails, I will approach the Tripura Government, she had said then.

The controversial author has in the recent past also received full support from the writers community in India.They have said that she should be granted freedom of speech and security. (ANI)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sports/bangaldeshi-author-taslima-nasreen-returns-to-india_10081585.html

Kolkata Police wary as Osama bin Laden tapes ‘turn up’ in city

2008-08-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

Rajib Chatterjee & Sabyasachi Roy

KOLKATA

An Intelligence tip-off that teenage boys from Park Circus have received some cassettes containing inflammatory speeches of Osama Bin Laden for "local circulation" has got Kolkata Police in a tizzy.

Baffled by such report, sleuths belonging to city police's Special Branch (SB) and detective department have started maintaining a close watch among the youths, aged between 15 to 18, hailing from Darapara area near Park Circus. However, no cassette were seized till today. A senior city police officer said they came to know that some audio cassettes on radical Islamic movement have reached the city recently through the India-Bangladesh borders and Attari check post in Punjub. The entire consignment of the cassettes came through trucks, said the officer, posted in Special Branch. The cassettes, which according to officials, contain inflammatory speeches of Osama Bin Laden, are being played secretly at some places near Park Circus and some other minority community dominated localities in the Central part of the city, the officer said.

He also said that surveillance has been stepped up in Kolutola and its adjoining areas after reports that some religious leaders had come to the city recently to hold meetings with their counterparts in the city. Senior city police officers admitted that surveillance has been stepped up in several pockets following the serial blasts in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. It was learnt that sleuths belonging to the anti terrorist cell of the city police's Special Branch and detective department have been asked to identify the places where the cassettes are being played. Further, they have been instructed to trace the recipients of the cassettes. It is suspected that some recipients of the cassettes include a section of youngsters who had participated in the demonstration that took place in Park Circus area on 21 September last year over controversial writer Taslima Nasreen's stay in West Bengal.

Alarmed over reports of arrival of cassettes on Jehadi movement in the city, surveillance in all entry points to the city has been intensified. Top district police officers have also been informed about the Intelligence tip off, said an officer of Special Branch.

When contacted, Mr Jawed Shamim, deputy commissioner of the city police's detective department, said he had no reports of cassettes containing speeches of Osama Bin Laden being played in Park Circus. "The special branch officers may have such reports, by I don't know anything about this," Mr Shamim added.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=22&theme=&usrsess=1&id=217503

Bangladesh's Muslim Migrants: No longer economic refugees but merchants of terror

2008-08-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

Sleeper cells of the ISI are thriving all over India using Bangladeshi infiltrators as local contact points. Result: The signature of HuJi on most bomb blasts in recent times

by Wilson John

The two unstable Islamic countries flanking India have emerged as the Al Qaeda's staging posts. While Pakistan has been the epicentre of terrorism since the early 1980s, the emergence of Bangladesh as an extension of a global terror network pose serious challenges to the world, particularly India.

Though the terrorist groups targeting India (there is a hardly any difference between such groups and others with a global agenda) continue to be inspired by terrorist leaders based in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Bangladesh is where they meet, learn techniques of bomb making and collaborate for terrorist actions in India.

While the world is focussed on Pakistan's tribal areas and North-West Frontier Province as an Al Qaeda-Taliban Emirate, the Bangladesh terror network's emergence and growing power remains largely unnoticed.

This impression needs to be corrected without delay. Before September 11, 2001, no one really took seriously India's struggles to cope with an externally-aided and abetted terrorism. Pakistan, despite a huge evidence of its complicity in promoting terrorism, remained on the blind side of the Western nations, particularly the US, which, till recently, considered it as a 'strategic ally' in the war on terrorism.

Today, it is widely acknowledged that Pakistan has become global headquarters of terrorism. Similarly, Bangladesh is fast becoming a major centre of outsource for this grand coalition of terror groups which are facing intense heat in West Asia and Afghanistan.

Bangladesh has become host to various terrorist groups anxious to recruit and train young students coming out of these madarsas. One of the more prominent ones is Harkat-ul-jihad al-Islami (HuJI), widely regarded as the Al Qaeda's operating arm in South Asia. HuJI has been consolidating its position in Bangladesh where it boasts a membership of more than 15,000 activists, of whom at least 2,000 are "hardcore".

Led by Shawkat Osman (alias Sheikh Farid) in Chittagong, the group has at least six training camps in Bangladesh. According to one report, about 3,500 Bangladeshis had gone to Pakistan and Afghanistan to take part in jihad. Barring 34 who died, a large number of them returned home; of these, about 500 form the backbone of HuJI.

What should be of immediate concern to regional nations and the West (in particular the US) is, irrespective of the absence of sustained links between Islamic groups like HT, JeI and terrorist organisations, they essentially share the same ideology and anti-Western agenda. In Pakistan, the Al-Qaeda has been quite successful in co-opting various religious and sectarian groups to work for the larger "cause" of global terror. In Bangladesh such networking could be easier, making this small, impoverished country a potential sanctuary for Al Qaeda clones like HuJI.

For India, HuJI presents a clear and immediate danger. But even Indian authorities ignored the emerging evidence of HuJI's footprints. The group's activities in India were first noticed in August 1999 when four HuJI activists were detained in Guwahati -- two of them were from Pakistan, one from Kashmir and another from Muzzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. Their interrogations revealed a cache of explosives -- 34 Kg of RDX -- hidden in a Bangladesh mosque and the recruitment of young immigrant Muslims in Assam. But it was the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata on January 22, 2002 that uncovered the growing linkages of HuJI-B within India.

Investigators found HuJI-B's links with a local group called Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) formed by illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in Assam and West Bengal with the help of HuJI-B and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists.

Another clear evidence of HuJI's strength and alliances was revealed when a suicide bomber walked into Hyderabad's Special Task Force office on October 12, 2005, and detonated a pressure-activated bomb carried in a backpack. Investigations pointed to a joint operation by cadres of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, HuJI and LeT. Two months later, Delhi Police detained three HuJI-B militants involved in the Hyderabad attack who said they were trained at ISI-run camp in Balochistan and were sent to India to target Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The series of terrorist attacks, beginning with Varanasi (March 7, 2006), besides numerous arrests of terrorists, their supporters and seizure of weapons and explosives, exposed the contours of a grand merger of various extremist and terrorist groups and organisations within India. Of the two terrorists shot down within hours of the Varanasi explosions, one was a LeT commander in Lucknow, while the second a HuJI activist from Bangladesh living in Delhi.

This alliance could not have operated across the country without extensive local support provided often by SIMI and other small, less-known outfits. The terrorist coalition utilises the support base to plan and execute terrorist operations, besides planning a safe exit. This support base in many areas like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar rely on modules set up by ISI for gathering intelligence on Indian strategic assets.

Madarsas have also been used in providing the logistics in the past and continue to do so but more covertly than in the past. The groups seek out rooms to rent out in outlying colonies or in crowded areas where they could remain anonymous; in many cases they have set up small businesses to merge into the crowd. The objective of this coalition of terror is to create political upheaval in India.

The fast emerging linkages between LeT, SIMI and HuJI (and Jamaitul Mujahideen Bangladesh) depict the contours of a pan-Islamist network in Asia, linking groups operating in Iraq and Afghanistan to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and several south Asian countries like Indonesia.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=john%2Fjohn146%2Etxt&writer=john

AASU: Assam providing safe corridor to Jehadis

2008-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Guwahati: The All Assam Students Union (AASU) has raised alarm once again over the infiltration of Jehadi elements through porous Indo-bangladesh border and warned that the whole country has to bear the brunt of infiltration in the form of terror strikes if it is not stopped immediately.

AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said this while addressing a press conference and added that Assam has become the safe corridor for the Jehadi elements due to the porous Indo-Bangladesh international border.

“We have been shouting for long to seal the international border and deport illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Neither the Centre nor the state governments had taken it seriously. Today the unabated influx has taken the form of terrorism, and triggering blasts across the country,” Bhattacharya said.

AASU leaders blamed all the political parties, including Congress, BJP, AGP and Left for not being serious on stopping influx of Bangladeshi nationals.

“Only for the sake of vote bank, political parties have blatantly been turning blind eye on the influx. We earnestly appeal to the political parties to give up their love for vote banks for the sake of Assam’s and indigenous people’s security. Centre became alert to the threats of Bangladeshis when terror struck near its door step. Not when we are raising the issue for such a long time,” AASU president Shankar Prasad Roy lambasted.

The student body said that the Gauhati High Court has clearly highlighted the problem of Bangladeshi migrants to Assam in its recent verdict.

A recent judgment of the High court stated that “……. large number of Bangladeshis present in the State of Assam have a major role in electing the representatives both to the Legislative Assembly and the Parliament and consequently, in the decision making process towards building the nation. They have become kingmakers.”

AASU demanded that government should set up detention camps in the state so that if someone is detected as Bangladeshi national, could not abscond.

“If influx continues days are not far when Assam will have foreign national as Chief minister,” AASU general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi warned.

http://www.northeasttribune.com/7532.htm

“Taslima must not be allowed to return”

2008-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: Syed Mohammad Noorur Rahman Barkati, Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Masjid here, said on Friday that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan considered Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen’s return to India a serious threat to the country’s secularism.

“The Ministers acknowledged that the provocative text of the controversial Bangladeshi writer insulted not only Islam, but also people belonging to other religions,” the Imam claimed.
“Chances of Taslima’s coming back to India are slim as people who are secular and respect all religions will not allow it,” he said. “We will launch a massive campaign if she tries to return back by any chance.”

The Imam had previously issued a fatwa against Taslima in August 2007 to leave the country. She was forced to leave the city, where she was residing after being exiled from Bangladesh, on November 22, 2007 following widespread violence by All India Minorities Forum supporters demanding the cancellation of her visa. Taslima is now in Europe and recently expressed hope of returning to India.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/03/stories/2008080355861000.htm

Hindu Man Set On Fire For marrying Muslim Girl

2008-08-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Kolkata: Close on the heels of the beheading of a Hindu man for marrying a Muslim girl at a village in Murshidabad district, another man was set on fire by his in-laws on Friday at Anarpur in North 24-Parganas district for the same reason.

With severe burns, Arka Banerjee (22), a Hindu resident of Barasat's Chowdhurybagan, is now struggling for life in Barasat district hospital, superintendent of police of North 24-Parganas district Supratim Sarkar said here on Saturday.

Arka met Rehana Sultana, a Muslim during frequent trips to Baduria where his uncle stayed. Later they fell in love and got married in 2006 at a marriage registrar's office.

Apprehending opposition from his family, Arka rented a house at Haora, away from his parents, and did odd jobs to earn his living.

However, the girl's Islamist family members traced the couple to Haora after a year and brought Rehana and her one-year-old son to Anarpur, while Arka was threatened with dire consequence if he returned to Baduria.

Early on Friday, when Arka tried to enter his in-laws' house to get his wife and baby back, he was severely beaten up. Later Rehana's brother Monirul allegedly took out a tin of kerosene, poured it on him and set him on fire.

Some local people later rescued him by pouring water to douse the flames. He was then admitted to a local hospital and subsequently shifted to Barasat district hospital.

Arka's brother in-law Monirul was on Saturday arrested by the police on the basis of a statement by Arka at the hospital bed, the SP said.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14731550

‘Bomb’ in Malda, experts a day away

2008-08-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

- Police put suspected explosive device in water

OUR CORRESPONDENT, Malda, West Bengal

Police recovered a suspected improvised explosive device fitted with a timer from the bank of the Ganga in Malda’s Biharitola village on the Bengal-Jharkhand border this morning.

However, the nearest bomb squad of the CID is based in Siliguri and the experts are not expected to reach Malda till tomorrow. The police have placed the device in a bucket of water, but has not been able to defuse it.

“We cannot say if it is an explosive and how powerful it may be till the bomb squad arrives,” Malda police chief Satyajit Bandyopadhyay said.

Sources said residents of Biharitola, 35km from Malda town, spotted the spherical object wired to a small clock on the edge of the village close to the riverbank around 6am. They reported the matter to the Baishnabnagar police.

“We do not know who placed the bomb there and are asking the villagers for leads. Biharitola is located on the bank of the Ganga and on the other side is Jharkhand,” said the officer-in-charge of the Baishnabnagar police station, Nepal Sen.

“We are trying to find out if any militant outfit is behind this,” the Malda police chief said.

District intelligence sources said militant outfits consider Malda to be a “safe corridor”.

“In fact, the Students Islamic Movement of India — or Simi, a banned outfit — is quite active in this area with some cells operating here,” an intelligence officer said.

A central intelligence agency had recently drawn the attention of the Malda police to four active Simi members who had even been to Bangladesh to attend a meeting of the outfit.

“The activity of fake note smugglers and members of militant groups have increased in this area recently,” the deputy inspector-general of the BSF, Malda sector, P. S. Tomor, said. He added that a list of cross-border operatives had been handed over to the director-general of the Bangladesh Rifles.

The police have stepped up vigil at the Farakka Barrage, railway stations and along tracks after the discovery of the device in Biharitola.

Officials of the district intelligence bureau take out the suspected explosive device from a bag in which they carried it to the Baishnabnagar police station on Sunday before putting it in a bucket of water (right). Pictures by Surajit Roy

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080804/jsp/siliguri/story_9642481.jsp#

Lashkar-e-Toiba sets up base in West Bengal district

2008-08-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

KOLKATA:
Underground Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups have extended their network in several Bengal districts along Indo-Bangladesh border under the garb of frontal welfare organisations, a Bengal police report says.

The most alarming of such networks is by Lashkar-e-Toiba, which over the past couple of years, has extended their network through the frontal welfare organisation, Ahl-e-Hadis.

A confidential study by the intelligence branch of the state police reveals that over the years, these frontal organisations have gained substantial popularity among the local populace through their development activities in the region.

According to IB sources, the local police and the undercover sleuths never suspected them because these groups avoided all religious talks.

“Their real face was uncovered after we recently arrested two Lashkar persons from Murshidabad district, who were part of the Ahl-e-Hadis. Investigations revealed that this frontal organisation is also operating in a similar manner in Bangladesh for the past few years,” a senior IB official said.

The IB also recovered from them several incriminating documents including maps of some vital defence installations.

The investigators say further interrogations of the two Lashkar militants may provide some vital clues to the recent blasts at Bangalore and Ahmedabad. “One thing was clear during their interrogation that besides travelling to Bangladesh, the two suspects often frequented Mumbai and Ahmedabad,” the IB official said.

They further pointed out that unlike Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (Huji), the Lashkar under the garb of Ahl-e-Hadis never made an attempt to expand its network to all the Indo-Bangladesh bordering districts of Bengal. “They only concentrated in Murshidabad and Maldah districts because of the sheer multi-connectivity advantages these two districts enjoy over other bordering districts,” the IB official said.

He said that unlike any Bengal district along Bangladesh border, Maldah and Murshidabad provide easy access to Bangladesh and Nepal.

“At the same time, from both these districts, one can easily move out to Bengal’s neighbouring state of Jharkhand. Also, Murshidabad and Maldah are the only two Indo-Bangladesh bordering districts of Bengal, which have direct railways connectivity to major stations of Howrah and Sealdah,” he said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1181019

Jagannath temple on verge of destruction

2008-07-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Jagannath on road to oblivion

The century-old temple faces demolition amid shifting of blames and responsibilities
Durdana Ghias

Demolition of the frontal façade of Jagannath Mandir at city's Tantibazar is going on while the authorities concerned are still unsure about who has the responsibility to save the 100-year-old temple.

A big obstacle in saving the structure lies in the fact that the authorities are yet to make a complete list of city's heritage buildings.

The temple committee started knocking down the structure on Saturday night. A new building is being constructed inside the temple compound.

According to locals, the temple was built by Hariprashanna Dey, Kartik Sen and other elite of the trader community of the area.

Taimur Islam, conservation architect of Urban Study Group, said the 19th century temple is known for it decorative ceramic tiles and moulded tiles.

Corinthian capitals, small ornate domes, pilasters, relief work, decorated cornice and parapets are some of the important features of the temple.

"Parts of the parapets are broken now. The structure has an oriel window jutting out of the wall. The pinnacle was once broken by the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War. Then it was redeveloped," he said.

"We are trying to raise funds to save it. The façade can be preserved and partially reconstructed. We have sought one-month time from the temple committee to provide necessary technical assistance to save the façade."

Taimur contacted Rajuk's authorised officer of the area when he found that the demolition was going on Sunday. The authorised officer responded by sending an inspector immediately to the spot.

Babul Das, head of the temple committee, said they have tried their best to save the façade of the temple but they could not do it due to lack of funds.

"We wanted to save the façade but we do not have enough money. The architects told us that they would manage funds but they couldn't. Therefore we are not in a position to save it,” he said.

“The best we can do is to reconstruct the whole thing after demolition. But we have to knock it down for the new building," said Das. “The façade stands as an obstacle to the worshippers coming to the temple,” he added.

"Due to the rickety façade we are facing problem in worshipping. We have a string of Puja in the next few months -- Jhulon, Monosha Puja, Janmashtami, Bishwakarma Puja and Durga Puja. So we will have to prepare the temple now,” the temple committee chief said.

Das said Rathjatra is the most gorgeous religious event at this temple. But in the last Rathjatra they faced problems because they had lots of worshippers who faced difficulties getting into the temple.

“Till now we have broken only the pinnacle of the façade which can be reconstructed," he said.

Kajal Devnath, president, city unit of Hindu, Bouddha, Christian Oikya Parishad, said he is trying his best to save whatever is left.

"I have told the Urban Study Group that if they can take the responsibility and provide technical help in saving the structure then I can convince the temple committee," he said.

If a sponsor is not found or the government do not come forward in time then it will be hard for anyone to save it. This is the stark reality, he said.

Asked what steps the recently formed heritage committee under the government's Urban Development Committee, will take regarding the matter, one of its high officials said that since their convenor is not in the country they are waiting for him to return.

On his return, the committee will take action. Official letter will be sent to Rajuk about the buildings which were not listed but are invaluable from architectural point of view.

"The two main jobs of the heritage committee are to prepare a list of the heritage buildings and to apply to the authorities concerned to save the buildings. But the committee cannot take any action. We are not empowered to stop any demolition work. We can only make a request," said a high official seeking anonymity.

"Right now we are observing what the temple committee does. We have informed the concerned Rajuk officer about the demolition," he said.

But Aminur Rahman Suman, Rajuk's authorised officer of the area, said none from the committee has contacted him.

“I sent a inspector to the spot Sunday evening following a verbal request from an architect. As far as I know they have stopped the demolition. But it would have been easier for me if I had a written complaint,” he said.

These buildings are under the jurisdiction of DCC according to clause 111 of the Dhaka City Corporation Ordinance 1983, he said.

"It would have been of great support to us had there been a list of these heritage buildings. Since I don't have any list how will I know which one is a heritage building and which one is not?”

Asked, Sirajul Islam, DCC's town planner, said DCC, Rajuk and Disaster Management Bureau are responsible for the risky structures in the city.

He said DCC is responsible for the maintenance of any structures, be it a building or a footpath. DCC has a technical committee comprising representatives from Rajuk, PWD, house building and disaster management committee, for identifying risky buildings in the city.

"After identifying a building we make an assessment of the building and serve a notice to the owner for necessary repairs to make it risk-free. If he does not comply, then we serve another notice to knock it down,” he said.

"Now the problem is most of the risky buildings are heritage buildings. If we could know which of them are heritage buildings it would have been easier for us to take proper steps. We heard that a list of heritage buildings will be prepared by the Urban Development Committee," he said.

Sirajul mentioned that 19 people died in 2004 due to building collapse in Shankharibazar. At that time DCC prepared a list of risky buildings but Jagannath Mandir was not on the list. At that time it was a stable structure.

The partially demolished façade of Jagannath temple stands with a broken pinnacle.

http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=48027

An inconvenient truth of the terror saga

2008-07-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

While the average citizen and the intelligence agencies seem to know that the terror is coming in from our porous borders, this apparent truth is avoided by the political leadership for the sake of political expediency.

Vandana K Mittal

INDIA, RIGHT now, is in the grip of a ‘bomb fever’. Watching news reporters do the bomb count since Saturday (July 26) it seems the easiest thing to do in India is to leave green, packaged bombs all over a city with no one in the crowded city ever seeing anyone actually in the act of planting those bombs. From electricity transformers to shop-fronts to temples and now finally up onto peepal and aam trees, the trail of these green packets of terror is baffling and ever growing.

While the Muslim terrorists are high on the suspect list other wild theories are also doing the rounds on the gossip circuit. Some blame the state government and some the Congress. Whichever way you look at these theories one thing is clear; all this is, actually, shadow boxing between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the general elections next year. It is disturbing to see that at a time when terrorism is looming on the national horizon as a huge threat to the lives of the people and the security of the nation, our political parties are deliberately or otherwise busy blaming one another.

If nothing else, the blame game dexterously takes the attention away from the real issue of the terror tentacles that seem to have spread effortlessly and swiftly through the entire nation. It is no longer possible to conjure up images of Kashmiri separatists or the underworld supported terror groups in Mumbai. Terror is neither confined to any one state nor to any one ethnic profile. It is no longer possible to weave the story of disaffected and under privileged people falling to the lure of terror.

That stage is long gone. While we, as a nation, stuck our head in the sand and pretended that once we had a peace deal with Pakistan stitched up all terror would just fade away, the trainers have successfully trained their cadre within India and moved into the background. The professor (of terror) has done his job; the students are able and willing to carry the torch now.

The signs have been there all along, but, for some inexplicable reason we are unable to follow any lead back to its mastermind and therefore, smash the nerve centres of the terror network. Lashkar-e-Toiba, HUJI, SIMI and many other names have become household names in India but in spite of eerie similarities between the various blasts in the last few years our intelligence agencies seem unable or unwilling to piece the clues together and give a definitive answer to the nation.

I use the word ‘unwilling’ simply because in this country no matter what the disaster, the trail always goes back to the divisive and destructive politics of the country. Ask any citizen in and around Delhi and they will tell you about the large unauthorised shanty towns, full of Bangladeshis that have sprouted all over the city in the last 15 years. Most of them though economic migrants, do pose a serious threat to the nation.

No matter how similar the language and culture of West Bengal and Bangladesh, the fact remains that Bangladesh is a separate sovereign nation and the presence of their citizens in our country in millions is proof of our ineffectual border control and opportunistic vote bank politics. Yet, the reality today is that the question of these illegal immigrants cannot be raised by anyone, in India, without being branded a communalist and anti-Muslim.

This has been a boon for agencies like the Pakistani ISI to simply shift base to Bangladesh and infiltrate the masses moving across the border with some of their own cadre. They move into India and become a part of these extended Bangladeshi colonies. From here to setting up localised terror hubs is just an easy step. One cannot help but marvel at the naiveté with which the news channels report that a teacher, a barber or a local shopwallah has been found to have terror links to Pakistani or Bangladeshi agencies. What do they really expect the terrorist to look like; the poster boys of Al-Qaeda in their full bearded glory or the suave, sinister bad guy of a Bollywood film?

What better way to destroy a country from within but to merge with its people, to live like them, to be one of them and then at an opportune time betray the trust the locals put in them? This is also the best way to sow the ideology of terrorism (Islamic or otherwise) into young, impressionable minds. We all have an idea of what is happening from Kashmir to Assam to Gujarat and yet all this is destined to remain anecdotal conjecture because facing the truth is always politically inconvenient to one group or another.

The BJP cannot raise the issues of security because it is already branded a communal party and is seen as anti-minorities, the Congress cannot do it because it risks losing the Muslim vote bank and its (debatable) secular credentials and there is as yet no other political leader or party that has the will to take on this threat to our country from the terrorists trained by our ‘friendly’ neighbors. Till such a time as our leaders gather the will to work for what is right and not what is merely convenient this issue of Islamic terrorism will remain an ‘inconvenient truth’.

http://india.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=138521
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'Illegal BanglaDeshi migrants aiding terrorists' - Times of India

2008-07-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

HYDERABAD:

Four days after the Ahmedabad blasts, Bangladesh is emerging as the deadly link to the bloody affair. The connection is not only through the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam (HuJI), the terrorist organization based in Bangladesh which is believed to have masterminded the operations in cahoots with members of the disbanded SIMI.

The link is also through the over two million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who have crossed over to India in the last three decades.

Intelligence officials believe that these illegal Bangladeshis are not only providing a haven to HuJI operatives but are also extending other services to them, including material required for assembling bombs.

"Although Bangladeshis enter India illegally in search of economic opportunities, some of them get into jihadi activities. If not directly then indirectly," said a central intelligence official. These officials believe that the arc of terror has widened in India because, over the years, Bangladeshi migrants have spread their enclaves to various parts of the country. Starting with border districts of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura in the early 1980s, Bangladeshis are now in Delhi, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad among other places.

A former BSF officer along the Bengal border believes that around 400 Bangladeshis enter India everyday through Murshidabad, Malda and Cooch Behar in West Bengal.

This makes their number around 12,000 a month and almost 1.5 lakh illegal Bangladeshis per year. Most of these illegal migrants are tradesmen: low-end fitters, locksmiths, painters, cutters, welders, rickshaw pullers, cycle wallahs or plain labourers. "These are the sort of persons whose services come in handy for assembling bombs," an intelligence official said, adding that HuJI has purposely given up use of RDX to avoid easy detection before the act."

The Ahmedabad bombs were assembled from gelatine sticks and used potassium and sodium. Shrapnels were put in the improvised bombs. Such stuff can be carried separately without any suspicion being aroused. Of course, a timer and detonator was added. "This is fairly unsophisticated technology which even locally based operatives can put together," a source said.

This, however, does not mean that educated individuals are not involved; in fact it's such people who provide ideological basis for terrorism. This is evident from, among other things, the 14 page e-mail document they sent minutes before the first blast in Ahmedabad. The document titled, 'The Rise of Jihad, Revenge of Gujarat', goes on to display awareness about many happenings in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and even the terminology used by Narendra Modi such as Gujarat's asmita (pride).

HuJI's main aim is to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh and assist in the formation of an international Islamic Caliphate. It has wide contacts with international Islamic terror groups especially in Pakistan.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Illegal_Bangla_migrants_aiding_terrorists/articleshow/3303749.cms

ULFA to use HUJI cadres for subversive activities in Assam

2008-07-25T22:00:00.001-07:00

Ashok Dixit

New Delhi (ANI)

The banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has arrived at an agreement with the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HUJI) to operate jointly in Assam.

According to informed sources, the ULFA leadership, which has taken refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, has taken this step to keep their local benefactors happy. Sources said it has agreed to provide logistical support to HUJI cadres for it to effectively target civilians and other “manned” installations in Assam.

The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HUJI-B) was established in 1992, reportedly with assistance from Osama bin Laden’’s International Islamic Front (IIF).

The outfit’’s activities, however, were first noticed in June 1996 after the Awami League (AL) came to power. It was subsequently proscribed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led coalition Government on October 17, 2005.

The HuJI-B is led by Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid. Imtiaz Quddus is the general secretary of the outfit. The outfit’’s operations commander, Mufti Abdul Hannan has been under arrest since October 1, 2005.

According to informed sources, this reported pact is being seen as a godsend for the ULFA, whose credibility with the masses in Assam and in neighbouring areas, has all but vanished. Once regarded as the saviour of the Assamese people for championing the cause of establishing a sovereign Assam through an armed struggle, the ULFA today stands exposed as a terrorist grouping.

Experts are of the view that this rebel outfit is running out of ideas to motivate its cadres - established and new, and therefore, it is desperate to remain relevant. The ULFA leadership has arrived at this understanding with the HUJI-B with the objective of spreading a reign of terror in Assam.

The HuJI-B has been for waging war and killing progressive intellectuals and draws its inspiration from Osama bin Laden and the erstwhile Taliban regime of Afghanistan.At one point of time, the group issued a slogan - “Amra Sobai Hobo Taliban, Bangla Hobe Afghanistan” (”We will all become Taliban and we will turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan”).HuJI-B recruits follow a radical form of Islam. Their principal area of activity is in the coastal area stretching from Chittagong south through Cox’’s Bazaar to the Myanmarese border. It has indulged regularly in acts of piracy, smuggling and arms running.The group reportedly maintains six camps in the hilly areas of Chittagong, where its cadres are trained in the use of weapons. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that it maintains six training camps near Cox’’s Bazaar. On the other hand, the ULFA considers itself a “revolutionary political organization” engaged in a “liberation struggle” against India for the establishment of a sovereign, independent Assam.

It does not consider itself a secessionist organization, as it claims that Assam was never a part of India. It claims that the Assamese are confronting the problem of national identity, and therefore, it seeks to represent “independent minded struggling peoples” irrespective of race, tribe, caste, religion and nationality.

The Government of India (GOI), however, has classified it as a terrorist organization and banned it under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 1990.

The latest development from the Central Government’’s point of view is that it has decided to keep the plea of the Dima Halao Daogah (Jewel) (DHD-J) insurgents, which has its pockets of influence in Assam’’s Karbi Anglong District (bordering Nagaland), for ceasefire pact, pending, but decided to intensify its armed operations against the ULFA.

The Home Ministry took this decision on Thursday (July 24) after a review meeting with top officers of the State Government and paramilitary forces.

Joint Secretary (North East) Navin Verma, State Chief Secretary P.C.Sarma, DGP R.N.Mathur and IGP (Special Branch) Khagen Sarma, besides DG, CRPF and additional DG, Border Security Force (BSF) and senior Army officials, attended the meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta.

The meeting primarily reviewed the deployment of the forces in the trouble-torn North Cachar Hills, where a number of projects including the mega Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project have come to a grinding halt following endless bouts of killings in the district.

Since May, at least 27 persons, mostly belonging to railways, were killed.The stalling of the project work and train services in North Cachar Hill, where work on East-West Corridor is also going on, has led to a storm of protests from the neighbouring States of Mizoram and Tripura, which were faced with crisis of essential commodities.The meeting also assessed the situation arising out of the unilateral declaration of ceasefire by the 28th battalion of the ULFA. The violence in the Bodo Territorial Autonomous District area was viewed with concern and effective measures to deal with this were discussed, sources said.

The Centre and the State have reportedly agreed to wait and watch the situation for the moment, as the Government already has a ceasefire pact with a rival faction of the DHD.The cadres belonging to the 28th battalion have since moved to the designated camps, though the government is yet to come out with a set of guidelines.

Sources said the review meeting decided to intensify operations against the ULFA in coming days. In this connection, the Army gave its inputs and Centre has now given the green signal to resume operations against the outfit, sources said. (ANI)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/ulfa-to-use-huji-cadres-for-subversive-activities-in-assam_10075997.html

Infiltration from Bangladesh: A threat to national security

2008-07-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

Illegal migration from Bangladesh is a part of ISI's proxy war against India. It's posing threat to national security. Fundamental forces based in Bangladesh have designed a plan to cut a part of Indian union and form a greater 'Islamic Bangladesh'..

by Prasenjit Chakraborty

IN 2005, the parliamentarians from different commonwealth nations assembled in London to participate in a meeting of Commonwealth Parliamentary Forum. One Member of Parliament (MP) from Bangladesh got introduced with a member of the Indian delegation team. During an informal chat between the two, the Bangladeshi parliamentarian admitted that fundamental forces based in his country have the design to cut a part of Indian union and form a greater ’Islamic Bangladesh’. The plan includes taking over of the north eastern region and West Bengal of India. The Indian MP was Kiren Rijiju, elected from Arunachal Pradesh. He disclosed this when addressing the gathering at a seminar held in Kolkata recently. Without naming the Bangladeshi leader, he said that the matter is of great concern because unabated influx from the neighbouring country has been posing a threat to the safety and sovereignty of our country.

Some may take it lightly, because the issue has been raised by the leader of a party of their dislike. But no one can deny the fact that the illegal migration from Bangladesh to India has caused a havoc in the life of indigenous people. It has almost killed rural traditional economy in some places and compelled the locals to live with adversities. The main danger of infiltration lies in national security. According to the data available, more than 55 lakhs of Bangladeshi infiltrators reside in Assam only. In West Bengal, the number is around 80 lakhs. Tripura has four lakhs Bangladeshis staying without permission.

Poor economic condition is often held responsible for the illegal emigration of people from one place to another by a section of media and intellectuals. It may be true in some parts of the world, but does not hold true for north eastern India-. Here, executing silent demographic change is an inseparable part of a proxy war launched by Pakistan against India. Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh are being used as tools for causing harm to the Indian society and the government, aiming ultimate consequence of soundless aggression. A collaboration of Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and hardcore Islamic fundamentalist organisations of Bangladesh has made Bangladesh a production centre of jehadis for running anti-India activities. They produce, train and export them to different destinations in guise of poor villagers in search of food and work. Security personnel often get confused and can’t even imagine that these simple looking people could be a part of ISI’s terrible game plan and may generate destruction in any part on the soil of our nation.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=137667

Islamists in Bangladesh opposes women as heads of state, government

2008-07-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Dhaka (IANS)

Women should be debarred from holding office as heads of government or state, an Islamist party has said in Bangladesh, where women have headed governments between 1991 and 2006. The election law should be amended to make women ineligible to hold these offices, the Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan (BKA) Saturday told a government panel led by Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed, currently holding a dialogue with political parties.

Ahmed performs prime ministerial functions in a caretaker government holding office since January last year.

“We have told the government to take measures so that men hold the top executive positions and no woman assumes the responsibility of head of state or government,” BKA secretary general Muhammad Zafrullah Khan at a joint press conference along with Ahmed and his advisors.

The BKA is a fringe party in electoral terms but is said to enjoy grassroot support among the rural masses in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Despite its conservative political stance, the BKA entered into an electoral alliance in December 2006 with the centrist Awami League, led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who heads a 14-party alliance that includes the communists.

For striking a deal with the BKA, Hasina faced serious criticism from the alliance and from within her own Awami League, before the elections were called off.

Women have always enjoyed prominence in Bengal, before and after the creation of East Pakistan, which eventually became Bangladesh in 1971.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/islamists-opposes-women-as-heads-of-state-government_10070928.html

CPM waves 'we hate Bush' flag to woo Muslims in Bengal

2008-07-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI:
With its West Bengal unit finding to its dismay that it's difficult to court Muslim opinion, the CPM appears to have decided to use its opposition to the Indo-US deal for its Muslim outreach. This is a tested strategy as communalisation of the foreign policy had fetched the CPM liberal electoral dividends in Kerala.

The plan is premised on two assumptions — President Bush represents a politically incorrect view point and that India's engagement with the US is a cause of concern for the community members. The Left has been using disparaging labels against those supporting the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Flashing an aggressive Muslim sensitivity card, the party believes, will help it contain the erosion of support from the community. A steady drop in the Muslim membership in the party over the past seven years and an erosion in the minority community's votes are discomforting signals for the CPM. The party's own report shows a decline in the Muslim membership from 14.9% in 2004 to 14.67% in the state where the minority community forms nearly 25% of the population . The Muslim membership figure stood at 15.2% in 2001.

At present, of the total membership of 3,21,682 in West Bengal, only 47,190 are Muslims. The party has said that the Muslim membership has declined in 20 states, including Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan (where it has dropped by nearly half from 4.4% to 2.74%) and Gujarat.

The CPM, which is jittery about the slide in the Left bastion than losing its clout in Delhi, is not taking any chances. The party is expecting its unbending anti-deal stand to help woo back some of the Muslim voters.

Though statistics are yet to be made available , Left sources said a slice of the Muslim votebase had gone to the Trinamool Congress in the recent panchayat election in West Bengal. The CPM had suffered losses in districts like 24 Paraganas, Malda and North Dinajpur with a high Muslim population.

At a time when the party, which grabbed an all-time high of 8.34% of the vote share during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and a record performance in terms of seats, is faced with the prospect of a drop in its score, the Muslim ire would only add to the Left's gloom. The party's political organisational report finalised at the recent Coimbatore Congress said more efforts needed to be made to recruit Muslims.

The party had anticipated a Muslim backlash in the panchayat polls, but by then it was too late. By the time it began a damage control exercise, the Muslims had started to distance themselves disillusioned with the Left Front in the wake of the Sachar Committee report showing that the Muslims were way down on the social and economic ladder in West Bengal and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's utterances about clearing madrasas.

What made matters worse was the state government's land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram, in which the community was affected severely.

The Muslim population is over 50% in some districts of the state, including Murshidabad and Kishanganj.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CPM_waves_we_hate_Bush_flag_to_woo_Muslims_in_Bengal/articleshow/3150667.cms

FREEDOM GAGGED

2008-06-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

by François Gautier

Ganga Sagar, located on the western edge of the Sunderban Delta in West Bengal, is for many Hindus a very renowned Place of Pilgrimage, because there the Ganga river has a confluence with the Bay of Bengal. At the edge of Sagar town - adjacent to the beach - is an ancient temple dedicated to Kapil Muni, the sage responsible for initiating the chain of events that ultimately resulted, according to the legend, to ‘Mother Ganga’ descending to the earth from heaven and giving mankind an opportunity to wash away its sins in her pure water. The earliest mention of this place is found in the Mahabharata where a sage explains to Bhishma the significance of taking a dip at the confluence of Gangasagar. Thus, millions of Hindu pilgrims visit this holy place all year round to take a dip in the Ganges, particularly during the Kumbha Mela and Makara Sankranti festivities.

Last Thursday, a Hindu social group, named the Hindu Sanghati, led by its National convener, Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh, had started conducting there for 180 men, women and children, a three-day Yoga and meditation camp in a building close to the confluence owned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. After attending the first Yoga and meditation session in the morning, the group went to take a dip in the Ganga Sagar confluence, and thereafter to pay obeisance in the Kapil Muni shrine. On its way, the group chanted “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Sri Ram”. This was enough to anger the local people, mostly immigrant Bangladeshi Muslims. Later in the day, led by Sheikh Ismail, who happens to be CPI(M)'s Panchayat Samiti seat winner in the area, about 3000 men reached the building were the pilgrims were put up, and started throwing gas cylinders and petrol bombs (Molotov cocktails) and kept on attacking incessantly for a few hours, till all 180 of the camp were trapped inside this burning camp along with Tapan Ghosh.

The local police-appeared to side more with the Muslims than the Hindus, maybe just out of plain fear, and only very small posse of 15 policemen was sent, totally inadequate for resisting such a huge armed mob. The police could not control the mob of Muslims even after firing several rounds.

As a result, quite a few Hindus attending the camp have been injured in the carnage, and at least 7 of them are in critical condition, apart from 2 others who could not be identified because of serious facial burn injuries. 2 policemen have also been seriously injured due to the assault by the Muslim mob. Apart from throwing petrol bombs to incinerate the camp building, the mob also attacked and seriously damaged some nearby houses of the local Hindus as well as an adjoining Kali temple and a 'Yatri Nivas' (Travellers' Lodge) run by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The local police-appeared to side more with the Muslims than the Hindus, maybe just out of plain fear, and only very small posse of 15 policemen was sent, totally inadequate for resisting such a huge armed mob. The police could not control the mob of Muslims even after firing several rounds.

As a result, quite a few Hindus attending the camp have been injured in the carnage, and at least 7 of them are in critical condition, apart from 2 others who could not be identified because of serious facial burn injuries. 2 policemen have also been seriously injured due to the assault by the Muslim mob. Apart from throwing petrol bombs to incinerate the camp building, the mob also attacked and seriously damaged some nearby houses of the local Hindus as well as an adjoining Kali temple and a 'Yatri Nivas' (Travellers' Lodge) run by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

It seems like a reverse logic: instead of punishing the attackers, you penalize the attacked ! The communists, by allowing knowingly hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis to settle in West Bengal, out of ideology (Muslims are our allies), but also for electoral purposes (they are furnished fake identity cards, so that they vote for them) have created a monster that will come back to haunt India, not only in Nandigram, but other places, such as Jaipur or Varanasi, though communists, once more have shown that they will side with Muslims if they attack Hindus.

One has to laud Nehru’s concept of protecting the oppressed and the minorities, but is it not now going overboard, with the police seeming to side increasingly with minorities, at the expense of the majority community of India, the Hindus, who have been known throughout their history to be extremely tolerant and to accept diversity?

Is it a common pattern? Yes ! the same thing happened in Chennai when on the 7th March 2008, the Tamil Nadu police vandalized an exhibition on Aurangzeb and threw some paintings on the ground, shattering them. Yet it was an artistic exhibition on the great Moghol emperor using his own records and firmans (edicts), many of which are still preserved in Indian museums, such as the Bikaner archives. Aurangzeb was truly a pious Muslim, copying the Koran himself, stitching Muslim skullcaps and enforcing strict laws. Nevertheless, according to his own documents, he was a very ruthless and cruel emperor. Forget what he did to Hindus : re-imposing the humiliating jiziya tax, forbidding them from riding horses, elephants or palanquins and ordering all temples destroyed (Among them the Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujurat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya), he was also a monster to his own family, having his father poisoned, his two brothers killed, and imprisoning his own son.

The day before the Nawab of Arcot, local Muslim leader, had visited the exhibition and had been enraged by two miniatures -- the first depicted Aurangzeb's army destroying the Somnath temple and the second showed the destruction of the Kesava Rai temple in Mathura. Soon, the nawab sent a group of Muslims from TMMK (Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam) and MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) to pick up arguments with the volunteers, most of them elderly women from decent family backgrounds. They came back again on 7th afternoon, screaming on top of their voices in Tamil and in English that this exhibition was absolutely false and that unless it was closed immediately they would come back in force tomorrow (Friday) to break it down. The volunteers tried to reason with them, that these were all documents from Government archives, that they could explain everything to them, that they could even debate on TV, but they shouted even louder and got more threatening. Then the police openly sided with the TMMK, vandalized the exhibition and closed it down.

This raises the question of what kind of freedom exists in India at the moment. We understand that without the support of the communists the present Government would collapse. But does that mean that the Congress leaders have to turn a blind eye to what the communists are doing to the social fabric of India and South Asia? There is such a thing as Karma. By allowing hundreds of Bangladeshis to settle in India, or having helped the Maoists to take over Nepal, or letting artistic freedom be gagged, these people, who soon will be out of power, will hand over to the next government extremely difficult situations to handle.

Islamist militants ‘regrouping for attacks’ in Bangladesh?

2008-06-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dhaka

Right-wing militants have regrouped across Bangladesh over the past year, consolidating their networks and conducting training and indoctrination operations looking for a suitable opportunity to strike, a non-official study released here has warned. The “2007-2008 Trends in Militancy in Bangladesh” report, by the non-government Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), blames the spurt in militancy during the last decade on the politicians providing shelter to the militants for their political ends.

It said while there had been five to six bomb attacks a year between 1999 and 2006, the execution of the six Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) kingpins last year partly resulted in a fall in terrorist attacks.

It, however, said reports of bomb explosions and bomb-making cells indicate that militant groups are once again organising themselves for terrorist attacks — only waiting for the opportune moment.

The report said the (JMB) militants who managed to remain at large after the 500 synchronised bomb explosions across the country on Aug 17, 2005 have regrouped and launched recruitment drives.

A part of the JMB now operates under a changed name, Allah’r Dal, which is active in Bangladesh’s south-western region in Kushtia, Meherpur and Chadanga, bordering India’s West Bengal.

They are reportedly holding public meetings, raising funds and running recruitment drives in Gaibandha, The Daily Star newspaper said Thursday.

The report said the outfits are handing out propaganda leaflets, CDs, books and handbills in their drive for new cadres, occasionally using coercion to that end.

“They are inviting people to join JMB and trying to motivate innocent villagers in the name of Jihad to establish Islamic rule in the country.

“Villagers are called kafirs (non-believers) if they refuse to listen to the militants,” the report said.

It feared that militants could attempt to destabilise the elections, adding that the recent Maoist victory in Nepal may embolden both leftist and rightist militancy here.

In recent months, militants have attempted to spark revolts in jails or made numerous breakout attempts.

In the last ten months, 245 militants have been arrested: 145 of them were ‘Islamist militants’ — of whom, 45 were members of the Hizbut Towhid, 35 belonged to the JMB, 25 were from the Harkatul Jihad (HuJi) and 23 from the Allah’r Dal.

Seventeen militants — seven of them belonging to the JMB — were sentenced to death in the same period. Eighty-six others were sentenced to varying prison terms by speedy trial tribunals.

Islamist militancy gained momentum in Bangladesh in 2001, during the parliamentary elections that coincided with the terror attacks in the US and the campaign that followed in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s government (2001-06) for long denied the existence of these groups and their kingpins like Siddique-ul Islam alias Bangla Bhai who were convicted and hanged for killing two judges.

The Zia Govenmernt moved to proscribe them only after protests at home and criticism in the West, especially in the US Congress.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/islamist-militants-regrouping-for-attacks-in-bangladesh-lead_10059322.html

BJP demands national policy against Bangladeshi migrants

2008-06-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

Statesman News Service

NEW DELHI

Holding the presence of large number of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the country a threat to the country’s “national security”, the BJP today called for the formulation of a “national policy” to deal with the “problem”.

The proposal came from the BJP president Mr Rajnath Singh here during his inaugural address to the party’s two-day national executive. He told the delegates that the Prime Minister should call an all-party meeting to frame a national policy on the Bangladeshi infiltrators.

He appealed to all political parties to rise above their respective party lines and consider their policies on the illegal migrants with “an open mind” “in the context of the opinion expressed by the Supreme Court (on the IMDT Act)” that the “massive infiltration” amounts to a war on India.

The BJP has been going all out against the illegal Bangladeshi migrants spread across various states particularly in the wake of the recent Jaipur serial bomb blasts, in which Bangladesh based terror groups are believed to be involved.

The BJP has been accusing the UPA particularly the Left and the Congress party of inaction in this regard because of their vote bank politics.

Seeking to underline the seriousness of the issue, Mr Rajanth Singh today asserted that apart from the Rajasthan explosions, there had been clear indication of the role of Bangladesh-based terror outfits in bomb explosions in court complexes of Lucknow, Faizabad and Benaras.

He said there was a lack of political will on the part of the central government to pursue the issue seriously. He called for identification of illegal Bangladeshis living in India by the Centre and their deportation. “The BJP will never tolerate vote bank politics to take place at the cost of the common man’s life and property”, Mr Singh asserted.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=206323

Hindus Lost 26 Lakh Acres of Land In Bangladesh

2008-06-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Ten million Hindus forced to flee

The price of the land and other moveable properties lost by 12 lakh Hindu families has been estimated at Tk 3,50,412 crore, said the study sponsored by the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) and Nijera Kori. The study report was published in the form of a book titled Deprivation of Hindu Minority in Bangladesh: Living with Vested Property, which was launched at LGED auditorium in Dhaka on May 14.

By Rabindranath Trivedi
=====================

DHAKA: Members of the Hindu community have lost 26 lakh acres of land from 1965 to 2006, while an estimated one crore Hindus were forced to leave the country from 1964 to 2001 because of communal conflicts and deprivation caused by the Enemy (Vested) Property Act, according to a study reports the Daily Star, Dhaka.

The price of the land and other moveable properties lost by 12 lakh Hindu families has been estimated at Tk 3,50,412 crore, said the study sponsored by the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) and Nijera Kori. The study report was published in the form of a book titled Deprivation of Hindu Minority in Bangladesh: Living with Vested Property, which was launched at LGED auditorium in Dhaka on May 14.

Prof Abul Barakat, lead author of the book, said the government has identified only seven lakh acres of vested land, of which two lakh acres have been leased out and five lakh acres remain under the control of the grabbers.

Terming the identification of so small amount of vested land a failure of the administration, Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, former chief adviser to a caretaker government, said the administration of the country is “impossibly inefficient.” “There is a direct link between right to property and democracy,” he said, adding that all should work to help establish the rights of those who lost their properties.

In the study, Prof Barakat said, “Only five lakh people who were in power grabbed the land. This problem needs an immediate solution.” People involved with BNP politics grabbed 17,49,500 acres, those involved with Awami League grabbed 3,61,400 acres, people involved with Jamaat-e-Islami grabbed 2,26,200 acres and those engaged with Jatiya Party looted 1,82,000 acres of vested land, said the study. Besides, 1820 acres of land was grabbed by people linked with Muslim League and 10,400 acres of land by people involved with other political parties, it added.

The study recommended establishing a vested property bank to maintain all statistics of such property and handing over the land to distressed and landless Hindus living in the country. Justice Golam Rabbani blamed the administration for having strong link with influential people in grabbing the enemy properties. “There will be no change without the change in attitude of the bureaucracy,” he said emphasising on strong Parliament and peoples’ democracy, the Daily Star added.

It may be mentioned that the census of 1951 reports that Muslims constituted only 19.90 per cent in West Bengal, but now in 2001 as reported, it is 25.25 per cent. Whereas the census of 1951 reports that Hindus constituted only 22 per cent in East Bengal (now Bangladesh), but now in 2001 it is 9.2 per cent. The consequences of operation of Enemy/Vested Property Act have been, simply, gross denial of freedom and liberty, and institutionalisation of systematic socio-cultural, economic and political deprivation of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. The national disaster has been so huge that during the last four decades (1965-2006) approximately 1.2 million (out of total 2.7 million) households or six million people belonging to Hindu religion are directly affected by the Enemy turned Vested Property Act and have lost, in addition to land property, other immovable and movable property. According to the estimation of Professor Abul Barkat of Dhaka University: “The approximate money value of such loss (US $ 55 billion) would be equivalent to 75 per cent of GDP of Bangladesh (in 2007). (Deprivation of Hindu Minority in Bangladesh: Living With Vested Property by Abul Barakat and 5 others, (2008) Pathak Shamabesh, Dhaka)

Religious minorities, principally Hindu, Christian and Buddhist make up an estimated 11 per cent of the population. Although equal under the law, these minorities are, in practice, disadvantaged in such areas as access to government jobs and political office. Selection boards in the Government service are often without minority group representation. In the current Parliament there are 04 members from minority groups, out of a total of 330. Property ownership, particularly for Hindus, has been a contentious issue since Independence, when many Hindus lost land holdings due to unequal application of the law. Reported cases of violence directed against religious minority communities has resulted in loss of property, minority communities has resulted in loss of property.

These actions are a symptom of the communal tension that have prompted some people belonging to minority groups to leave Bangladesh, causing a slow but steady decline in the relative size of the country’s minority population, especially Hindus, says the US report in 1993.
It may be recalled that during the Gen. Ayub Khan and Gen. Yahya Khan regimes in Pakistan (1958-71), the Hindus suffered politically and economically. The Hindus as a political force, were suppressed to the extent of virtual non-existence. The rule of Martial Law, the Basic Democracy System, Enemy Property Act (Vested Property Act), pushed them out of the political arena. The biggest problem the community was facing was that of survival Hindus were reluctant to join any political process or politics The Hindu absence from the political scene can be explained by the fact that the community had suffered the loss of many of its prominent leaders either by death or by migration.

The remaining Hindus like us might have thought it wise to wait and extent tacit support to Sheikh Mujib’s political programmes .Thus the Hindus participate in the democratic movements of 1966, 1969 and 1970’s elections. Awami League got unqualified support from the Hindus. Hindus exerted influence in making the Muslim leadership more liberal-democratic, thereby safeguards the minority interests.

Thus the Hindus in particular were targets of Pakistan army’s campaign of genocide during the War of Liberation in 1971. During the post liberation period of Bangladesh; the Hindus were more compromising than before and consoled themselves that they are equal citizens of a People’s Republic under the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh framed in the Constituent Assembly in 1972.

The subsequent military regimes in Bangladesh after August 1975 however, reversed all the state principles of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh framed by the People’s Representatives in 1972. State principle secularism has been replaced with full trust in Almighty Allah and Islam the State religion. Socialism was replaced with social justice and Bengali nationalism with Bangladeshi nationalism, presumably, to highlight the Islamic identity of the nation. Bangladeshi Hindus become second-class citizens, as they were less than 1956 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Bangladesh under martial law regimes could not break away from the past and remained steeped in the legacy of her history of the 23-year existence as part of Pakistan. Hindu-Muslim relationship in Bangladesh was a natural corollary of the tendency to stay prisoner of the past. Hindus in Bangladesh become second-class citizens following the amendments of fifth and eighth to the Constitution of Bangladesh.

Over the last three decades, India has abandoned the minority Hindus at the behest of her Transshipment, Trade imbalance, Cross border insurgency and border skirmishes, Natural Gas import issues on the table with Bangladesh. Now India is facing cross border terrorism in Eastern states. Demographic characters of eastern states have been alarmingly changed. In West Bengal the Muslim population along with Bangladesh border has totally occupied and changed, but before1972 the proportion of the Muslims was insignificant in those areas around Bangladesh.

In the past year, Bangladesh’s unique democratic political system has undergone significant challenges and the upcoming elections continue to test the long-term viability of democracy in Bangladesh. Elections organised under the caretaker government that took power during the interim election period in late 2006 and early 2007, were severely criticised by many in the United States and international community. Criticism of the elections led to a military intervention by the army, which created a state of emergency and a military-backed caretaker government with elections postponed until December 2008.

The military-backed caretaker government, led by Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed, has taken steps to rid the government of corruption and return Bangladesh to democracy. However, reports indicate that their success has been inconsistent with no guarantee that reforms they have implemented can be sustained in the long-term. Some now fear that the military-backed caretaker government may be undermining the very democratic system it is seeking to reform.
The last national election of October 2001 was marred by violence, particularly targeted at Hindus, and led to a coalition government that included religiously based parties, including Islamist parties that advocated for the adoption of Sharia law and reportedly had ties to terrorists. Since the 2001 elections, religious extremists have increased attacks on religious minorities, including Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians, and other human rights have deteriorated with government impunity.

In addition to concerns over democracy and human rights created by the military-backed caretaker government and rising Islamic extremism, the recent substantial increase in food prices has also contributed to greater political instability in Bangladesh. The current period of reform by the military-backed caretaker government and elections planned for December 2008 will serve as a litmus test for the sustainability of democracy and human rights for people of all faiths in Bangladesh.

Annual Report of USCIRF-2008 issued on May 2, 2008 on Bangladesh in Washington says: Since the declaration of a state of emergency in January 2007, Bangladesh has been in the throes of a political and constitutional crisis, the resolution of which will determine whether religious freedom and other universal human rights will be protected by democratic institutions and the rule of law, or whether the country will continue on a downward spiral toward authoritarianism, militarisation, and intolerance.

Since January 2007, previously scheduled national elections have been postponed, political freedoms severely curtailed and human rights abused with impunity by the security forces. These deviations from democratic norms under the current “caretaker government” raise troubling questions about the future prospects for respect for a range of freedoms, including potentially freedom of religion or belief. ……. This lack of accountability for anti-minority violence associated with the 2001 election led the Commission, minority advocates, and many others to be concerned that Bangladesh’s next national elections would also result in anti-minority violence. Some individuals with whom the Commission met during the February-March 2006 visit to Bangladesh were themselves experiencing difficulties in becoming registered. Others claimed that locations dominated by minority voters had not been visited by registration officials or, on the other hand, alleged that non-citizens believed to favour Islamist parties were being registered. Widespread concerns regarding the registration process were underscored by a U.S. National Democratic Institute study that found 13 million more individuals on the voter rolls than would be eligible according to Bangladesh’s census.
The USCIRF report further added: In addition to incidents of violence, the Vested Property Act (VPA), a pre-Independence law enacted in 1965 in the wake of the India-Pakistan war, continues to be used as justification by some Muslims to seize Hindu-owned land.

The 2007 report of the prominent Bangladeshi human rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) stated that in 2006 there were 54 seizures by Muslim individuals of Hindu-owned land and 43 attacks against Hindu temples by Muslims. The VPA’s implicit presumption that Hindus do not really belong in Bangladesh contributes to the perception that Hindu-owned property can be seized with impunity.

The most serious and sustained conflict along ethnic and religious lines has been in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, located on Bangladesh’s eastern border with India and Burma. The varied but wholly non-Bengali/non-Muslim indigenous peoples in this formerly autonomous area (often referred to collectively as Adivasis or Paharis) had opposed inclusion in East Pakistan during the Partition of 1947, due to their identification with other tribal groups in northeast India.

Muslim Bengalis, once a tiny minority in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, now reportedly equal or outnumber members of indigenous groups. In 2007, Bangladesh human rights organisations reported a surge in Bengali settlements on tribal land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

(The writer is a Retired Addl Secretary and former Press Secretary to the President of Bangladesh. (for Asian Tribune from Dhaka))

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/11189

Taslima to return India in July-August

2008-06-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

Dissident Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has said that she would return to India by July or August.

"I will come to India in July or August. Leaving India permanently means death to me. After coming, I will see whether I would be allowed to enter Kolakata or not," Taslima said.

This was stated by Taslima's close friend and a writer, Kripashankar Chaubey, in his book Najarband Taslima (Taslima in House Arrest).

The writer, who is now staying in Sweden after leaving India, said, "Although I was put in a safe house in Delhi but, was like chamber of death. I faced physical and mental torture. And such was the problem that I was left with no other option but to leave India."

"I am more of a victim of appeasement politics than of threats from fundamentalists. But I don't want India become another Bangladesh," Nasrin said.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=FLASH&file_name=cap4%2Etxt&counter_img=4

Bangla Influx Taking Assam the Kashmir Way

2008-05-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Upakjyoti Borah

The large-scale influx of Bangladeshis into Assam has been continuing since pre-independence days. It gave rise to a historic movement, the Assam Agitation (sometimes called the Assam Movement) between 1979 and 1985 to force the government to identify and expel the illegal migrants. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) came to power after the Assam Agitation riding on a popularity wave but failed to take steps to expel the Bangladeshis.

The problem has now reached epidemic proportions with the rise of Islamic fundamentalist groups in many parts of Assam, especially those parts dominated by the migrants. It has led to a demographic upheaval with an estimated 11 out of 27 districts in Assam becoming Muslim majority districts in contrast to only one Muslim majority district at the time of India's independence. This massive influx consists of Muslims of Bangladeshi origin.

On the other hand, Assamese Muslims share a common culture with the Assamese Hindus and have been very vocal against this influx. A few Bangladeshi Hindus have settled down in Assam post 1971 and have been accepted into the society on compassionate grounds.

The large-scale migration of illegal Bangladeshis has led to an acute unemployment problem with almost 20 lakh unemployed youths in Assam, many of whom have taken to the gun. Besides, it has had a disastrous effect on the environment with the denudation of forests and killing of wildlife.

The State and the Central government have been ignoring this problem out of concern for their vote-banks. Very few of the illegal migrants are caught and even fewer deported due to various loopholes in the law. Migrants, after entering India through Assam, have moved to various North-eastern states and other parts of the country, creating a security problem. Illegal migrants now have a decisive say in some 50 of the state's 126 assembly constituencies.
The indigenous people in the state are in danger of becoming a minority in their own land. The former governor of Assam, Lieutenant-General (retd.) S K Sinha, in a report had warned that, if the demographic invasion of Assam was not tackled on a priority basis, the survival of the Assamese people would be at stake and their employment opportunities would be reduced. Several Islamic fundamentalist outfits operate in Assam.

The presence of lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam has provided a fertile recruiting and breeding ground for these terror outfits. The growth of radical Islam in neighboring Bangladesh has also helped these outfits. In 2005, the Supreme Court had struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act.

However, the amended Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order 2006 contains the same provisions as the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, which makes the detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis from Assam very difficult. The attitude of the Central government has also alienated the mainstream Assamese who feel that the Centre is paying little attention to an issue which concerns their survival, which has stoked their separatist tendencies.
Unlike many of the North-eastern states, Assam does not have an Inner-Line Permit System, which makes it easy for anyone to settle in Assam. The border fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam is proceeding at a tardy pace.

It does not need a soothsayer to predict what lies ahead for Assam and the Northeast if the jehadists succeed. Bangladesh has been providing sanctuary to many of the militant outfits in the Northeast and the Indian government seems to be helpless in this matter. Often the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) have attacked the BSF (Border Security Force) outposts, as in 2001 at Pyrdiwah in Megalaya, where 16 BSF men were killed, many of them were brutally tortured to death.

The time is ripe for India to learn from its past mistakes and take urgent steps to tackle this threat. As they say, a stitch in time saves nine.

The writer is Research Scholar, JNU. Courtesy IPCS

http://indiapost.com/article/perspective/2713/

ULFA recruiting Bangladeshis

2008-05-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

SHILLONG – The recruitment of Bangladeshi nationals by the outlawed ULFA came to light today with the BSF arresting an ultra, a native of the neighbouring country, from Meghalaya, reports PTI. Troops of the BSF’s 35 Battalion nabbed Parameshwar Chandra Kotch near the Chandabui outpost in Meghalaya’s West Garo hills district today.

A resident of Sherpur district in Bangladesh, Kotch has been working for the ULFA since 2001 under the direct guidance of ULFA leader Ranju Chowdhury at the Baragajni camp of the group in Bangladesh, the BSF quoted Kotch as saying during investigation.

Kotch said he used to collect information for the ULFA from the Indo-Bangla border areas.

The BSF claims that Kotch was instrumental in recruiting youths of Meghalaya and Assam into the outfit.

He has ferried youths in groups of three-four at least 15-20 times from Assam and Meghalaya to the rebel camps of Bangladesh, he said during investigation.

The arrest comes in the backdrop of India pressing on the neighbouring country to dismantle the ULFA camps working in its territory and flush out the militants. Dhaka has been denying about the presence of Indian militants in its territory.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=may2708/at03

Bangladesh’s new citizens

2008-05-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

The Statesman Editorial - 24th May, 2008,

The emotive issue of “Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslims” in Bangladesh is as old as the country itself and has been a permanent irritant in subcontinental equations. Yet the judicial intervention after 37 years addresses only part of the problem. By virtue of last Sunday’s order of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, children of Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslims ~ a euphemism for stranded Pakistanis ~ are to be granted Bangladeshi citizenship. The operative part of the ruling is that it will benefit those born after 1971. Which begs the question as to whether this needed to be reinforced by a judicial pronouncement. Under international law, they are citizens by birth, and it follows ipso facto that they are citizens of Bangladesh. More than labouring the obvious, the judgment has ensured that this post-liberation generation will form a vital segment of the electorate as the ruling comes with the icing of voting rights. This is calculated to benefit the present establishment under the influence of an army with pro-Pakistan leanings. Critical too is its timing as it comes months ahead of the elections scheduled for December.Comforting as it might appear to be on the face of it, the problem might fester for a long while yet. And most crucially, and also of course damagingly, for India as it has been a major factor behind the relentless influx since the late seventies. An estimated 150,000 Bihari Muslims will now become lawful citizens. The crux of the matter relates to the rest of the approximately 300,000, specifically the previous generation who migrated to East Pakistan after Partition, remained there during the liberation struggle, and who are believed to have backed the Pakistani army during the war. They have been reduced to a stateless category in Bangladesh, nowhere men whom Pakistan will not accept. Which precisely has compelled hundreds of them to take advantage of the porous border for an exit route to West Bengal.For 37 years, Pakistan has ignored the issue. So the fundamental problem shall fester as there has never been an inclination on the part of Dhaka, still less of Islamabad, to work out an agreement on repatriation. They have been stranded in Bangladesh since 1971, and those among them who have not illegally crossed over to India are languishing in the squalid refugee camps set up by its government and the UNHCR. The ruling makes it plain that Bangladesh will accept the younger generation not least because they constitute a potential vote-bank. Their forebears have not been recognised and are doomed to remain stateless. The fact of the matter remains ~ West Bengal has borne the brunt of the problem as tens of thousands of unrepatriated and “stranded” Pakistanis have sneaked in over the past three decades. That, in sum, is the reality of what passes for South Asian regional cooperation.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=3&theme=&usrsess=1&id=205249

Rajasthan Govt targets illegal Bangladeshi migrants

2008-05-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Jaipur/Udaipur,May 16: Illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Rajasthan will be identified in 30 days and could be deported as they came under the scanner of the state government after the serial blasts while a hotelier claimed he saw one of the suspects in Udaipur two days before the attack.
Investigators got fresh leads like ten bicycles having been bought about two to three hours before Tuesday night's blasts that left 64 dead but a breakthrough eluded them.
With the Bangladesh-based HuJI being suspected to be behind the blasts, state PWD Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore said the state government is on a hunt for Bangladeshis with suspected criminal background. Forty such Bangladeshi nationals have been rounded up so far and are being interrogated, he said.
Eight of them were detained in Ajmer. All District Collectors and Superintendents of Police have been directed to complete within 30 days the process of identifying Bangladeshi migrants living with or without voter ID cards and/or ration cards and get them verified, Rathore said.
The procedures for deporting the identified illegal nationals could then be started, he said. The process has begun everywhere in the state, he added. On Friday the State's Principal Home Secretary discussed with his Central counterpart the option of deporting illegally staying Bangladeshi nationals, he added.
Rathore sad 141 people were injured of whom 108 were in a "very serious." condition.
The owner of SamorBagh restaurant in Udaipur Kamal Joshi was interrogated by police after he claimed today that a person bearing resemblance to one of the sketches of suspects released on Thursday night was seen along with a woman in his restaurant on Sunday evening.
Joshi told the police that the man was accompanied by a young woman and both of them came to the restaurant at about 4 PM on Sunday.
The woman entered the restaurant wearing a saree but changed into a salwar kameez before leaving with the man, Joshi said, according to the police. They did not take anything in the restaurant, he said.
The in-charge of Surajpole police station Himmat Singh said investigations were on to check the movement of the duo in Udaipur.
Regarding the blasts probe, Rathore said sleuths from the state, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh were working on a number of leads including use of bicycles, bag, and e-mail received from Ghaziabad.
Rathore said the purchase of eight cycles which were used in the blasts were confirmed but the sellers of two more cycles were yet to be identified.
A car seized by the Railway police outside Jaipur station on Thursday night belonged to one Afzal who went to Chennai to visit his ailing mother and left the vehicle in the no-parking zone, Rathore said. The police was investigating the matter following suspicions that it may have been used by the cycle bombers.
The e-mail sent on behalf a little known group claiming responsibility for the blats and traced to a Ghaziabad cyber cafe was being examined and its hard disc would be procured soon, Rathore said.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Rajasthan-Govt-targets-illegal-Bangladeshi-migrants/310635/

One dead, 3 hurt in N Bengal explosion

2008-05-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

(It is interesting to note - that N.Bengal acts as one of the corridors for jihadi infiltrators from Bangladesh into India & that the blast reported below was engineered keeping the explosives on a bicycle - some experts believe this was a dry run prior to the Jaipur blasts where the some of the explosives were also tied to a simple bicyle.)

13 May 2008, 0559 hrs IST,Pinak Priya Bhattacharya,TNN
JALPAIGURI: A man was killed and three others were injured in a blast at Barovisha in Jalpaiguri district on Monday. Gobind Sharma (28), a truck driver, was killed while Sudam Burman, Ranjit Saha and Suresh Sha were injured. Suresh is the owner of the truck that Gobind was driving. Police have claimed that the goons used an improvised explosive device of low intensity that went off around 10.20 am near the MVI office by the NH-31 in Barovisha, located along the Assam-Bengal border. The bomb was planted in a cycle lying in front of the office. They had left the truck and entered the MVI office to get permission to enter Assam. The bomb exploded when Suresh and Gobind came out of the MVI office with their permit. All the injured have been hospitalised. Earlier, on February 20, a bomb planted in a cycle exploded in front of the commercial tax office, killing one and injuring four. This time, too, goons used the same method to carry out the blast. This particular stretch of Barovisha remains busy throughout the day as vehicles keep moving to and from Assam and every single vehicle has to stop at the Barovisha checkpost for permission to enter Assam or Bengal. The area also houses a number of offices. During the February blast, it was suspected that the Cobra Commandos, a tribal insurgent outfit of Assam, was behind the blast. But police could not establish any link. So, this time, police have not named any specific outfit as their suspect. In October 2006, too, two serial blasts had rocked Barovisha, which has always had been a disturbed area. The place is used as a safe passage by both United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) militants to go to their camps in the hills of Bhutan. Police have not yet named any specific outfit as their suspect. IGP, North Bengal, KL Tamta has gone to the spot for inspection. A team of experts will be coming from Kolkata to examine the type of explosive used in the blast.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata_/One_dead_3_hurt_in_N_Bengal_explosion/articleshow/3034743.cms

Simi activist detained by Jaipur blast investigators

2008-05-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Statesman News Service JAIPUR, May 17: A special investigation team probing into the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur has reportedly arrested a SIMI activist from Sawai Madhopur district in the early morning today. The state police has released three more sketches of people suspected to be involved in the serial bomb blasts and announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh to anyone providing clues about the perpetrators of the blasts that killed 64 and left over 200 injured. Though the Jaipur police have not yet confirmed the report of the arrest of the SIMI activist, police sources in Sawai Madhopur have told 'The Statesman' that a special police team from Jaipur had indeed carried out an operation in their district.The arrested youth, reportedly named Sajid. was closely associated with a madrasa in Sawai Madhopur and is also believed to be a member of the Rajasthan wing of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Sajid apparently had close links with the SIMI operatives from Madhya Pradesh. The special team is also focusing on the madrasas operating in the Shekawati belt comprising of Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar which had come under the police scanner after the Ajmer Dargah blast. The region also has active hawala transaction network and the police are trying to trace out if money was channeled to fund any terrorist operations. "A number of people have come forward claiming that they have seen the suspects from the police sketches but we are yet to make any major breakthrough in the case," said Mr Saurabh Shrivastav, deputy inspector general of police.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2008-05-18&usrsess=1&clid=2&id=231201

Blasts leads point to HuJI

2008-05-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Blasts leads point to HuJI Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, May 14: With leads in investigations into yesterday’s devastating serial terror blasts in Jaipur increasingly pointing to the suspected involvement of the Bangladesh-based terrorist group, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI) ~ which is said to carry out similar strikes sometimes in tandem with the Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiyaba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) elsewhere in India ~, the Centre today said the Jaipur attack betrayed a “deep-rooted and very well-planned conspiracy” to disturb the country’s communal harmony, indicating the hands of a “neighbouring” country. Without specifying any country however, the Union minister of state for home, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal told a news conference here that it could be any of the neighbouring countries ~ Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar ~ that had been gripped by internal turmoil. Mr Jaiswal, who earlier visited the Jaipur blasts sites, refused to specify the organisation involved in the attack, saying investigations are on. “I will not like to name the dangerous outfits.” To a specific query whether HuJI was behind it, he remained evasive, merely saying that those involved would be “thoroughly exposed” very soon. Significantly, the minister said there could be a link between the Jaipur blast and those that had occurred earlier in places such as Varanasi, Faizabad, Ajmer and Hyderabad. In most such terror strikes, including Malegaon, there had been tell-tale signs of HuJI’s footprints. In several of these strikes, like Jaipur, explosive ammonium nitrate laced with the deadly RDX, fitted with shrapnels or ball-bearings to maximise casualties and attached to timers, had been planted on bicycles. The modus operandi also involved carrying out strikes in or around premises of temples on Tuesdays, like in Jaipur and Varanasi, and of mosques on Fridays or its eve, like in Hyderabad and Malegaon, with an evident awareness that these days especially attract more devotees of these faiths there.BJP leader Mr LK Advani and chief minister Ms Vasundhara Raje today reiterated Bharatiya Janata Party's demand to revive the draconian law of POTA which according to them was the only viable option to combat the menace of terrorism. As per official figures, 63 persons lost their lives and 217 were injured. The deceased include seven women, eight children and two policemen. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has sanctioned Rs one lakh as ex-gratia for the families of those killed in the serial from the PM National Relief Fund. Those injured in the blasts will get Rs 50,000. The government has also announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and one lakh rupees to the injured victims "Out of the 63 who died in the blast, 11 were from outside Jaipur. Special medical teams have been summoned to Jaipur from Udaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer. Seventeen dead bodies are yet to be identified,” according to Mr Rajendra Singh Rathore, minister for parliamentary affairs.Meanwhile the district administration has decided not to relax curfew imposed at various places including Galta gate, Ramganj, Subhash Chowk and Kotwali in the city. Areas under 13 police stations inside the city will be under curfew from 9 am to 4 pm.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2008-05-15&usrsess=1&clid=2&id=230686

Illegal Immigration: India's Ticking Time Bomb

2008-05-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Mitali De

People at the helms of affairs in New Delhi and Kolkata must know that the 4,096-kilometer-long and porous India-Bangladesh border is a time bomb that will explode sooner or later. In West Bengal and particularly places like Maldah, South Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri and other areas adjoining Indo-Bangladesh border, illegal immigration has been a long standing problem.

In Maldah and Jalpaiguri alone more than 70 per cent of rikshaw pullers and workers in the unorganized sector of labour are from Bangladesh without valid papers. In the light of the recent terrorist attacks in different parts of the country, security agencies have been expressing concern that these illegal immigrants could well be involved or lured in terrorist activities in exchange of money or other procurement.

This Citizen Reporter who has been travelling in the entire region during the recent panchayat polls reports that the Border Security Force and the CRPF who have been scrutinizing these polls, have expressed concern what they called political connivance at such infiltration.

The 4,096-kilometer-long and porous India-Bangladesh border makes for easy crossing. In Nagaland, the population of Muslims, mostly illegal migrants from Bangladesh, has more than trebled in the past decade - the figure rising from 20,000 in 1991 to more than 75,000 in 2001. Illegal migrants have settled in various Indian states, including West Bengal, Assam, Bihar (in the northeastern districts of Katihar, Sahebganj, Kishanganj and Purnia), Tripura and even in Delhi.

The steady flow of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh has significantly altered the region''s demographic complexion, particularly in the border districts of West Bengal and Assam, and with important political implications. In Assam illegal migrants affect state politics in a major way, having acquired a critical say in an estimated 50 of the state's 126 assembly constituencies.

At the same time, the steady growth of radical and militant extremists spewing Islamic jargon in Bangladesh since September 11, 2001, and Dhaka's inability, or unwillingness, to tackle the same has raised the stakes further for India. Yet to date it has proved impossible for New Delhi to get an action plan to deal with the problem off the ground. The late national security adviser, J N "Mani" Dixit, was reportedly aware and concerned about these developments. But he did not find eager ears in the Manmohan Singh cabinet to listen and attend to this real danger. It is also known that the US Embassy is aware of the danger, but will not say anything lest it be construed as interfering in another sovereign state's affairs. Internal quibbling among the powers-that-be in Delhi over threat perception priorities has worsened the situation.

Meanwhile, the 1983 legislation that stymied India's historic immigration law, the Foreigners Act of 1946, and seriously tipped the scales in favor of the illegal immigrants - the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act (IMDT) - was recently reinforced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. For illegal immigrants, many of whom could be anti-India (or anti-Hindu, whatever fits the objective) extremists and Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) operatives, the playing field remains better than level.

http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=5152#

India's porous border, HuJI's lifeline (CNN - Special)

2008-05-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Guwahati: With Bangladesh-based terror outfit HuJI under scanner for carrying out the Jaipur blasts, Assam’s porous border has become the focus of intelligence agencies.

Experts say the India-Bangladesh border has been providing militants easy passage into India for a long time. Even the use of bicycle bombs is a terror strategy common to the attacks in the Northeast.

"Through these porous borders, along with illegal Bangladeshis, the Jehadis, the ISI agents and the HuJI terrorists are entering into India. They are roaming in Assam and throughout the country,” says Advisor, AASU, Samujjwal Bhattacharya.

There are at least 30 militant groups in the Northeast. Many reportedly have camps in Bangladesh and the leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) are allegedly hiding somewhere in Dhaka.

However, these groups often do not share Islamist militancy ideologies.

In 2002, nine of these fundamentalist groups including the HuJI formed the Bangladesh Islamic Manch. Many Indian militant groups in the Northeast are being provided with logistical support by the HuJI and other elements inside Bangladesh.

So if the HuJI demands support in return, groups within Northeast will be obliged to assist them.
"It has to be reciprocal for each other. So when you look at northeast militant groups whether Bodoland or ULFA at different stages of time they are taking shelter in different areas," says Prof Anuradha Dutta of Peace Studies, OKDI.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/special-indias-porous-border-hujis-lifeline/65306-3-1.html

Adding To Terror Network

2008-05-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

Hordes from Bangladesh
Bibhu Prasad Routray Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi

The Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs, in its recent report, has asked the Government to monitor the country's eastern border, saying large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh is threatening the country's security and economy. The report said that a large presence of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants posed a grave threat to India's security and economy as many border-crossers come with sophisticated weapons and ammunition to fuel terrorism. They also carry a large amount of fake Indian currency to weaken the economy, the report added.The Annual Report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 2007-08, too, has expressed similar apprehensions. It reads, "The hand of Pakistan-based terrorist organisations -- LeT and JeM -- and, increasingly of the Bangladesh-based HuJI, known to have close links with ISI, has been observed in most of" the terrorist activities in the country.

While for the last couple of years, the Pakistani terror network originating in Bangladesh has received some attention, the critical role played by the illegal Bangladeshi migrants in India in such operations appears to have been lost sight of. Even the hullabaloo over the ever-growing number of migrants from Bangladesh, mostly described as demographic invasion of a serious kind, by mainstream political parties has hardly taken note of the subversive potential of the rather innocuous population flow from our eastern neighbour. And the political parties, for whom these migrants have become lucrative vote-banks, have taken great care to push any debate linking them with terror elements under the carpet. There is, consequently, very little open source information linking the illegal migrants with the terror attacks in the country.

Benefiting from such premeditated ambivalence, concentrations of the Bangladeshi migrants in big metropolises like New Delhi and Mumbai and also the smaller built up areas, have provided the terrorists crossing over from across the border a safe parking space. Among the large swathe of largely economic migrants, the terror elements have found anonymity, easy mingling space and also potential recruits.The first successful attack carried out by the Bangladesh-based HuJI using the facilities provided by the illegal migrants was the January 22, 2002, attack at the American Centre in Kolkata. An early morning attack by a group of HuJI cadre left five policemen dead on the spot, responsibility for which was claimed by two organisations, the HuJI and the Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF). In fact, the ARCF was an adjunct of the HuJI, formed and manned largely by Bangladeshi migrants in India and some experienced HUJI-B cadre in India who were trained at ISI-backed training camps in Pakistan. It was formed at a village, 15 km from Habibpur town, populated by illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Malda district of West Bengal. Footprints of Bangladeshi nationals, often illegal residents in this country, have been unambiguous in the number of terror strikes in Indian urban centres that have taken place in the last couple of years.

Bangladesh has been a common thread running through the attacks carried out in New Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Hyderabad and Nasik. Two Bangladeshi nationals, Masuluddin and Hussain, absconding suspects in the twin blasts in Hyderabad in August 2007 are known to have been staying in the Hyderabad city illegally for two years. In April 2008, a Bangladeshi HuJI militant was arrested from Agartala where he had been staying for a couple of months, at the behest of a Minister in the State Cabinet.The official response to the threat remains clueless and strangely dependant on non-existent Bangladeshi co-operation. On April 23, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Parliament, "Illegal migration is a genuine problem, but Bangladesh refuses to recognise it. How this could be solved when Bangladesh does not want to accept it?"

On the other hand, the Government's predicament is understandable. Border fencing, a critical component of the country's border management policy, continues to lie in doldrums. In nearly two decades of fencing projects, over two phases, 61 per cent of the 4,096-km long international border with Bangladesh have been fenced. According to the Government's own admission, most of the 854-km long fence erected during the Phase-I of the process have already been damaged and does not serve the purpose it was constructed for.

This means that the country's security will continue to be vulnerable in the foreseeable future.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/agenda1.asp?main_variable=sundaypioneer%2Fdialogue&file_name=dial3.txt&counter_img=3

Hordes from Bangladesh

2008-05-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

A well-known story retold

Hordes from Bangladesh:

Saradindu Mukherji Professor of History, University of Delhi

The expose on the close relationship of Mr Shahid Chowdhury, the Communist Minister in Tripura, and his Bangladeshi wife with various terrorist organisations, including those based in Bangladesh, leading to his dismissal does not shock any more. Nor does the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs on the nature and ramifications of the problem created by illegal infiltration from Bangladesh say anything new.

I recall the sense of amazement and disbelief many years back in a major conference at Oxford when an international gathering of scholars learnt that the authorities in India have not only actively encouraged illegal migration from Bangladesh but also provided them with ration cards, besides helping them buy properties and registering themselves as voters. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former President of India, during his term as a Minister in Assam, had reportedly played a pioneering role in getting thousands of Muslims from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to settle in Assam. The barrister who represented Babri Masjid Action Committee and former Chief Minster of West Bengal, Mr Siddhartha Shankar Ray, had reportedly helped thousands of Bihari Muslims from Bangladesh, who had collaborated with the Pakistanis in the 1971 war for Bangladeshi liberation, settle in West Bengal. So, did Ghani Khan Chowdhury in Malda, and many others.

As against them, Mr TV Rajeswar, as Governor of West Bengal (currently, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh) and Gen SK Sinha, as Governor of Assam (now the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir) have exposed the dangers of illegal infiltration from Bangladesh. Despite many such reports, vigorous debates in our legislatures and news reports in the media, nothing has been done. One may recall the fate of a senior IPS officer in Assam who was suspended by Anwara Taimur, the then Chief Minister, for exposing this demographic aggression by Bangladesh.

However, we must deal sympathetically with bona fide refugees like Hindus, Buddhists and other kafirs -- the victims of the most sustained religious cleansing in Bangladesh. They were thrown to the wolves in the erstwhile East Bengal after 1946. As for Muslims, we have to remember that India was divided on the basis of religion and Muslims got their desired homeland. While Pakistan has almost got rid of polytheists and Bangladesh is left with just eight per cent non-Muslims, the Muslim population continues to rise alarmingly in India. Hence, Muslim migrants from Bangladesh -- far from being seen as refugees -- need to be deported at the earliest. We cannot permit another partition, no matter what our jihad-friendly buddhijibis and politicians say.

Mr Krishnan Srinivasan, India's former envoy to Bangladesh, writes in his book, The Jamdani Revolution, about his plan for a "team of international correspondents taken to the places of self-evident migration along the West Bengal borders" being accepted by Indian officials, but rejected by then West Bengal's Chief Minister Jyoti Basu on the specious plea that it would cause "communal disharmony". Actually, that would have exposed the complicity of Mr Basu's Government in helping illegal infiltrators to settle in West Bengal.

Mr Bibhuti Bhushan Nandy, a former IPS officer, has also noted Mr Basu's brazen denial when he once confronted him about Bangladeshi infiltration. Pressed further, Mr Basu just kept mum.

Our spineless and terrorist-friendly politicians go out of their way to encourage others to settle down -- many of whom have no civilisational love for India and who will one day become the nucleus of a separatist movement. Many of them are already involved in such activities across the country.

Suggestions for grant of work permit to these infiltrators must be rejected. The alleged difficulties to distinguish between people from the other side of Padma are spurious. All major regions of Bengal are identifiable by their distinct accent and dialect, and it is not difficult for the knowledgeable to find out someone's place of origin after separating Hindus, Buddhists and the occasional Taslima Nasreens. Deportation is not really a Herculean task. The Government can do it within 72 hours if it really wants.

Otherwise, our "sleeper-cells" active even during Bakhtiyar Khilji's attack on Bihar and Bengal, and very much active even after centuries, will join hands with these infiltrators to carry out their sacred mission of Islamisation.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/agenda1.asp?main_variable=sundaypioneer%2Fdialogue&file_name=dial2%2Etxt&counter_img=2

WELCOMING TO A NEW HOME --- Bangladesh's Islamic Migrants in India

2008-05-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

FIFTH COLUMN - Satrujit Banerjee

A front-page newspaper report last month put some numbers on the worst kept secret among demographers in the country. It revealed that “intelligence agencies” had pegged the inward flow of illegal migrants from Bangladesh to India at “anywhere between 1.5 crore and 2 crore”. The survey, conducted discreetly in 1992, was “kept secret in view of the sensitive findings”. But when leaked later, it did not cause any ripples even in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam, the three states most affected by the influx.

It now appears that since madrasas and mosques were coming up in increasing numbers along the border, the government felt the need to revisit the illegal migrants issue specifically to determine if a correlation exists between the influx and the increase in terrorist attacks in India. The new survey, using the 2001 census as the base, reveals a dramatic increase in Muslim population in every district bordering Bangladesh in these three states since then. West Bengal with 11 such districts was the worst affected.

The history of illegal migration from Bangladesh is worth recounting. When large numbers were spilling over into Assam in the Sixties and in the Seventies, the then Congress government, which had an overwhelming majority in the parliament, passed the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act. This, in essence, took away the onus of proving nationality from the migrant and transferred it to the citizen who had to lodge a complaint before a tribunal and pay a fee to engage its services. Moreover, whereas the rest of India had July 19, 1948, as the cut-off date for Indian citizenship of migrants, the date for Assam was March 25, 1971. Not surprisingly, even though the Supreme Court struck down the act in July 2005, people living in the border districts of Bangladesh have always felt that if they were to cross over to India, they would somehow be accommodated.

Fight for space

With a population density of 2,638 persons per square mile, many righteous Bangladeshis feel that they have a just cause for conquering their neighbours’ lebensraum, or ‘living space’. If migration, legal or otherwise, was the answer, so be it. Writing in the October 18 issue of the weekly, Holiday, 17 years ago, prominent journalist, Sadeq Khan argued that “by the first decade of the 21st century, Bangladesh will face a serious crisis of lebensraum. No possible performance of population planning, actual or hypothetical, significantly alters that prediction”.

He further argues that the “colonial devastation of Bengal in the 18th and 19th centuries left the region of Bangladesh bereft of traditional strength of technology and productivity”, and that a “natural overflow of population pressure is therefore very much on the cards and will not be restrainable by barbed wire or border patrol measures”. This explains why Bangladesh vehemently opposes fencing of the border and why it is reluctant to accept repatriated nationals. The motto clearly is that the greater the number of people leaving the country, the better it is for its larger interest.

The obvious reason why the state governments affected do not act effectively to deter the influx is that the greater the Muslim influx, the bigger the vote bank. Moreover, a crackdown would undoubtedly result in not only losing the migrant vote, but also that of the indigenous Muslim population. In the last elections, of the 294 seats in the West Bengal legislature, the Muslim vote proved to be crucial in 114 seats.

The Rajinder Sachar Committee observed that “the Muslim population is expected to rise — to a (replacement) level of around 320-340 million, which may reach 19 per cent of the population at that time, up from 13.4 per cent according to the 2001 census”. Clearly, the committee had not factored in the bit about infiltration.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080409/jsp/opinion/story_9110517.jsp#

Bangladeshi Illegal Migrants Pose Security Threat: Indian Parliamentary Panel

2008-05-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Days after India asked Bangladesh to keep tabs on illegal migrants as the influx has created a lot of problems on this side, a parliamentary panel has endorsed New Delhi's concern, saying that the "large presence of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants poses a grave threat to the internal security".

In its report submitted to Parliament on Wednesday, the Standing Committee on Home Affairs also took note of reports about the reach of such migrants who not only procured ration cards, driving licences and voter identity cards but also PAN cards to hide their nationality.

Though the panel did not go into details of the exact role of such immigrants in posing a security threat, it gave credence to Indian agencies' finding which indicted a number of Bangladeshis for their direct/indirect role in providing logistics to terror outfits like HuJI and Ulfa in the northeastern region as well as in states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The committee, headed by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, also took note of the large circulation of counterfeit currency along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Similar concerns were earlier raised by BSF officials when they met their Bangladeshi counterparts during a conference on border coordination here last week.

Besides raising the issue of illegal immigrants, BSF officials also told their BDR counterparts about the presence of criminals who were indulging in the circulation of fake Indian currency notes through the porous border.

The parliamentary panel report also pointed out how the porous border was the main reason behind the "influx" of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

About the measures taken by the government to prevent illegal immigration, the report said that the home ministry had taken various measures like construction of border fencing, flood-lighting and roads to enable more effective patrolling.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Bdesh_migrants_pose_security_threat_House_panel/articleshow/2962709.cms

Members of Parliament concerned over unabated Bangladesh Influx

2008-05-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Our Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Allegations of links between a Minister in Assam and outlawed ULFA came back to haunt the Tarun Gogoi Government, with a MP belonging to UPA alliance, contending that an official Commission of Inquiry hailed ULFA for ensuring smooth Assembly election. The debate on Demands for Grants for Home Ministry turned murkier, with allegations mostly from MPs from Bihar, flying thick and fast. The MPs, cutting across the party line, castigated the Government for its failure to check the killing of Hindi-speaking settlers.

The other issue that dominated the over four-hour long deliberation was the illegal influx from Bangladesh and the rising threat to internal security from the illegal migrants.

The most startling allegation, however, came from RJD MP, DP Yadav, who quoted from a piece of paper to allege that the KN Saikia Commission said that the last Assembly election in the State could be held because of the cooperation by ULFA. He claimed that he was reading from a report of the Commission.

However, he did not clarify further. Kirip Chaliha, who was the lone MP present, watched in stunned silence. None of the State’s MPs in opposition camp including AGP and BJP were present at the House, as the Government bashing continued. Saikia Commission was appointed by the State Government to inquiry into the ‘secret killing’ in the State.

Yadav then went on to ask what steps were being taken by the Centre to tackle the situation in Assam, where unabated killing by ULFA and Black Widow Group continued. “Why has the Government not been able to stop the killing of the Hindi-speaking people,” he asked.

Picking up from where the RJD MP left off, Prabhunath Singh of JD (U) created a sensation by alleging that a Minister of Assam was protecting ULFA. “How can a Minister of the Government act as a protector of a militant outfit,” he wondered.

Seeking a response from the Union Home Minister, he asked, how could such a situation be allowed to continue. “I believe there is an IB report in this connection with the Home Minister,” he said, pleading that Patil should clarify.

Earlier, Swami Aditya Nath said there was no let up in killing of Hindi-speaking people in Assam. He charged that the Government failed to pressurise neighbouring Bangladesh to flush out ULFA out of the country, unlike the previous NDA regime, which had successfully pressurised Bhutan to throw out the militant outfit.

Joining the discussion, Kirip Chaliha conceding that there has been a spurt in terror incidents in Assam and Manipur, reminded that such killings were handiwork of insurgent groups and local people had nothing to do with it. On the contrary, militant outfits like ULFA are fasting loosing support at the ground level. Their secessionist feeling does not have any basis.

Describing terrorists activities as the greatest threat to democracy, Chaliha said that the terrorism have become big business. Terrorism gives them name, fame and money. He was also against giving any concession to the insurgents. The concessions given to the terrorists should not become the breeding ground for terrorism,” he said.

Lauding the initiative of the Union Home Minister in tackling the internal security situation, Chaliha pointed towards recurring incidents on the Indo-Bangladesh border. The Bangladesh Rifles is opposing the construction of fences. Completion of the border fences must be accorded top priority because fencing alone would prevent infiltration from that country, he opined.

Meanwhile, continued influx from Bangladesh rocked the House, with members cautioning the Government of its implications. Bangladesh has admitted in 2001 that 2 crore of its population has vanished. Then there is a report by Assam Governor that 5000-6000 Bangladeshi enter the country daily, said Yogi Adityanath.

Illegal Bangladesh migrants have become internal security threat. However, the stand of the Home Ministry is unfortunate, he added.

Joining issue, Ramjilal Suman said that infiltration from Bangladesh has become a major problem. The problem has become critical because Bangladesh is not cooperating, he added.
Pointing towards the problems faced by farmers in border areas in Tripura, Mohammad Salim said lakhs of farmers have suffered because of the fences. He said the border trade should be strengthened. By keeping the borders closed, government is encouraging corruption among the security force. Smuggling is on the rise, while Government is loosing revenue, he added.

Raising alarm over the unabated smuggling, Anant Gete said that there are estimated 2 crore Bangladeshi in India out of which 40,000-50,000 are living in Mumbai alone.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=apr2208/at01

Manipur Islamist outfit seeking links with Lashkar-e-Toiba

2008-05-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

By A Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI

Manipur-based Islamic militant outfit People’s United Liberation Front (PULF) has been trying to establish contacts with dreaded militant group Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT) and a few youths from Manipur even received training in the LeT camps in Pakistan, security sources said. Sources said that the PULF, formed in 1992 following a series of attacks on people belonging to Islamic community in Manipur and at the initial stages, the NSCN (I-M) also extended helping hand to the outfit. But in the later stages, the PULF managed to establish links with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin (HUM) and this fact came to light following a crack down launched against Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and HUM operatives in different parts of Assam in 1999, during which more than 40 persons were arrested.

The PULF has not been indulging in any major act of violence in recent times and the activities of the members of the group were mainly restricted to drugs smuggling and other criminal activities. The outfit also suffered severe setbacks in recent times following arrests of senior members of the outfit and even the chief of the PULF was recently arrested in Guwahati.

However, the security agencies are aware of attempts by the outfit to establish contacts with the LeT and some members of the outfit also visit Bangladesh frequently. But no detail of the contacts of PULF in Bangladesh is known to the security agencies. The attempts of the outfit to establish contacts with the LeT came to light after the arrest of one of the members of the outfit in Jammu and Kashmir. Sources said that the PULF member from Manipur was arrested immediately after he returned to India after undergoing training in LeT bases in Pakistan and during questioning by the security agencies, he admitted that the PULF was trying to establish links with the LeT to strengthen the outfit. Sources also said that apart from the arrested member of the PULF, a few others from Manipur also joined the LeT and other Jammu and Kashmir based jehadi groups in recent years.

So far, the PULF does not have strong bases in Assam and it is believed that the outfit has only been maintaining contacts in areas like parts of Barak valley districts and Hojai area of Nagaon district. Though the PULF chief was arrested from a rented house in Guwahati, sources said that he was only hiding in the city to avoid arrest and was not planning to carry out any subversive activities.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=may0508/at04

Influx From Bangladesh - Taking Assam the Kashmir way ?

2008-05-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted recently that a large-scale influx from Bangladesh posed a threat to India, especially to Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. His statement offers nothing new, for the Centre has known this since a long time; it only shows that he has renounced his denial mode.

The large-scale influx of Bangladeshis into Assam has been continuing since pre-independence days. It gave rise to a historic movement, the Assam Agitation (sometimes called the Assam Movement) between 1979 and 1985 to force the government to identify and expel the illegal migrants. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) came to power after the Assam Agitation riding on a popularity wave but failed to take steps to expel the Bangladeshis.

The problem has now reached epidemic proportions with the rise of Islamic fundamentalist groups in many parts of Assam, especially those parts dominated by the migrants. It has led to a demographic upheaval with an estimated 11 out of 27 districts in Assam becoming Muslim majority districts in contrast to only one Muslim majority district at the time of India's independence. This massive influx consists of Muslims of Bangladeshi origin.

On the other hand, Assamese Muslims share a common culture with the Assamese Hindus and have been very vocal against this influx. A few Bangladeshi Hindus have settled down in Assam post 1971 and have been accepted into the society on compassionate grounds.

The large-scale migration of illegal Bangladeshis has led to an acute unemployment problem with almost 20 lakh unemployed youths in Assam, many of whom have taken to the gun. Besides, it has had a disastrous effect on the environment with the denudation of forests and killing of wildlife.

The State and the Central government have been ignoring this problem out of concern for their vote-banks. Very few of the illegal migrants are caught and even fewer deported due to various loopholes in the law. Migrants, after entering India through Assam, have moved to various North-eastern states and other parts of the country, creating a security problem. Illegal migrants now have a decisive say in some 50 of the state's 126 assembly constituencies.

The indigenous people in the state are in danger of becoming a minority in their own land. The former governor of Assam, Lieutenant-General (retd.) S K Sinha, in a report had warned that, if the demographic invasion of Assam was not tackled on a priority basis, the survival of the Assamese people would be at stake and their employment opportunities would be reduced. Several Islamic fundamentalist outfits operate in Assam.

The presence of lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam has provided a fertile recruiting and breeding ground for these terror outfits. The growth of radical Islam in neighboring Bangladesh has also helped these outfits. In 2005, the Supreme Court had struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act.

However, the amended Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order 2006 contains the same provisions as the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, which makes the detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis from Assam very difficult. The attitude of the Central government has also alienated the mainstream Assamese who feel that the Centre is paying little attention to an issue which concerns their survival, which has stoked their separatist tendencies.
Unlike many of the North-eastern states, Assam does not have an Inner-Line Permit System, which makes it easy for anyone to settle in Assam. The border fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam is proceeding at a tardy pace.

It does not need a soothsayer to predict what lies ahead for Assam and the Northeast if the jehadists succeed. Bangladesh has been providing sanctuary to many of the militant outfits in the Northeast and the Indian government seems to be helpless in this matter. Often the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) have attacked the BSF (Border Security Force) outposts, as in 2001 at Pyrdiwah in Megalaya, where 16 BSF men were killed, many of them were brutally tortured to death.

The time is ripe for India to learn from its past mistakes and take urgent steps to tackle this threat. As they say, a stitch in time saves nine.

The writer is Research Scholar, JNU. Courtesy IPCS

Upakjyoti Borah

http://indiapost.com/article/perspective/2713/

Is North East in flames ?

2008-05-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

— H N Das

The writer was Chief Secretary, Assam, during 1990-95

Insurgency in the North Eastern Region (NER) has created an atmosphere of concern and fear all over India. The Government of India (GOI) and the state governments in NER have resorted to both hard steps and soft measures to curb and ultimately control insurgency. Police, paramilitary and armed forces have been used to unleash strong action against the insurgent outfits all over NER. Quite a large number of insurgents have been killed, many more injured and others sent to jails. A novel system of surrender has been devised to lure many insurgents back to civilian life. In Assam this has been successful to a great extent. But some of the surrendered United Liberation Front of Asom (SULFA) elements have continued their extortion, gangsterism and other illegal activities through formation of syndicates and collaboration in secret killings.

The soft measures include huge amounts of funds sanctioned by GOI to the state governments of NER both under Plan and under non-Plan. Many suspect that major portions of these funds meant for the production and the social welfare sectors are not going to the poor people but are being siphoned off by the middle-men. Some amounts also go to the coffers of the insurgent outfits through devious means. Some jobs have been provided to the surrendered ultra cadres of different states in the armed and para-military forces. GOI is taking interest in improvement of the infrastructure of NER by upgrading and extending the road network, improving air connectivity and expanding railway coverage. The projects, schemes and programmes undertaken by the North East Council (NEC) and the Department of North East Region (DONER) are increasing in number. The fund allocation has also gone up.

These measures have been able to curb insurgency to some extent in all the states of NER. However, the hardcore of the ultra outfits have not been completely pacified. In Nagaland, sixty years of unrest has come to a temporary period of respite thanks to the present ceasefire agreement. But extortion has continued. In Assam talks with ULFA has broken down and sporadic instances of bomb and grenade attacks and extortion and kidnappings are continuing. Raids and encounters are resulting in deaths even of innocent civilians. But the intensity of insurgency is much lower mainly because ULFA has lost public support and economic growth has been significant.

It is true that in spite of the best efforts of the state governments to attract foreign and outside investments the success rate has not been substantial. The exodus of skilled and qualified manpower in search of jobs and investment opportunities in Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other places has not abated. There are many reasons for this phenomenon. Continued insurgency is one of them. As already noted some terrorist activities are still going on. But the national media tend to exaggerate the incidents taking place in NER while playing down similar incidents in other states. The fear psychosis already created by the national media is such that people outside believe these news items.

A very hard and objective look is required at the present situation against the backdrop of the past events in order to describe the intensity of insurgency. In the seventees, eightees and ninetees of the last century there was insurgency everywhere – Nagaland, Mizo Hills (while it was part of Assam), Tripura, Manipur and Assam. In Assam ULFA was born in April 1979 and it was running almost a parallel government during the late eighties. That was the time when it would have been appropriate to describe the situation in NER as really grave.

Today the situation has changed. As already mentioned insurgency has abated in Tripura. In Assam and Manipur, sporadic incidents are taking place but their intensity has gone down. In Nagaland there is a ceasefire. In Mizoram there is complete peace. It would be difficult to agree that NER today is a “Frontier in Flames”.

However, that precisely is the name given to a new collection of essays by ten experts published by Viking, Penguin and edited by the eminent and internationally reputed security analyst Jaideep Saikia. At the end of the long prolegomena the editor concludes that “the flames that have engulfed the frontiers are not the results of a mere bush fire, but are flames of a fire that has the ability to set the nation’s existence ablaze.” This undoubtedly is a rather strong and ominous prediction. Such a prediction can be justified only in the context of what happened in the past and what can happen in the future. In the past insurgency had proliferated all over NER. Even though it might be dormant at the moment the factors which can make it erupt again are just below the surface. These factors have been analysed in the book by B.N.Mentschel for Manipur in his chapter on “Red Chebons and Crimson Wars”, by S.Bhowmik for Tripura in his chapter on “Taming the Twipra Tempest,” by D.Gogoi for Assam in his chapter on “Resurrection of a Sunset Dream” and by Namrata Goswami for Nagaland in her chapter on “Twilight over Guerrilla Zone”. Even the comparatively peaceful states have the potential for unrest and insurgency. Patricia Mukhim has written about Meghalaya in her chapter on “Turbulence in the Abode of Clouds” and Mamang Dai has written about Arunachal Pradesh in her chapter on “Living the Untold Myth.” Problems of infrastructure development have been dealt with by J.T. Thomas in his chapter on “Beyond the McMohan Line”, motivational mechanics of the ISI-DGFI by M.K.Dhar in his chapter on “Fulcrum of the Eastern Dark” and about the economics of NE militancy by this writer in his chapter on “Brigands of Fortune.” About illegal migration EN Rammohan’s chapter on “Lebensraum in the East” has given an excellent analysis.

This book is remarkable for the masterly analysis of the situation and for the plethora of information it has put together within its covers. It is also remarkable because the writers have fearlessly brought out the most dangerous future that awaits NER if GOI and civil society remain complacent and political parties continue to play vote bank politics, to the detriment of the country’s security concerns. This remarkable book should be able to open the eyes of our government and our civil society leaders to the dangers that lurk behind the temporary lull.

It is not intended to make a full review of this remarkable book. Nor is it intended to list out the problems and issues dealt with by the editor and the ten experts. The objective of this essay is to draw attention to the present situation in NER independently of the book. The book is alluded to for its masterly analysis of the events of the past and the portents for the future. And also because it has become imperative to heed the writings on the wall.

The ground situation shows that beside the matters referred to above there is considerable resentment among the indigenous people because of the continuous and relentless immigration of Bangladeshi Muslims that has already changed the demographic profiles of Assam and Tripura. In this context EN Rammohan’s chapter is revealing. He has clearly brought out the systematic abetment of Bangladeshi leaders, and even some Indian Muslim leaders, to the poor peasants of Bangladesh to migrate to Assam. He has emphasized that “the objective of the Muslim League to get Assam included in East Pakistan obviously continues to occupy the minds of the leaders of Bangladesh.”

What is more sinister is the fact that the main insurgent group- ULFA- has become a puppet in the hands of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). Instead of making Assam free of Bangladeshis, the objective with which ULFA started in 1979, they are now trying to make Assam free of Biharis and other Indians so that Bangladeshis can be substituted in the jobs in NER which were hitherto performed by north Indians.

Another factor which needs attention is GOI’s pumping in more and more money into NER. This has happened in the same way as it had happened earlier in Jammu and Kashmir. What proportion of it has benefited the poor? What proportion of it has meant proliferation and enrichment of the corrupt middle class? Then there is the issue of passing on of huge funds to the insurgent outfits by devious means.

It is in this backdrop that the problem of China’s doggedly demanding Arunachal Pradesh as their own territory has to be viewed. Diplomatic channels have not been able to do much to ease the situation. If NER continues to reel under the three problems of insurgency, Bangladeshi infiltration and corruption, China will find it easy to take advantage of these “fault lines” in case they make another attempt at “nudging” India as they did in 1962. Such an event will further encourage Bangladeshi infiltration. This may also turn the presently innocuous looking “Mia Land” demand into a major platform. Needless to say that ‘Mia Land’ is Muslim Land in Assam’s Muslim majority districts. These are problems which might change the situation in NER. That is why the dangerous portents are potent.

http://www.assamtribune.com/apr2708/edit2.html

Analysis: India faces new security threats

2008-04-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Emerging Threats - Analysis

Analysis: India faces new security threats

By KUSHAL JEENAUPI Correspondent
NEW DELHI

An Indian parliamentary standing committee has asked the government to monitor the country's eastern border, saying large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh and a flourishing counterfeit currency racket are threatening the country's security and economy.

The parliamentary standing committee attached to the Interior Ministry in its report -- presented to both houses of Parliament recently -- said a large presence of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants posed a grave threat to India's security and economy as many border-crossers come with sophisticated weapons and ammunition to fuel terrorism. They also carry a large amount of fake Indian currency to weaken the economy, the report said.

"The government should view the illegal immigration by Bangladeshis seriously," said Sushma Swaraj, a senior lawmaker from the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and chair of the committee that looks into the functioning of the Interior Ministry. "We at the standing committee have recommended that movements of human beings along the border with Bangladesh must be strictly monitored."

In response, the Interior Ministry said it is aware of illegal immigration into India from Bangladesh and has taken measures such as border fencing and floodlighting the area to stem the movement.

With border infiltrations by militants from Pakistan waning, many say India now faces a threat from its porous -- partially fenced -- eastern border with Bangladesh. Intelligence inputs have suggested many illegal migrants have been able to secure ration cards, driver's licenses, voter-identity cards and other government documents.

The Interior Ministry said it has also asked the governments of bordering states to take action to detect foreign nationals in the country illegally -- but this is often hard as Bangladeshis resemble Indians and they usually live in Muslim-dominated parts of India. Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim country.

India has on various occasions taken up the issue of illegal immigration with Bangladesh, but Dhaka denies a problem exists, India says.

"Illegal migration is a genuine problem, but Bangladesh refuses to recognize it. How this could be solved when Bangladesh does not want to accept it," said Pranab Mukherjee, India's foreign minister.

The presence of fake Indian currency notes in states along the eastern border has alarmed Indian intelligence and security agencies. The gravity of the situation came to light recently when a minister in Tripura state had to resign for alleged links with Bangladesh-based militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami. India says the group was behind bomb blasts at various places in the country.

The minister, Shahid Chowdhury, told security agencies he supplied at least 20 million counterfeit Indian notes to the markets. Following his confession, security forces swung into action and confiscated a huge sum of fake notes. They refused to divulge the quantity, however.
The government of Assam state, which has among the highest number of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, has set up as many as 32 foreign tribunals for the detention of illegal migrants and foreigners, the parliamentary standing committee said in its report.

The Interior Ministry said the involvement of terrorist groups based in Bangladesh in some incidents of terrorist violence had come to notice, but there were no reports of recruitment of Bangladeshi nationals in India for these purposes. The government has taken various measures to prevent terrorist incidents, the ministry said.

According to a government estimate, India has 20 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants in various states and the capital, New Delhi. The figures provided by Assam's Interior Department said every day around 6,000 migrants from Bangladesh illegally cross the border and enter the state from where they move to other parts of India. Many of these migrants have links to Islamic militant outfits, state police said.

http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Emerging_Threats/Analysis/2008/04/24/analysis_india_faces_new_security_threats/7249

Maitree Express --- Train To Nowhere ?

2008-04-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

MYTHIC CONSOLATIONS - Will the Maitree Express turn out to be a train to nowhere?

by SUNANDA K. DATTA-RAY

The romance of the railroad generated confidence long before strategic writers recognized connectivity as an essential element of bonding. One of history’s best-known examples is British Columbia’s refusal to join the Canadian federation until the Canadian Pacific Railway was built. But romantics on either side of the Bengal-Bangladesh border would be well advised not to be carried away by the heavy symbolism of the flower-bedecked Maitree Express running for the first time in 43 years on Poila Baisakh.

True, India has no major political problem with Bangladesh, like the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan or the border with China. But the state of mind that generates mistrust is the most dangerous of all dividing factors for it can breed monsters out of trivialities. So, when Pranab Mukherjee told the Bangladeshi daily, Prothom Alo, that “the depth of political relations between our two countries is now as deep as it should be”, it sounded like a realistic admission that, train or no train, there never can be a return to the euphoric high noon that animated the two Bengals in 1971. The external affairs minister’s compliment to the interim government for cooperating with India is even more revealing. Despite its achievements, this government is not politically accountable. It is an executive regime that can take sensible decisions regardless of grassroots reactions but enjoys no popular mandate. Precisely for that reason, it may also run counter to the popular mood. An election may not uphold its values and virtues.

A small detail like the Maitree Express’s change of engine and crew at the border, however cordially carried out, highlights the absence of trust between the two countries. Born on the rail track, as it were, and bred in railway saloons and station retiring rooms, I have a nose for these minutiae. For all the bickering between Singapore and Malaysia, the train from Kuala Lumpur drives right into Singapore’s heart. The quaint little station at Tanjong Pagar, the tracks, rolling stock and staff all belong to Malayan Railways. The same crew and engine serve the entire route. There would be no train if Singapore demanded proprietary rights. In the early Fifties, the vivid green Parbatipur Express, with its huge white Arabic lettering, swept past our bungalow in Kanchrapara as a mobile manifestation of Pakistan’s Islamic personality. I doubt if the engines and crew were Indian.

As a reporter covering Ireland’s Troubles in the late Sixties, I often rode the train from Belfast in British-held, fiercely Protestant Northern Ireland to Dublin, mellow capital of the predominantly Catholic Irish republic, and back. No one was aware of when and where we crossed the border. Yet, those were the days when the Provos, the murderous Provisional Irish Republican Army, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary each defended its pitch with the fervour they devoted to god and Caesar. The railway could be ignored because the substance — Protestant supremacy, Catholic emancipation — mattered more than the symbol.

For Bengalis, the symbol always takes precedence over the substance. The tearful passengers on the train were refugees of the spirit, dwelling nostalgically on the innumerable plates of chicken curry they had devoured (or had heard of being devoured) on the pre-partition Goalundo-Narayanganj steamer. Their objective is not sound political and economic relations between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh with an 89.7 per cent Muslim population whose ‘state religion’ is Islam. They yearn for the consolation of a mythic East Bengal where hilsa was sold as a whole fish, not chopped into pieces, and a goat slaughtered for meat.

I say ‘mythic’ because there are far more East Bengal zamindars in Calcutta today than ever existed in real life east of the Padma. But real or imagined, that lifestyle presumed a communal hierarchy — Muzaffar Ahmed of the National Awami Party called it the “two-hookah” culture — that played no small part in East Bengal’s choice in 1947. Beneath the bravado, Bangladesh lives in neurotic fear of attempts to undo that decision. So does Pakistan. When a sentimental Bengali gushed during the Calcutta visit of Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan’s suave former high commissioner, that the British mischief of partition should be undone so that India could be united, he saw it as further evidence of Hindus still not being reconciled to Pakistan.

There are some similarities with Russia’s complex-ridden relations with Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia. They have little in common with each other but are strongly united in their suspicion of Russia, of which they were once a part. Azerbai- jan’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, the secessionist Tskhinvali area of Georgia and Ukraine’s flirtation with the North American Treaty Alliance would not have looked like serious casus belli if it had not been for underlying misgivings. But there is a difference with the subcontinent. Russia aggressively cuts off gas pipelines, threatens Nato missiles and makes open overtures to breakaway regions. India is placatory, overlooking even an estimated 12 to 18 million illegal migrants in our midst.

That does not appease a people who may now have revised their liberation history, but who are haunted by the fear that what was done in 1971 can be done again. That apprehension surfaced within months of Mujibur Rahman’s return to Dhaka, to the disgust of India’s first high commissioner, Subimal Dutt, who was a member of the Indian Civil Service but also from a modest Chittagong family, and culminating in Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s visit in August 1974, months before the night of Dhaka’s long knives. Visible linkages like trains do have a place in diplomacy, but mainly to impress and involve the populace in official goodwill initiatives. That counts for little among an effervescent people whose quick changes of mood are woven into my childhood memories of Direct Action Day when it was “Allah ho akbar!” one moment and “Hindu-Mussalman bhai-bhai!” the next.

Even if the next set of elected Bangladeshi politicians retains the present regime’s efforts, there is no guarantee that political exigencies will not tempt them again to change course.
Paradoxically, the Bangladesh-India relationship is part of the equation between the two Bengals that is subject to all the emotional vicissitudes captured by Muzaffar Ahmed’s two-hookah analogy compounded by the village-city complex. Dhaka may long ago have far outstripped Calcutta, as rich Bangladeshis never tire of reiterating, but objective fact does not exorcise subjective reaction rooted in the past. If Bangladeshis had not been so mercurial, Inder Kumar Gujral would not have warned, when he was in office, against buying Titash gas direct even from Hasina Wajed’s government, suggesting that only a multinational middleman could absorb shocks. New Delhi’s insistence even now on protecting the train and Mukherjee’s “as deep as it should be” are reminders of strictly limited expectations.

The emotional Bengali public is another matter. Large sections of it imagined in 1971 that Epar Bangla Opar Bangla were about to unite. Even if that hope was belied, they expected free travel without the fuss and bother of passports and visas. That, too, was just wishful thinking, as any Indian who had suffered the indignity of the foreigners’ registration office in Dhaka’s Lal Bagh should know. Bangladeshi uniforms have replaced Pakistani uniforms, but the men inside are still the same.

Some caveats must be entered. There has always existed in Bangladesh a substantial, reasonably liberal constituency that harbours only friendly feelings for India. Greater interaction, courtesy Maitree Express and other follow-up forms of communication, may strengthen this lobby and help to dissolve Bangladeshi reserve. On the other hand, too many people from Calcutta, especially non-Bengali traders, may again arouse economic fears. Also, the understandable and unavoidable ambivalence of Bangladeshi Hindus, about 9 per cent of the population, is a permanent irritant. The Maitree Express is an attractive idea, but no one should be surprised if it turns out to be a train to nowhere.

sunanda.dattaray@gmail.com

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080419/jsp/others/print.html

Indian Intelligence Agency to probe Tripura Minister's alleged nexus with HUJI militant

2008-04-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

AGARTALA: The Tripura government has ordered a CID inquiry into the alleged nexus between Bangladeshi arms dealer,Mamun Mia and Tripura Minister Sahid Chowdhury who resigned as the State Food and Minority Affairs Minister on Thursday, official sources said on Saturday.

A five-member CID team, headed by DSP Priya Lal Majumder, would also interact with West Bengal CID, which provided the the information about Mia and seek information about the present status of investigation in the neighbouring state.

The CID would also investigate how the Bangladeshi National, who is alleged to be a member of the Harkat-ul-jihadi-islami, could live in India without a valid passport and obtain a permanent resident certificate in Tripura, the sources said.

A team of CID personnel of West Bengal and Tripura police arrested Mia from a house at Ramnagar area here on March 28. He was flown to Kolkata the next day on transit remand.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20080419055152&Page=P&Title=Nation&Topic=0

Blast in Assam market, 40 wounded

2008-04-10T21:39:00.001-07:00

DIPHU (Assam): At least 40 people were wounded, 18 of them seriously, when a cycle bomb ripped through a market in Howraghat town in central Assam's hill district of Karbi Anglong on Thursday.
The Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) detonated the bomb at 12.45 pm in the busy Howraghat vegetable market on Netaji Subhash Road.
Eighteen seriously injured persons had been referred to Nagaon civil Hospital in neighbouring Nagaon district. Others were discharged after first aid.
The police had received intelligence inputs that the KLNLF had plans to launch a series of explosions in the district at the behest of the ULFA with which it has close links, the sources said.
Two KLNLF militants were arrested by security forces on Tuesday. Jiten Hansie was nabbed from Manja area with a
Chinese grenade while the other, Kangpura Rongpi alias Rang Rongpi, from Diphu.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/40_wounded_in_Assam_market_blast/articleshow/2942423.cms

Taslima is a victim of inverted secularism

2008-04-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

by Dina Nath Mishra

India gave refuge with honour to all those people who were persecuted in their own country; be it Jews, Parsis or Tibetans. It has been an ageold tradition to treat them well. Many of them were given land and other liberal relief by Indian kings.

Perhaps, Taslima is the only exception. She was first hounded out by the West Bengal Government and then by the Centre. Her case is similar to that of Salman Rushdie's. Rushdie wrote Satanic Verses wherein he criticised Prophet Mohammed. Ayatullah Khomeini, Islamist ruler of Iran, issued a fatwa against Rushdie for his "blasphemous writings".

Rushdie is a British citizen who has all freedom and rights, including freedom of expression and writing. Khomeini decreed that anyone who killed Rushdie would be rewarded bigtime.

According to his version of Islam he had the right to punish citizens of any country. For him, the sovereignty of Britain did not mean anything, on ground that all of Earth belongs to Allah.
Sovereignty does not stand anywhere against the sovereign rights of Allah and, therefore, Khomeini had the right to exterminate citizens of other countries.

Taslima wrote a novel depicting the shameful atrocities on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh in an aptly titled novel Lajja. There is no concept of gender justice in Islam. She wrote on feminists too. Top Islamic clergy charged her with blasphemy and there was every danger of her being persecuted. She took shelter in Kolkata, known for its cultural homogeneity. She took refuge in European countries for some years but the alien atmosphere there compelled her to return to Kolkata.

This time, in November 2007, she had to face mob fury in a State ruled by Marxists, the most vocal champions of secularism.

Ironically, the mob was managed and led by yet another champion of secularism, the Congress. The CPM bundled her out to Delhi via Rajasthan. In Delhi, she could have lived under ordinary security peacefully continuing with her writing. But the Centre kept her in an IB House where she was not allowed to talk to anybody. "It was a virtual jail," she said. Officials of the Foreign Ministry talked to her periodically in order to persuade her to go to some European country. She wanted to return to Kolkata but Marxists refused her request.

She succumbed to the pressure and took a plane to London. She told journalists that the Manmohan Government was the worst type of fundamentalist.

Nasreen doesn't know the Indian definition of secularism. Here, it means exotic romance with Muslims, particularly the fundamentalists, and offending the majority routinely. It means meek and tolerant behaviour from Hindus and empowering fundamentalists with veto.

Taslima could not understand the invertedness of Indian secularism. It is like a pyramid. All the burden has to be borne by the lower portion and the top portion enjoys the pleasure of height.
People in general and top intellectuals, particularly the Left, have openly condemned the behaviour and decisions of West Bengal and the Centre, hounding Taslima out of the country.
The Dalai Lama is given periodic instructions to not speak or do anything which may harm Sino-Indian ties. Taslima, too, was stopped from writing and giving any statements.

These are against basic tenets of rights of refugees as per the UN charter. Most countries practice it. But in India, due to growing Muslim vote politics, it has been distorted. The votes are of paramount importance; ethics, code of conduct and human rights of refugees do not count, if weighed against votes.

During British rule, VD Sarvarkar was fighting for the freedom of the country but when, in London, he was given refugee status, he had all human rights.

Sun Yet-Sen of China, too, was a refugee and had full freedom in the host country. Lala Hardyal, a freedom fighter, was given refuge by the US. It was in the US that he wrote some of his best books.

The late Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, too, lived as refugees. Khomeini was a refugee in France during the Shah's rule in Iran.

No country humiliates even political refugees barring, probably, India. The way India treated Taslima and is now treating the Dalai Lama is shameful and against its glorious traditions.

One can imagine the fear in which Taslima lived. Many human rights activists spring up whenever a case of a terrorist comes to the fore. Where are they now? They have not shed a single tear.

The entire nation is unconcerned, watching TV. Political statements as per party lines do appear but they do not galvanise people in the manner required. Who can dare act against the aforesaid veto?

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=mishra%2Fmishra217.txt&writer=mishra

Bangladesh spy agency DGFI spreading roots in East India

2008-04-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

Binnaguri: After Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), its now Bangladesh’s directorate general of forces intelligence (DGFI) that has become a concern for the security agencies.

According to Lt. Gen. K.S. Jamwal, general officer commanding-in-chief, Eastern Command, DGFI’s activities in India are on the rise, with support from terror outfits in the North-East (Of India).

“Top leaders of Ulfa and other North-East terror groups are hiding in Bangladesh with DGFI’s support. As payback, they are helping DGFI build a network here.” Lt. Gen. Jamwal said.

He was speaking at an investiture ceremony in Binnaguri, where 32 army personnel were awarded Sena Medals, three of them posthumously.

DGFI is trying to turn its plan of establishing a sovereign Islamic state in the North-East into reality. The agency is receiving support from ISI. As part of its plan, there is a sustained effort to push in Assamese speaking Bangladeshis into the North-East. Outfits like Ulfa have been convinced to discriminate simply on the basis of language and not nationality.

According to reports from central intelligence agencies, the aim of ISI and DGFI is to create an independent Islamistan, comprising Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and the districts of Malda, Murshidabad, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar in West Bengal.

The Times of India, Kolkata
Saturday, January-19, 2008
Page: 9
Reporter: Pinak Priya Bhattacharya

Securing India's North-East by G. Parthasarathy

2008-04-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Two major factors are crucial in the security of India's North-Eastern States. First, these States are landlocked. Their access to the sea and even trade and economic exchanges with other parts of India are thereby curtailed. Second, even access by land is often precarious, because access to these States from other parts of India is through the narrow 'Siliguri Corridor', which is vulnerable to Chinese pressure, especially as an aggressive China brazenly lays claim to Arunachal Pradesh, protesting against the visit of India's Prime Minister to that State. China's policies along our border cannot be wished away. Further endangering our North-Eastern security is Bangladeshi refusal to permit transit of Indian goods to the North-East, coupled with what is described as a "demographic invasion" of these States by Bangladeshi nationals, with separatist insurgents receiving support on Bangladeshi territory.

In these circumstances one cannot overestimate the importance of the agreement on the 'Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project' finalised during the visit of Myanmar's Vice-President Gen Maung Aye. This project, with an estimated investment of $ 135 million, will end the landlocked nature of our North-Eastern States, by connecting Mobu in Mizoram to the Bay of Bengal port of Sittwe in Myanmar, located barely 539 km from Kolkata. While Myanmar has cooperated with us in mounting military operations against Indian insurgent groups being infiltrated from Bangladesh, this project will secure its co-operation in dealing with what amounts to a virtual blockade of our North-Eastern States by Bangladesh. By gaining access to Sittwe port, India has also addressed its longstanding concerns about Chinese pressure on Myanmar to make this port available for its 'strategic corridor' along the Irrawady to the Bay of Bengal. This project has been handled more imaginatively than our unsuccessful and indeed amateur efforts to secure Myanmar gas from offshore fields in which GAIL and ONGC have equity stakes.

Gen Maung Aye has come at a time when the emerging contours of Myanmar's future political evolution appear to be taking shape. Having signed "standstill agreements" with virtually all ethnic armed groups, Myanmar's military rulers have ensured that apart from the Kachins operating on the Thai-Myanmar border, there is an end to ethnic insurgencies in the country. In addition, the military Government has announced that a Constitution finalised after 15 years of discussions by a National Convention (in which supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy initially participated) will be put for endorsement to a referendum, to be held next month. Unlike Myanmar's past Constitutions of 1947 and 1974, the new Constitution envisages, for the first time, a measure of regional autonomy, with provisions for elected Regional Councils. The May 2008 referendum is to be followed by a general election in 2010. Whether the ruling dispensation sticks to this schedule remains to be seen, as there are reports about differences within the ruling elite about this roadmap for constitutional change.

Does this mean that we are going to see full-fledged parliamentary democracy as we understand it soon in Myanmar? The Constitution envisages a dominant role for the 'Tatmadaw' (armed forces) "to be able to participate in the national political leadership role of the state". This is reflected in the powers the armed forces have been given to run their own affairs, including the budget, and in the extensive powers of the President, who will undoubtedly be drawn from the armed forces. Moreover, 25 per cent of all seats in the Union Parliament and Regional Assemblies have been allocated to armed forces personnel. Thus, Myanmar's transition to full-fledged parliamentary democracy is set to follow the path adopted over the past four decades by its two ASEAN neighbours - Indonesia and Thailand. It remains to be seen how Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD are accommodated in - or reconcile themselves to - this framework, where they will face stiff opposition from the Army backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). As things stand, Western pressures are unlikely to be able to deter the ruling dispensation from following this path, though one will have to see how far urgings by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari and friendly neighbours like India can persuade the regime to make the process of political evolution more inclusive.

Apart from its bilateral dealings with Myanmar, New Delhi will have to play a more activist role in giving meaningful content to its engagement with South-East Asia through the Bay of Bengal Regional Grouping, BIMSTEC, which brings together Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, with ASEAN members Myanmar and Thailand. Elimination of trade and investment barriers along our North-Eastern frontiers has to be an essential element in this effort and BIMSTEC is a crucial forum to achieve this. Procedures need to be simplified and existing trade barriers removed for border trade with Myanmar. Our private sector also should seek to invest in agricultural production in Myanmar. This will enable easy imports of rice and agricultural products for our North-East from Myanmar, rather than providing supplies, especially for the public distribution system, from distant parts of India. Moreover, we have thus far ensured, in cooperation with the Myanmar Government, that there is no large scale Chinese presence close to our border. This could well change if New Delhi dithers as it did on utilisation of Myanmar gas, in implementing the proposal for developing the hydro-electric potential of the Chindwin River, close to Myanmar's border with Manipur. Energy hungry China could well move in to get the project implemented to meet its needs if we continue to procrastinate.

New Delhi can derive some satisfaction that successive Governments in India have not allowed political populism to prevail over considerations of national security in dealing with Myanmar over the last 15 years. Strangely, our Communist parties purport to be champions of democracy in Myanmar, in contrast to their "hear no evil and see no evil" approach to Chinese repression in Tibet. China will, after all, be the principal beneficiary of strained India-Myanmar relations. But, while moving ahead with improving relations with Myanmar, India should urge the Myanmar Government to do more for people of Indian origin in that country, especially for the estimated half-a-million people of Indian origin who are still stateless. We do unfortunately bend backwards to help affluent Indians abroad, but pay less than adequate attention to the travails of the poor and the dispossessed.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&fi...

Huji cadre arrested in Agartala

2008-03-31T10:09:00.001-07:00

AGARTALA: A Bangladeshi national suspected to have links with terrorist organisation HuJI has been arrested here on charges of indulging in anti-India activities and arms trafficking, police said on Monday.
Acting on a tip off, a joint team of Tripura police and CID sleuths on Saturday raided a house at Ramnagar and arrested Mamun Mia alias Suman Majumder, who identified himself as a garment trader from West Bengal.
Police said Mamun Mia's whereabouts were traced with the help of a pen drive the West Bengal police had seized from two Bangladeshi nationals arrested on January 15 in the Shibpur police station area near Kolkata.
Apart from the pen drive, the police had also seized high explosives, gelatin sticks and maps of a few Army camps in north Bengal.
Mia was flown to Kolkata on Saturday for interrogation.
Mia had been staying in Agartala for about three months and managed to get a permanent residence certificate.
The police suspect that Mia may have active links with the Harkat ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI) and is investigating if a racket in arms smuggling from Bangladesh exists in Tripura.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangladeshi_national_with_alleged_link_to_HuJI_held_in_Agartala/articleshow/2914425.cms

Mainland’s attitude towards NE must change: economist

2008-03-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

By A Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 30 –

There is an indifferent attitude, almost of a colonial type, in the mainland of India towards NE. This needs to be changed through an arrangement so as to remove the feeling of alienation that afflicts the psyche of the NE people and thus to save the integrity of the country. For the purpose, the Rajya Sabha should be turned into a true council of States with a decisive say on the Union Budget.

This was the observation made by Dr Ashok Mitra, one of the leading economists of the country and a former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. Also a former Finance Minister of West Bengal, Dr Mitra was delivering the Foundation Day lecture of the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development here today on ‘Seven Sisters and Federal Polity’.

For the feeling of alienation of the NE people, he said, the people of the mainland and the country’s policymakers are to be blamed. There are, however, three distinctions geographical, historical and ethnic – which also distinguish the region from the mainland of the country, he said.

But if NE is regarded as a part of the country in all respects, then it should be allowed to enjoy all the facilities available for development. The NE region, which constitutes 15 per cent of the country’s landmarks with five per cent of the country’s population living in it, should be offered the same pledge and scope for development as has been made for Kashmir, said Dr Mitra.

At present, the region hardly makes three per cent contribution to the gross domestic product of the country. The North Eastern Council (NEC) has also failed to bring about a change in the situation.

The water resources of the Brahmaputra, one of the most magnificent of the rivers, have also not been harnessed for the agricultural development ofthe region. No body has bothered to apply his mind to use the rich forest resources of this region.

The road building operations carried out by different organisations in this region are meant to facilitate movement of troops, not to further its economic development. The priority in this areas is on maintaining territorial integrity of the country, not on accelerating development, he said.

In the political arena also, only a few personalities like Fakhrudding Ali ahmed, Devakanta Borooah, PA Sangma and Bijoy Bhagawati, were given national status.

There must be something wrong with our constitution. An important limb of the country is neglected in terms of development and political position.

Though the Constiution of the country has described India as a Union of States, the imagination of the makers of the Constitution dried up after taking up the nomenclature of the Rajya Sabha from the American model of the Senate, he said.

This is why, five per cent of the nation’s population has representation in the Rajya Sabha according to its size. The pledges of the Constitution makers to make the Rajya Sabha a forum to discuss the problems of the States and making it a House of elders have also been forgotten.
The convention that a person should be a resident of the State concerned to represent it in the Rajya Sabha has also been obliterated with a recent amendment to the Constitution.

Therefore, to keep the integrity of the country intact, there is a need to amend the Constitution so as to give equal representation to each of the States in the Rajya Sabha and also to give this forum the prerogative on the money bills (budget). This will provide the NE region with a better scope to assert itself, Dr Mitra said.

The Rajya Sabha should also be given the power to appoint the Finance Commission members and to determine its terms of reference. Besides, the Planning Commission should be made a Constitutional body and appointment of its members should be the prerogrative of the Rajya Sabha, he said.

The function was conducted by former bureaucrat Jatin Hazarika.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar3108/at010

Bangladesh stand worries India

2008-03-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Focus: Arunachal

2008-03-15T10:34:00.001-07:00

[Although this article is a week old, we think the matter covered in the interview is important enough for the immediate attention of our esteemed readers. If Indians don't wake up to the nefarious activities of the Chinese now, there might be a repeat of '62 - EIW Team]

'It is time to wake up to Chinese incursions'

The Rediff Interview/Arunachal MP Kiren Rijiju
March 04, 2008

Kiren Rijiju, the 36-year-old firebrand Member of Parliament representing Arunachal Pradesh (West), does not share the government's and Indian Army's perceptions about Chinese incursions in his border state.
While Defence Minister A K Antony and army chief General Deepak Kapoor have underplayed the intrusions on several occasions, Rijiju has tried to convey in Parliament the seriousness of the situation in the strategic state. Unfortunately till now his voice has been lost in the corridors of power.
Rijiju has pointed out for long that the Indian Army is not prepared for a conflict with China and today this is an accepted fact. The young MP still regrets that only cosmetic actions are being taken to correct this imbalance.
In this wide-ranging interview with Claude Arpi, the MP highlights not only the patriotism of the people of Arunachal, but also conveys in the strongest terms that it is time for India to wake up, to be self-confident and to stand by her interests and her borders.
Chinese intrusions have been denied by the army and the government, but you have repeatedly brought the matter to public notice. Could you tell us what is really happening?
In my constituency in Arunachal (West), there are many points where Chinese intrusions are happening. And it happens throughout the year. Since the 1962 war, the Government of India has not developed adequate infrastructure on the border. This has made access to the border very difficult from our side; while on the Chinese side, they have built infrastructure to facilitate movement of their army and people. Their side is far more accessible.
The Chinese (intrusions) are happening in a slow, creeping manner. Inch by inch, the Chinese station their army personnel and bring equipment.
Is it the army or grazers?
Grazers are basically a camouflage because the terrain is very difficult. I am speaking of areas from eastern Arunachal (Walong) to the western part (Tawang). The public (and the government) only know of Chinese incursions if it happens in known places like Tawang. When incidents happen in more remote places, it does not come to the notice of the general public. The army keeps it secret. They won't let the people know what actually happened.
In one place in Tawang district, some villagers were in possession of rice and grain supplied by the Chinese authorities. When these Monpa tribals were asked they took Chinese help, they answered: "Well, we have not been supplied with essential commodities from the Indian side. To survive we had no other choice but to accept what the Chinese offered." This shows that the government is not doing enough for the development of the border areas.
But the real issue is that India after 1962 adopted a secret policy not to develop the border areas. The idea behind it is that if we develop the border areas, the Chinese can easily use these facilities in the event of a war. It is a wrong policy. It means that we are in a defensive mode, we have no confidence in our army. This encourages the Chinese. We have to be confident in our own policies. Our demand has been that we should connect all the border areas right to the McMahon Line by a road network.
Do you think that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's [Images] visit to Arunachal, though he did not visit Tawang, opened the eyes of the government?
The government is now realising the hard realities, but it is still committing the same mistake. Why did the PM avoid Tawang? By not going, he has given some leverage to the Chinese who can say 'he has not gone to Tawang, because it is a disputed territory'. It is an acknowledgement that it is disputed, while in fact it is not. The PM's decision gives justification to Chinese claims and encourages them.
When they found out that the PM was going to Itanagar only, the Chinese knew that their pressure tactics had worked. Arunachal is the only issue which has a potential for conflict between India and China. If ever, India and China go to war one day, it will be on this issue.
Do not forget that Arunachal is (potentially) the richest state in India. About 30 percent of the power will come from Arunachal alone. Arunachal has petroleum; gas, minerals, and the largest forested area in India. Arunachal has great water resources. India is going to face a water shortage. Our state has a great potential, it is going to be the richest state in India in 15 years. The Chinese know this.
What if the Chinese divert the Brahmaputra river?
It will be only on the Siang (Brahmaputra) which represents only 25 percent of the waters of the state. Most of rivers flow from the Arunachal side of the McMahon Line which is the dividing line on the top of the ridge. All the rivers which originate from the Indian side flow towards India and cannot be diverted. Their flow increases in Arunachal.
The Chinese have built a new airport in Nyintri district in Tibet, just north of the McMahon line.
This airport is very close to Arunachal. On the belt along the Brahmaputra (Tsangpo) river, towards Arunachal, particularly from Tsona (north of Tawang) to the Yunnan province (of China), the Chinese have built adequate infrastructure with many airports. Further, the Golmund-Lhasa railway line will be soon extended till Shigatse (Southern Tibet), it should be completed next year.
They announced it for 2010?
But Chinese are always able to complete their projects before schedule. They will reach Shigatse in 2009 and then, turn eastwards following the Tsangpo basin towards Tsona. Once it reaches Tsona, we will have a massive deployment of military hardware, right on the Arunachal border.
There is already a full deployment in Tibet, including nuclear weapons. In fact till 2005, they could not move heavy military equipment due to bad roads. The railway connectivity has dramatically changed the geopolitics of Tibet.
India's plan to counter this move is not enough. The recent package for a trans-Arunachal road which will cost Rs 6,000 crore or Rs 7,000 crore only connects the lower districts of Arunachal. Nowhere will this touch the McMahon Line.
I have written to the prime minister asking him to make sure that the road connectivity touches all the border areas. Otherwise, it will not serve the (defence) purpose. From the package announced by the prime minister, all border points will be five or six days by foot.
How can military personnel take care of our borders when they have to walk five or six days with arms and ammunition? I am honestly admitting that we are not prepared.
It was also admitted by A K Antony during a recent visit to Sikkim.
Yes, he admitted it and I have said it in Parliament for so many years. For years, the government denied it. Now they have accepted my point. The question remains 'What have you done so far (to solve it)?' I would like also to mention that the people of Arunachal are very patriotic; it is a positive point. It is the same thing in Ladakh and other hilly areas. We are honest, patriotic and nationalist people.
The Centre today undermines the peaceful nature of these people. It may be very explosive and costly for the country if this situation goes on and if the people of the Himalayas who act as sentries for the nation, are ignored.
The negative policy of the Centre should be reversed; the passive attitude should become active.
Is there some understanding in the government?
I am telling them: "Don't fear China, just do your job. Help the people of border areas with roads, schools, hospitals, telecom facilities." This is the solution. We do not want a war with China.
Arunachal should not be the bone of contention between India and China, it should be the bridge. We have five traditional border posts with China (Tibet), it should be reopened. There should be more people to people contact.
Some ten years back I visited Arunachal. At that time, there was talk of opening the Bumla Pass for trade. What is the position today?
Today there is a fear psychosis vis-a-vis China. India wants only sea trade with China. India thinks that if we have a land trade relations, Chinese goods will flood the Indian market. Look at Nathu-la (in Sikkim), it was opened two years back, nothing happened. We have to increase the volume of trade. Even in the case of Nathu-la, India curtailed the process by not putting in place adequate infrastructure.
On the Chinese side, there is good infrastructure, on our side, there is very little. It means that India is not interested in border trade. These are negative policies which have to be reversed.
The problem is that India is obsessed with America. All the brains of the ministry of external affairs and the think-thanks in India are obsessed with two countries only: The US and Pakistan. How many people know about China, whether it is in the defence or intelligence fields? India does not understand what China is.
Is this changing?
It is changing in rhetoric only, not substantially. I was accused of being obsessed with two countries only. Why should we pay so much attention to Pakistan, a small neighbour? Just forget it! We can just have normal relations with them. What is the point of spending so much time, energy and brains on (this country).
In India, all parties except the Communists are in favour of a strategic partnership with the US to contain China. It is fine, but on the other hand, we are not brave enough to tell China what are our sovereign rights. On one side we are appeasing China, on the other side we want to contain them. Our policy is without any clear direction.
Now, India speaks about 'looking east', for closer relations with other Asian countries, but we remain obsessed with the US. Our ties with the US should not hamper our relations with China.
If we don't know about our adversary, we can't face it. You have to know their strength, their weakness, their plans, if we don't know this, how can we deal with them?
Let us continue to have good relations with the US. But why be obsessed with them? While news in Washington or Lahore [Images] make headlines here, nobody knows about the border areas. Ask any Union minister or Member of Parliament, where is Tsona (the Chinese town/district headquarters north of Tawang), nobody knows.
We should realise that if we lose Arunachal, we can forget about Kashmir. Look at the map of Jammu and Kashmir [Images]. Half is not in our possession (Aksai Chin, Azad Kashmir, etc). Within the other half, half is Ladakh and one third Jammu. What is left is an 80 km valley between Anantnag and Baramulla. But this small territory (12 percent of the state), but it takes all the energies of the politicians and our resources. For, 60 years our minds have been devoted to this small area.
At the same time, it is very unfortunate that a state of 84,000 sq km with the potential to provide 30 percent of the nation's energy is today ignored. It is unfortunate and it frustrates our youth. Don't forget that Kashmir is claimed by a small country which does not economically or militarily match India, while Arunachal is claimed by a nation far superior to India.
It is time to wake up. Once you lose Arunachal, you can forget Kashmir. If Arunachal goes, the damage will be irreparable.
The people of India need to know the reality on the ground, they need to know China, the Himalayan region, the northeast and Arunachal. The rest of India does not pose any challenge for the nation. Unless we know what China is, India is not safe.
In India today, politicians and journalists seem confused. They don't understand the background of the border issue.
India says it has a problem constructing roads to the border, but in 1962, the Chinese manually built roads (in Arunachal). In three weeks, they built 30 km of roads south of the McMahon Line. The British left us with some roads and a railway network. We have not able to expand it after Independence. Take the railway line in Assam, it was there in the British times, nothing new has been built for 60 years. Same thing in Darjeeling, Simla or Ooty!
Today, we are not asking India to built railway lines at altitude of 15,000 feet like the Chinese have done (in Tibet), but at least they should do it to the altitude of 4,000 or 5,000 feet.
I am very disappointed with our successive Union governments. Any party that comes to power is a complete disaster for the Himalayan belt, especially for Arunachal.
I was told that if you make an ISD call from Tawang, the person who receives the call abroad sees the code of China on his phone. Can you confirm this?
It happens not only in Tawang, but also on the Bangladesh border, in Meghalaya. There you use the Bangladesh network, since BSNL is not there. The problem is that there are too many restrictions in India. It is what I call negative policies not to develop border areas. So there are no roads, no mobile phones, no televisions, no infrastructure. This is the mindset of our country.
On the Chinese side of the border you have this airport which will receive 5,000 tourists a day to visit the gorges of the Brahmaputra and on the Indian side you have a drastic 'Inner Line Permit system'. What are your comments?
We have too many restrictions, it is unnecessary. We should open up. It shows a lack of confidence.
Do you think that the young generation of parliamentarians or bureaucrats can change this mindset?
As a Member of Parliament, I have done enough, I have tried everything, but the response is not enough. Before I came to Parliament, my predecessors were silent. As you know Parliament is a very noisy place.
Usually people from the northeast are calm, gentle, but I am of a different breed. I speak, shout, come down to the well (of the House), I make my point. Now people know about Arunachal, but what the government does is another thing. They are too busy with political problems, which are not national problems. It is eating the mind of the leaders and the real issues remain unsolved, unattended.

Source: REDIFF

Focus: Arunachal Pradesh

2008-03-13T21:30:00.001-07:00

A people off the map

Deepak K. Singh

Posted online: Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 2301 hrs IST

The sudden outburst of Tapin Gao, the BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh in Parliament, over the complete absence of the railway network in the state speaks of a deeper malaise than meets the blinking eye. He hinted that the people of Arunachal can look across the border if India continues to feel jittery even after 60 years of independence in owning up the region and its indigenous peoples. It would be a gross misreading to perceive his reaction as a mere craving for a slice of the developmental cake. Particularly so, when Gao’s outpouring is viewed in the context of the recent announcement of the biggest ever economic package worth Rs 10,000 crore for the state by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his maiden visit to the state.

The roots of the problem go deep into history. While NEFA (North East Frontier Agency) was treated as a colonial outpost by the British rule on grounds of economic un-viability, its status under the postcolonial dispensation has been no better than that of a periphery, albeit with a short interregnum of the Nehru-Elwin philosophy which was premised on the assumption that the people must be allowed to develop in line with their own genius. That philosophy of ‘make haste slowly’ was, however, swiftly dumped in the aftermath of the 1962 debacle at the hands of the Chinese, leading to a shortlived frenzy of road-building and development work in NEFA.

The nature and extent of the historic isolation of the frontier region can be gleaned from the fact that the attainment of freedom in 1947 did not evoke any enthusiasm or euphoria here, as the people had little conception of what this entity called India was. The popular reaction in NEFA during the war with China was characterised by widespread ambiguity and ambivalence. Rustomji, the then advisor to the governor of Assam, who was directly involved in appraising the people of the stand of the government and its armed forces, found himself caught in a tricky situation.

On the one hand, the Indian Army was abandoning its positions, and on the other, a volley of questions was being thrown at him by the native people about the government’s stand. He had noted the public reaction thus: “If the administration was not prepared to defend them at this time of need, they more than hinted that they had better dissociate themselves from it right away and revert to their traditional isolation”.

Given the prolonged history of isolation and marginalisation from the mainstream, thus, Gao’s suggestion that Arunachal could look beyond the border must be seen as a crie du coeur. Mere transplantation of modern administrative structures might help in extending cosmetic suzerainty over a frontier region in the short run, but will definitely not help in winning unconditional loyalty towards the Indian nation.

What is most disturbing about the ongoing controversy over the status of Arunachal is the fact that while both China and India continue to make claims over the region, the views of the native indigenous peoples of Arunachal are never sought nor accounted for. It is the territory issue alone that enjoys a privileged position both in official accounts and popular coverage of the issue. While New Delhi seems to be now pushing the ‘package deal’ solution, — that is, swapping India’s claims in the western sector (Aksai Chin) for China’s in the eastern sector (Arunachal Pradesh) though it had rejected this twice in the past in 1960 and 1980 — the need for involving the people or at least the elected state government is never given due consideration.

Now it is Beijing’s turn to hang tough, as it is pressing its claims to the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh. Even after reassurances by the prime minister himself that there is no dispute over the status of the state, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu recently admitted to the prevalence of widespread apprehension in the minds of the people about China and its intention.

More official pronouncements from the South Block that ‘Arunachal is an integral part of India’ will not do. What will also not do is a mere ‘development push’ to the state. As far as the Indian state is concerned, development packages are also an extension of the logic of national security. There is an urgent need to go beyond the ‘national security’ discourse that privileges the borderland and not the borderlanders.

The lens of ‘national security’ is not sensitive enough to zoom in onto the people. It gets terribly out of focus before reaching them. It can only see the region as composed of strange and unknowable cultures and peoples, who are, from such a perspective, somewhat off the map. This has never worked, and will simply not work in the future as well.

The writer teaches political science in Panjab University. He is currently working on a book on the Chakma refugee issue in Arunachal Pradesh

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/283678.html

Bangladeshi terror suspect shot dead in Mumbai

2008-03-12T14:35:00.001-07:00

Two suspected terrorists shot dead in Mumbai
11 Mar 2008, 2316 hrs IST,PTI

MUMBAI: Two suspected terrorists, including a Bangladeshi, were gunned down by Maharashtra's Anti- Terrorist Squad (ATS) in neighbouring Thane district late on Tuesday evening. The exchange of fire took place in Kashimira area.

"Explosive material, suspected to be lethal RDX, fake currency in lakhs, and two firearms were seized from the duo," a senior ATS official said.

A Bangladeshi passport was recovered from one of the deceased identifying him as Mohammed Ali. The identity of his accomplice was not immediately known, but the ATS suspects he too hails from the neighbouring country, he said.

Will illegal migrants outnumber the people of North East in 20 years?

2008-03-12T14:17:00.001-07:00

KanglaOnline K-Special

by
Oken Jeet Sandham

If Assam Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Ajay Singh's statement that about 6000 illegal Bangladeshis are entering Assam daily is correct, then the fate of the north-east people are terribly at stake.

If 6000 illegal Bangladeshis infiltrate into Assam daily, it will be 1, 80,000 Bangladeshis in a month and 21.6 lakh annually. The State will have 21.6 million illegal Bangladeshis by 2015, outnumbering the entire population of the region excluding Assam and the whole northeast will be reduced to a minority in 20 years time.

The complexity involved here is that this country has over 100 million genuine Indian Muslims, about one-fifth of the whole population. Besides the Government has earlier estimated 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India.

Though there are no official figures of actual numbers of Bangladeshis in Assam, locals say their population could be 6 million of the State's 26 million people. This means a little over one-fourth of the State's population is Bangladeshi immigrants.

And the State alone produces over one-third Bangladeshi immigrants in the country. Although Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi rejects the Governor's seemingly inflated claim, the fact is the illegal immigrants from across the international border have been infiltrating into the State unabated over the years. The Chief Minister while talking to press in Guwahati however admitted that infiltration from Bangladesh had not stopped. Effective steps have been taken to check infiltration, Gogoi said. Anybody found crossing the border is pushed back and those entered after March 25, 1971, as per the Assam Accord would be detected and deported. It may be mentioned that the powerful All Assam Students Union (ASSU) had launched a bloody campaign to push Bangladeshis back to their land. Indigenous people who feared they would be reduced to a minority in their own land massacred thousands of Bangladeshis, including women and children, across the State.

The Government and the Students Union signed a pact in 1985, but clauses on the deportation of foreigners have still not been implemented. Though there are genuine Assamese Muslims and mainland Muslims, the present influx of illegal Bangladeshis in the State has not only affected the demography of the State but also the entire region, leading to serious threat to the survival of the region's people and the country's internal security as well.

Tripura is a gone case and Nagaland is the next target because large number of these Muslims has been swarming the State. In the last few years, there is a dramatic change in the socio-economic feature of the State. The lack of work culture, easy money, easy life style, etc are the main causes that these Muslims mostly coming from Assam have taken opportunities to stay in Nagaland. All the manual works, construction of houses, taxi driving, rickshaw pulling and cultivation are mostly done by these Muslims today. They also run almost half of the shops in Dimapur, the biggest commercial hub of the State and the capital, Kohima.

But historically speaking, the people of Nagaland do not have any connection whatsoever with the Muslim community---be it mainland Muslim or Bangladeshi Muslim and Assamese Muslims.

However, Manipur has its Muslim communities who had come there in the middle of the 16th century. It was recorded in the history that large number of Muslims started entering Manipur from Sylhet in the 17th century during the reign of King Khagemba (1597-1652) at the invitation of Prince Sadongba. Prince Sadongba had planned to dethrone his brother King Khagenmba with the help of these Muslims.

In many wars in the past, Manipur Kings used the services of Muslim soldiers who were considered skilled fighters. In King Pamheiba's period in 18th century, Muslim soldiers in Manipur defended the combined attacked of Burma and Tripura. Many Muslim soldiers also lost their lives when Manipur suffered in the hands of the Burmese in 1758 Burmese-Manipur war. In the famous Seven-year-devastation of Manipur from 1819 to 1826, the Burmese soldiers had taken many Muslims to Burma while many escaped to Assam and Bangladesh. Even when the British defeated Manipur in 1891, many Muslim soldiers were also killed and some were deported toAndaman and Nicobar Islands.

But the Bangladesh Muslims mostly coming via Assam in recent times could not attempt to settle in Manipur despite Manipur Muslims are there. Because these illegal Bangladeshis are mostly economic-driven people and will have least chance to do the lowest paid jobs in Manipur. One will find how all the odd manual works are done by the Manipuris in Imphal city. One will find hardly any Bangladeshi Muslim used for any job in the State.

However, the logic in argument is that most of the Muslims in Nagaland or Assam or Arunachal Pradesh or Tripura or Meghalya are not mostly from mainland India. 95% of Muslims in Nagaland are coming from Assam claiming to be the bona fide citizens of that State (Assam). If the size of the Muslim population in Nagaland is from Assam and not from mainland India, then the matter is questionable. How can Assam have such a huge Muslim population spilling over into other parts of the region unless coming from across the international border?

The long stretch of Assam forest bordering Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh has over the years disappeared and been systematically occupied by the illegal immigrants. The trouble is most of these illegal settlers are well equipped with valid land holding documents issued by the Assam administrations. Sources say most of the State's reserved forest in the border areas has vanished and its now settled by the illegal immigrants and not by the real Assamese people. The Nagaland Government often alleges that these illegal immigrants have even occupied the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) that leads to frequent border skirmishes.

Various intelligence agencies have been warning of serious consequences if immediate attention is not paid. Unfortunately, these illegal migrants have been given legal protection with resident certificates, pattas, etc for narrow political mileage. As a result, the real Assamese people have been reduced to minority in most of the border districts and they are now voiceless.

The recent exodus of Bangladeshi suspects from upper Assam following threats through SMS and leaflets by some unidentified people is evident of the illegal Bangladeshis presence.
Region's economic underdevelopment coupled with Centre's prolonged negligence and the continuous insurgency and the chasm that existed between the people of the region and the mainland people are some of the reasons that have given room to the illegal immigrants and outside elements to exploit maximum advantages.

There is certainly genuine mainland Muslims in the region like Tamils, Keralites, Bengalis, Punjabis, Marwaris, etc. But the mainland Muslims will have least interest to come and settle in the region and their influx is out of question.

Whether the Assam Governor's statement on the infiltration of illegal Bangladeshis into Assam is exaggerated or not, the Chief Minister has also admitted that there is still infiltration of illegal Bangladeshis into the State.

The illegal Bangladeshi infiltration into Assam and elsewhere in the region has changed its (region) demography and now it has become a serious threat to the future survival of the region's people and also the internal security problem for the nation.

To identify the illegal Bangladeshis will not be very difficult once the citizens are properly educated about their natures. Assam has larger role to solve the illegal immigrant issues and the actions taken there will have maximum impact in other parts of the region.

So long, illegal immigrant issue of Assam remains unresolved; there is no point for other States in the region to think of. Because most of these supposed to be illegal migrants who are coming to other States of the region are well equipped with domicile certificates issued by Assam administrations.

Source: http://www.kanglaonline.com/

Islamic Outrage in Howrah - West Bengal

2008-03-12T13:28:00.001-07:00

Howrah row turns communal

HOWRAH: A petty clash between traders and local rowdies at night spiralled into a communal flare-up at Howrah's Panchla market on Monday morning. More than 40 shops and a few houses were gutted as a mob went around setting them on fire.

District magistrate Khalil Ahmed, who reached the spot to defuse tension, was injured. So were 25 policemen. With the situation spinning out of control, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) stepped in and lathicharged the troublemakers away. Section 144 has been clamped in the area.

The administration pointed to the presence of a large number of outsiders, mostly anti-socials, in the mob. "Panchla has always been a sensitive area. But this time, some outsiders made it worse. We have spotted them. They are mostly anti-socials brought in to add fuel to the fire," the district magistrate said.

IG (law and order) Raj Kanojia said: "There seems to be some conspiracy in the way things flared up. It was a small problem and there was no reason why it should have taken this turn. We believe a small group was responsible for the trouble."

On Sunday night, Nasiruddin Mullick and some local youths went to Swarnadeep, a jewellery shop, and demanded money against a gold chain offered as mortgage. Shopowner Ashish Parui refused, saying the chain was fake. An altercation followed and Parui roughed up Nasiruddin. The other shopkeepers then ganged up to drive away the locals.

Police rounded up Parui on Sunday night to defuse tension, but that didn't help. The next morning, the locals returned in huge numbers. They beat up the traders, ransacked shops, looted materials and torched shops. Parui's shop was the first to be set on fire. When the traders started pelting stones, the mob retaliated by hurling bombs. "I was on my way to office. I got stuck because the miscreants were throwing bombs. I fled from the spot," said Swapan Bodak, who witnessed the violence.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Howrah_row_turns_communal/articleshow/2853468.cms

CAPTURE OF HUJI TERRORISTS WITH SMUGGLED ARMS

2008-03-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

Najrul Islam Gharami, active member of the action squad of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami[HUJI],was nabbed by Bangladesh police from his residence at Shimulia village of Satkhira subdivision, adjacent to Hasnabad-Taki region of Bangladesh. He was acting as a key conduit between Hasnabad and Satkhira sector of HUJI. CBI came to know the motive of smuggling of huge cache of arms and ammunition to Bangalore and Bombay by trucks carrying fish. He took active role in the bomb blast cases in Bombay, Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh. He had smuggled illegal arms to West Bengal by way of boats across the Bangladesh Rivers.

On 15.02.08 night, the soldiers of the 6th division of Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] of Bangladesh has caught him red-handed from his village Simulia under Debhatha thana. He had with him huge cache of arms including RDX, 41 hand grenade, rifles, revolvers and large number of bullets manufactured in Pakistan. He was also involved with the heinous attack on Sheikh Hasina, Awami League President on 21st August, 2004. Intelligence Bureau sleuths reported that he used the same arms at that time also. According to CBI’s latest report: ISI engaged Tajuddin, one active member of Lasker-e-Toiba to deliver the consignment to Najrul. Tajuddin was involved in pelting grenade at Sheikh Hasina’s meeting in 2004. Tajuddin’s elder brother Abdus Salam Pintu, once a state minister of Khaleda Zia’s government was also involved in the same cases and now is languishing in jail in Bangladesh.

After the arrest of self-styled commander-in-chief of the HUJI module active in Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal, also known as Mufti Mainuddin alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billa, CBI has come to know from the interrogation that this arms trafficking is going on for many years across the Bangldesh border at Hasnabad, Basirhat and Swarupnagar. Billa was nabbed by RAB on 14.02.08 night from his village Banirchala near Jaidebpur, Dhaka.He took active participation in Lumbini park and Bombay local train blast cases, Hyderabad Mecca Masjid and Utter Pradesh Session Judge’s court bomb blast cases also which took many innocents’ life.

sent by Prokash Das
Executive Director, East India Watch

WHY ISN'T THE POLICE OF BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE NABBING THE BANGLADESIS?

2008-03-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Indian intelligence has come to know that notorious criminals of Bangladesh have settled in West Bengal and are indulging in nefarious activities. They are engaged in extortion by terrorizing businessman, industrialists, film-stars and quite a few politicians. At least 25 such extortionists are operating in Kolkata, 24 Parganas North, Nadia, Murshidabad and Jalpaiguri district minting crores of rupees among these history sheeters are activist of Huji-J M b as also different criminals accused by Bangladesh.

Among the allies of the Bangladeshi terrorist nexus based in West Bengal are two councilors of Dhaka Municipal Corporation Chowdhury Alam and Manoara Husain. Tanirul Islam, known as Daud Ibrahim of Bangladesh, was arrested from a well furnished posh flat in Kolkata. The authorities concerned in the court of West Bengal did not bother about Bangladeshi infiltrators prior to 9/11. Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee pointed out in the past the mushrooming of Madrasas in the border districts of West Bengal has become the landing platform for terrorists. The incidents of subversion which occurred in the last few year in India are all linked to WB. This has been reiterated by the central intelligentsia try and again.

The police force in this state is neither sincere in their attempts to arrest Bangladeshi terrorists, nor interested in taking any initiative in raiding the hideouts of Bangladeshi terrorists. They have established their dens in Free School street, New Market, Jakaria Street, Markuise Street, etc. in Kolkata. Is it credible that the central intelligentsia agencies know this while the police forces of WB are unaware? Is the police force of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees not arresting the Bangladeshi criminal keeping in mind the politics of minority vote bank?

sent by Prokash Das
Executive Director, East India Watch

Muslim Law Board demands ouster of Taslima

2008-03-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

Sunday, 02 March , 2008, 20:28

Kolkata: Demanding ouster of controversial writer Taslima Nasreen, the All India Minority Forum today accused the government of trying to protect her though she has hurt sentiments of Muslims in the country.

"Taslima has not only hurt the sentiments of Muslims, but she has defamed the Indian Constitution. The government should not extend her visa and she should move out of this country immediately," president of the Forum Idris Ali told a rally organised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

Nearly 500 delegates from all over the country spoke in the open session in front of 1.5 lakh people gathered to hear them after the completion of the two-day all India seminar organised by the Board after a gap of 23 years in the city.

Some speakers emphasised the need to preserve the Shariat law which, they maintain, only can preserve the identity of the Muslims in general.

"There has been several attacks against the Muslim personal law. This is not at all desirable. The Muslims in this country have their own identity and that can only be preserved by the law framed according to Holy Koran," assistant general secretary of the Board Md Abdur Raheem Quraishi said.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14613695

Huge Quantities of Explosives Recovered from Islamic Activists in Hili in North Bengal

2008-03-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

Huge Quantities of Explosives Recovered from Islamic Activists in Hili in North Bengal

A huge quantity of explosives was recovered by the BSF from a village in the border district. The police with the BSF recovered this explosive from Nicha Gobindapur along the Hili border in a joint operation. Panic has gripped the resident of the villages following this incident. The quantity explosives seized weighs one quintal. The accused are all members of an Islamic group. The police arrested a woman named Soleya Bibi while the land lords Jiaur Mondal and Golap Mondal are absconding. According to a BSF officer, the explosives are illegally acquired from Bangladesh and stocked in that house for use in different terrorist activity’s in various places of the country.

Reported by Prokash of East India Watch in Kolkata

Demography Survey on India's Eastern Border

2008-02-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

Wednesday , February 13 , 2008
by BHAVNA VIJ-AURORA

New Delhi, Feb. 12: The Indian intelligence agencies are conducting a discreet survey to verify the extent of change in the demographic profile of areas bordering Nepal and the Northeast.

According to highly placed sources, the survey is going hand-in-hand with a fresh study to find out if the number of madarsas and mosques along the borders has gone up.

“There have been reports that more madarsas and mosques are sprouting along the borders, which in itself is an indication of increased Muslim population in the area,” disclosed an intelligence official.

The study is using the 2001 census as its benchmark and has a clear political edge to it.
With the BJP making a big issue of national security — a political euphemism to beat the minorities with — the government wants to equip itself with the latest data and analysis on demographic changes in border areas, especially in relation to illegal migration from Bangladesh.

It has accordingly ordered the survey completed in advance of the 2009 polls.

“The government wants to be armed with the fresh data, and also its analysis, to counter any attack or propaganda on the issue. The BJP is all set to make national security an issue, and this is bound to come up,” the official said.

The last such study was done by the Intelligence Bureau and the home ministry in 1992, and their report kept a secret in view of the sensitive findings. It was ultimately leaked and the estimated number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh was anywhere between 1.5 crore and 2 crore. It’s time for a fresh survey, according to sources.

There have been renewed intelligence reports that militants are using madarsas and mosques as safe havens, and also for storing arms and ammunition.

“In themselves, the madarsas are not a threat to security. There is hardly any militant who is the product of a madarsa. It’s just that the madarsas and mosques have the potential to be used by extremists to hide and store weapons. There are innumerable instances of places of worship being misused by militants, both in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir,” the official said.

Sources added that most of the madarsas and mosques in border areas were on the radar of intelligence outfits. The reports of new ones having come up were worrying the intelligence agencies since they were not being monitored.

“The new survey will help us keep an eye on the new ones, too,” he said.

According to reports, the largest number of madarsas and mosques has come up in bordering areas with Nepal, lower Assam and Bengal. This complements another secret survey that has revealed that nearly 40 per cent villages in the border districts of Bengal are predominantly Muslim.

There are reports that concentration of the minority community, including the Bangladeshi immigrants in the villages, has resulted in the majority community moving to urban areas.
Along with madarsas and mosques, a large number of Muslim NGOs have sprung up in the area bordering Nepal.

According to the last survey, there are nearly 70 madarsas along the Indo-Nepal border, the largest number being in Saptari and Sunsari. There are several madarsas in Morang, Siraha, Dhanusha and Kapilbastu.

“Most of these madarsas are used for anti-India activities by Pakistan-backed terrorists. The NGOs ostensibly work for the social and educational uplift of the Muslim community and receive substantial and completely unregulated funding from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and other Islamic countries,” an intelligence report said.

“The NGOs have also been promoting ill-will against India among the Nepalese Muslim community by circulating propaganda material received from Pakistan and elsewhere, criticising India’s treatment of its minorities.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080213/jsp/frontpage/story_8896931.jsp#