archive: North Bengal a new hub of ISI-backed militants
North Bengal a new hub of ISI-backed militants
Ashis Chakrabarti
The Indian Express, New Delhi
June 24, 1999
Title: North Bengal a new hub of ISI-backed militants
Author: Ashis Chakrabarti
Publication: The Indian Express, New Delhi
Date: June 24, 1999
Its location has made North Bengal, or more specifically the Siliguri
town, a vantage ground for several militant groups backed by
Pakistan's ISI. Yesterday's blast at the New Jalpaiguri railway
station, about 15 minutes drive from Siliguri, has once again
confirmed suspicions of the area being used for ISI-backed operations.
Siliguri and Jalpaiguri towns are close to borders with both Nepal and
Bangladesh. ISI agents are known to be the most active in Kathmandu
and Pokharan regions. Bangladeshi agents of the ISI are also known to
use Siliguri as a corridor en route to Nepal towns. Several ISI
agents have been arrested from here in recent months.
Siliguri being also the gateway to north-east India, disturbances in
lower Assam usually have an impact there and in other north Bengal
towns like Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. Some areas in Jalpaiguri and
Cooch Behar districts are also close to the India-Bhutan border and
militant groups like the ULFA and National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB) have their bases in jungles inside Bhutan. Armed ULFA
and Bodo cadres often take shelter in areas in North Bengal that
adjoin Bhutan.
The situation has recently been complicated by the Kamtapuri agitation
for a separate homeland for Koch, Rajbanshi and other tribals in the
area. The armed wing of the Kamtapuri movement, the Kamtapuri
Liberation Organisation, operates in tandem with ULFA and Bodo
militants. Since the ULFA and the NDFB maintain links with the ISI,
Kamtapuris too have reportedly been dragged into the ISI network in
the region.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Home Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharyya today
told the state Assembly that the ISI had "definitely been involved" in
the New Jalpaiguri bomb blast yesterday. He also confirmed the use of
RDX. Experts sifting through the rubble of yesterday's blast at New
Jalpaiguri have determined that RDX was hidden in a suitcase and set
off with a time. Official sources said the remains of a suitcase, a
transistor and a clock were found from the spot.
However, the government was yet to ascertain which militant groups was
responsible for the blast, he said. Although some reports yesterday
had said that the ULFA had claimed responsibility, the outfit's
Commander-in-Chief Paresh Barua is said to have denied this. Barua
said in an interview to a private TV channel that the "Indian
intelligence agencies were falsely implicating" the ULFA in the blast.
The government, however, said it had definite information that there
had been two other attempts during the past three days to blast
railway tracks in North Bengal.
Meanwhile, there was fresh derailment of a tanker train between New
Domohini and Jalpaiguri road railway stations today. Today's
derailment of four empty tankers occurred barely 70 metres from the
spot if Monday's accident.
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