Author: A Staff Reporter
Publication: Assam Tribune
Date: April 18, 2005
URL: http://www.assamtribune.com/apr1805/at03.html
As if reinforcing Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi's latest acknowledgement, that pan-Islamic jehadi groups like
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Harkat-ul-Jehadi-al-Islam (HuJI) are trying
to expand their network in Assam, there are reports that notorious Bangladeshi
fanatic Bangla Bhai has entered neighbouring West Bengal and is planning
to cross over to Assam soon. Sources in the security circles here informed
that Bangla Bhai, who leads the Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB),
arrived in West Bengal surreptitiously some days ago and is moving around
the countryside visiting mosques and madrassas in an effort to preach extremist
jehadi ideology among the people. In case he makes it to Assam, he is expected
to do the same here. Bangla Bhai is currently on the run in his native
country where he is hunted by the local police for involvement in a string
of political murders.
Despite the Chief Minister's effort
to downplay the threat of Islamic militancy in the State, the sources said
that the activities of the jehadi groups within Assam as well as in Bangladesh
hold ominous portents for the State.
Bangla Bhai is a key figure in Operation
Pin Code launched in Bangladesh last December with the design of creating
a separate Islamist homeland out of Assam and West Bengal territories.
He is also linked to the international terror groups active in Bangladesh.
The JMJB has been recently banned in Bangladesh.
"Bangla Bhai is supposed to meet
religious zealots in West Bengal and Assam," the sources disclosed, adding
that a sharp eye is being kept on the latest developments. Operation Pin
Code, they said, was launched in the town of Mahammadpur, near Dhaka, during
a two-day conclave of several Islamic organizations on December 27 and
28. The meeting was convened by Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh. The plan has
been masterminded by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Significantly,
the ULFA had also sent a representative to the meeting.
The sources said that Brigadier
TK Baksh of the ISI was the one who explained the nitty-gritties of the
operation to all those who attended the meeting. Among them was a Bangladeshi
minister. The plan includes the raising of a 20,000-strong jehadi army
to fulfil the objective of creating a greater Islamic homeland on Indian
soil. A large part of lower Assam comes in the ambit of this "dreamland",
the sources said.
