Central security agencies have sounded an alert on the volatile situation in Bangladesh following inputs suggesting that Pakistan’s ISI and other Islamist terror outfits could try to export terror to India through the Bangladesh border and create a major disturbance in the Northeast, sources said on Wednesday.
“Intelligence inputs suggest that terrorist organisations are regrouping along India’s eastern frontier. Amid the ongoing unrest in neighbouring Bangladesh, the ISI and other terrorist groups are eyeing to push terrorists into India to create instability, especially in the Northeast,” said a security official in the Union home ministry.
The Border Security Force and other agencies, he said, had been put on high alert along the eastern frontier following inputs of possible security threats from Islamist terrorists against the backdrop of the fresh violence that has erupted in Bangladesh following the death of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi.
“The increased extremist rhetoric in Bangladesh and the anti-India narrative as the situation deteriorates is a major cause of concern for India. This could lead to anti-India activities from across the border and terrorist groups might use it to push in terrorists,” he said.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096km international border that runs through Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Strict vigil is being maintained along the entire India-Bangladesh border, and orders have been issued to strongly deal with anyone engaging in suspicious activity or attempting to cause untoward incidents along the frontier, the official said.
On December 19, Eastern Command commander Lt Gen. R.C. Tiwari, along with senior military officers, had visited India-Bangladesh border areas in Mizoram and Tripura to review the prevailing security situation and preparedness along
the frontier.
They visited the company operating base of the Assam Rifles and the BSF under the Spear Corps at Parva in Mizoram and lauded the troops for their “steadfastness, resilience and a high level of operational preparedness”.
Last week, a parliamentary standing committee report had flagged how the developments in Bangladesh posed the “greatest strategic challenge” to India since the Liberation War of 1971.
The report covered the turbulent India-Bangladesh relations of the past two years and said Bangladesh was witnessing a “shift” and that New Delhi could end up losing the “strategic space” in Dhaka without necessary recalibration.
“The collapse of the Awami League dominance, the surge of youth-led nationalism, the re-entry of Islamists, and intensifying Chinese and Pakistani influence collectively marked a turning point,” said the report, adding: “If India fails to recalibrate at this moment, it risks losing strategic space in Dhaka not to war, but to
irrelevance.”
Sources said after the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government was dislodged in August last year, several Islamist terror groups, including the al Qaida-linked Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B), Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), the Jamaat-ul-Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya (JAFHS) and others had become active.
Extremist elements have allegedly gained strength under the Muhammad Yunus-led regime.
Recently, National Citizen Party leader Hasnat Abdullah said that Bangladesh can shelter separatist forces from India and sever the seven northeastern states from the rest of the country. He warned that India’s northeastern states would be isolated if Bangladesh was destabilised.
