Army's wakeup call behind arrest of ISI operatives

JORHAT, August 10: A cloak-and-dagger game is on all over Assam. Bitten and embarrassed by the Kargil bug that showed India's intelligence personnel in bad light, the sleuths appear to be waking up to seek revenge against Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). It was once again the Army that issued the wake-up call. On July 31, Major-General B P Bopanna, GoC 21 Mountain Division, made a startling disclosure: Some madrassas (schools) in Assam were helping the growth of separatist forces with the help of ISI. The General was specific: the madrassas engaged in anti-national activity were located in Nalbari and Barpeta districts of lower Assam as also in the southern Barak valley. The Army, he said, had taken a "very serious note" of the matter. This disclosure was challenged. State Irrigation Minister and president of United People's Party of Assam (UPPA) Abdul Muhib Mazumdar said at a Press conference on Aug 3 that "some communal elements are making false propaganda against the madrassas to create fear in the minds of the Muslims on the eve of the elections." He, however, stopped short of naming the General. Mazumdar's political twist to the issue had to be countered. So Lt-General D B Shekatkar, GoC 4 Corps made a slightly diversionary understatement on Aug 5. He said over 100 ISI agents were operating from Assam and they were backed by ULFA and Bodo militants. In the meantime, on Aug 4, State and Central intelligence agencies, which had already taken their cue from Gen Bopanna's statement, had swung into action. At Karimganj in the southern Barak valley, a key point man between ULFA and ISI was arrested. Bilal Ahmad alias Bilal Haji, a close relative of top Jamiat leader Abdul Haq, also acted as a "courier" for passing messages from ULFA leaders Arabinda Rajkhowa and Paresh Barua to ULFA leaders, according to police and intelligence sources. This was followed by the Assam Police arresting four ISI agents on Aug 7. The catch was so important that Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta himself briefed the Press. He asserted that the ISI, in league with the ULFA and other militant outfits, was dreaming of setting up a new Islamic state in the Northeast. The modus operandi was to create ethnic disturbances, siphon off money of the State through extortion, and pump in fake currencies, he added. The Chief Minister also confirmed that the State Government agreed with General Bopanna's stand. He said some of the madrassas were being misused by the ISI for hiring recruits and fomenting religious hatred. That the ISI is determined to "fish in the troubled waters of the Northeast" was further corroborated by the police recovering 11 slabs of RDX - each weighing 300 gm - from a dreaded ULFA militant, Babul Ingti alias Putul Teron. Teron was shot dead in an encounter on Aug 5. Despite successes, the police and intelligence agencies have not been able to stem the tide of violence. The Bodo areas, where there is no habitation for miles on end on either side of railway tracks, bombing has become a regular phenomenon in the last one week. Even if the security agencies succeed for the time being in averting disaster on tracks, the possibility of their periodic recrudescence cannot be guaranteed for a simple reason: The demography of the Northeast has changed in a big way. Whether it is Assam or Nagaland or Mizoram or Manipur or even Arunachal Pradesh, the infiltration from across the border, aided and abetted by terrorist outfits for their own ends, is so massive that in certain areas the local people are already in minority. According to military intelligence sources, there are small towns like Chopra and Islampur on the Siliguri side of the Northeast which are packed with foreigners - Afghans, Pushtos and Iranians. "They have parked themselves at the entry point of the Northeast with the help of Government officials and politicians. We have advised the Bengal Government to take appropriate action, but they have done nothing. The Army cannot do anything on its own," they said. It is pertinent to remember that a train packed with soldiers was blown up at New Jalpaiguri during the open-ended Kargil conflict. MI also apprehends that the pockets on the West Bengal side are actually the body of ISI's growing tentacles in the Northeast. "No nation on earth is as little concerned about the sanctity of its frontiers as we are," rued a source. He warned that the situation could deteriorate in the Northeast, if not handled boldly and imaginatively right now.