GUWAHATI, Oct 17 ? The situation in the north eastern region may worsen if the Bangladesh Government cannot be persuaded to take action against the anti-India forces including the militant outfits of the region staying in the neighbouring country, said the Director General of Tripura Police, GM Srivastava.
Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Srivastava, who was here to attend the conference of the DGs of the north eastern States, expressed the view that the bases of the NE militants in Bangladesh may prove to be more dangerous than the bases which were evicted from Bhutan, because the common people of Bhutan are not inimical to India but a sizeable section of population of Bangladesh are anti-Indian.
He also said that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has strong bases in Bangladesh, while militant and fundamentalist groups like the Talibans, al-Qaeda etc. have also set up bases in the neighbouring country and if not tackled immediately, the recent developments may pose a serious threat to the north-eastern region of India.
Srivastava said that the Harkat ul Mujaheedin (HUM) militants, who were either arrested or had surrendered to the police openly admitted that they were taken to Bangladesh for training and all the major militant outfits of the region have strong bases in that country. He expressed the view that India must put diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh to take action against the militants and anti-India forces taking shelter in that country.
He also expressed the opinion that the situation may improve to some extent if the international border of the region with Bangladesh is properly sealed. He said that efforts should be made to complete the fencing along the border and the strength of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the border should be increased to restrict the movement of the militants.
The Tripura DG said that growing efforts of the Pakistani ISI to create disturbance in the region through the militant outfits are a cause for concern and there are reasons to believe that the militants launched the recent offensive at the behest of the Pakistani agency. He said that according to information available, the Tripura-based militant outfits ? ATTF and NLFT have at least 42 camps and shelter points in Bangladesh and other major outfits also have their strong bases in the neighbouring country.
He said that the militant groups including the ULFA, ATTF, NLFT, HNLC, PLA, etc. took a decision last year to launch the operation freedom but apart from Tripura, the militants failed to strike in a big way in other parts of the region. But this time, Tripura was relatively peaceful, while large-scale violence was witnessed in Assam and Nagaland on October 2 onwards.
Srivastava revealed that according to information available with the security forces, militant outfits have invested in different kinds of business in Bangladesh. He said that the ATTF has even started beauty parlours under the Shyamli police station area and the chairman of the outfit, Ranjit Deb Burma, also lives in that area.
He said that some leaders of the ULFA have invested in hotel business, trawlers and other transport business, while a few NLFT men were nabbed with fake currency notes. Such actions of the militants proved that they are trying to boost their coffers by investing money, he added.