GUWAHATI, April 25 — The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is slowly, but steadily, establishing firm roots in Assam thanks to the support it is receiving from hardline Islamic fundamentalists and insurgent groups in the State, security sources informed here. In many ways, the ISI is now directing most of the anti-national activities in the State, they said.
According to the sources, the ISI is coordinating the activities of most of the insurgent outfits in the North East, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), the two most active militant groups in Assam. A recent report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), by a Central intelligence agency had dealt in detail about the ISI’s nexus with underground groups in the region.
The sources said that the ULFA is being directed by the ISI to target particular individuals and locations. The ULFA has been having links with the Pakistani agency for almost two decades now. Contacts were first established in early 1980s through the Pakistani High Commissioner in Dhaka which even led to some of the ULFA cadres being imparted training in Pakistan. Now, the connections between the ISI and the NDFB has also been established, the sources said. The outfit’s vice chairman Dhiren Boro, who was arrested in Gangtok, a couple of months ago, has confirmed the links, they said. The outfit established contact with the ISI in the mid-1990s which eventually led to some of its cadres also being trained in Pakistan. The NSCN was the facilitator then.
The ISI has been helping run several training camps of the North East militants in neighbouring Bangladesh, with or without the knowledge of the Government of that country. It is through these camps again that the ISI is maintaining contacts with the top insurgent leaders, the sources stated. What is worrying the security agencies even more is the activities of the ISI within the region itself. The ISI, the sources said, is fomenting anti-Indian sentiments among the people. The most succeptible targets for this campaign are the minority population in Assam. A large number of NGOs and individuals working among them are being funded by the Pakistani agency, the sources said. The ISI is also encouraging influ of infiltrators in Assam so as to facilitate the sneaking in of its agents into India.
The sources said that with the assumption of power by the Khaleda Zia-led coalition Government in Bangladesh, which includes some of the most radical Islamist parties, the southern neighbour has become a fertile base for religious extremists. The Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Asom (MULTA) is seeking inspiration from that and propagating the dream of a Muslim homeland in the region, they said. According to the sources, the MULTA, with the active support of the ISI, is indulging in anti-India propaganda in Goalpara and Dhubri districts of Assam. It is also deeply involved in illegal arms deals with other insurgent outfits.