With the arrest of a middle aged Bangladeshi national identified as Helal Ahmed in the district of Karimganj in South Assam recently by BSF in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur and the claim of the paramilitary forces and the police who grilled him about his being a sector commander of HuJI (Harkat- ul-Jihad-al-Islam) in Sylet, there is enough substance to lend credence to the reports of the intelligence agencies that the dreaded terrorist outfit is operating from its Dhaka base.
He is believed to be one of the masterminds behind the Jaipur blasts. Investigation by the intelligence arms of the various agencies so far has established that he is a diehard terrorist. He used to frequent Barak Valley, different parts of Assam and across the country. A senior police officer of Barak Valley admitted that Helal Ahmed used to cross over from Bangladesh posing as a cleric, often leading a group of religious persons. The police official said he has been sent for narco-analyst test to SB headquarters at Guwahati and many more things are expected to come out about his identity.
Intelligence reports have documents to prove that HuJI is based at 380, Khelgaon, Taltula, Dhaka with ever widening network in close nexus with ISI and other anti-national elements. The deadly bomb blasts in Mumbai, Delhi, Varanasi and Hyderabad brought out Bangladeshi connection with HuJI in sharp focus.
Director General of Field Forces Intelligence of Bangladesh plays second fiddle to HuJI. Khwaja Ilyas, intelligence agencies say, is the present commander of the outfit whose modus-operandi is to rope in unemployed youths in Bangladesh and India for arms training in Karachi. The agencies have sounded alarm bell for cities and towns of Assam as well. Despite all the big talks of the border being fenced or brought under close watch, it is as easy as ever before to infiltrate or exfiltrate mainly through West Bengal and float or set up modules.
These modules are formed with persons drawn from diverse professions, from a tailor to shop owner and engineer. Mobile numbers of some of them have been listed by the intelligence agencies, raising intriguing questions about their unhindered contacts. Suspect mosques and madrasas in sensitive border areas, about which BSF has given enough indication; provide leverage about a large consignment of arms brought in to an air force base near Dhaka by a Kuwaiti C-130 Aircraft which was received by the terrorist outfit in question under the supervision of the Director General of Field Forces Intelligence. HuJI rank and file receive training in Pakistan and Pak Occupied Kashmir.
The outfit'sever expanding base and influence is attributed to its flow of funds. Investigations reveal that a banned NGO of Kuwait Al Harmain linked with Al-Qaeda was the major funding agency for HuJI. Now its main source of funding is Al Farooq International Trust, headed by Amir Urf Maulana. In the Varanasi blasts, it was the Bangladeshis who did the spadework. Mastermind Wall Ullah, local commander of HuJI, was conduit for the three Bangladeshis identified as Bashir Uddin, Mustafez and Zakaria. After carrying out the blasts in the temple city, they safely slipped away and were reported to have left for their native country. Intelligence agencies are worried at the fragile security and long stretches of porous border in the Northeast. Even in the Hyderabad blasts, it were the Bangladeshis who provided a sort of emotional base for the terrorists to carry out the blasts.
It is to be recalled that HuJI, a pan-Islamic outfit born out of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) has its cadres drawn from SIMI which provides local base in India and help with logistics. Most militants of the outfit are products of the Wahabi-Deobandi madrasas of Pakistan. Hundreds of cadres, trained in bomb making and armed insurgencies infiltrate the Indo-Bangladesh border for terror acts in India. It has global affiliations and is part of the Islamic front of Osama bin Laden.
