That Assam would face a situation where jehadis would strike with merciless vengeance in close coordination with illegal migrants from Bangladesh in future was forewarned by the former Governor of Assam Lt. Gen (Retd.) SK Sinha in his report of November 8, 1998. Without being specific about jehadi attacks, he did speak of an explosive situation enveloping the state due to unabated influx of illegal migrants from across the border and had said if immediate steps were not taken to contain the flow of foreigners and their deportation, it would create a highly volatile situation.
The successive governments at Dispur had done little to stem the influx or to be serious on the issue of detection and deportation. All this has contributed in building up infrastructure for jehadis, terrorists and illegal migrants to combine together and indulge in subversive activities.
In fact, spadework was done for jehadi strikes on October 30 against the backdrop of widespread riots earlier between illegal migrants and tribals in Udalgiri and Darrang districts. The backlash came in the form of serial blasts much on the expected pattern. This became possible in view of the growing minority population in lower Assam areas of Kamrup, Barpeta and Bongaigaon, places where these explosions have taken place.
Owing to the growing population of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and their conflict with tribals over land, Assam is now in the vortex of explosive situation. The fact that in the last ethnic clashes of October, the Bodos together with Garos, Hindu Assamese and Bengalis were on receiving end is an indication that the minority supported by terrorists and extremists has taken the upper hand. The illegal migrants even dared to hoist Pakistani flags at some places. With Darrang and Udalguri being under army dominance, the perpetrators of attacks have chosen their targets elsewhere quite deftly.
Though an obscure Islamic Security Force (ISF) has claimed responsibility for the ghoulish attacks killing 81 people and injuring 450, some of them critically injured and maimed for life, intelligence sources have come out with evidences about the involvement of Huji (Harkat- ul-jihadi-al-islami), Indian Mujahideen, ISI and Director General of Field Forces Intelligence of Bangladesh as well as local fundamentalist outfits like Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA) and Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam (MULFA).
The military and the civil intelligence agencies in the meantime have gathered enough evidences to suggest the involvement of Bangladesh and Pakistan. Quite diplomatically, the countries in question with ritual condemnations have denied their involvement in the blasts that rocked almost all the metros of the country. Mumbai train blasts and Varanasi mayhem, just to name two of them, were the handiwork of masterminds of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba, HuJI and Indian Mujahideen.
And in these blasts again as intelligence agencies point out, illegal Bangladeshis are not only providing a haven to HuJI and other terrorist outfits but are also extending services to them including material required for assembling bombs. Starting with border districts of Bengal, Assam and Tripura, these Bangladeshis are now in Delhi, Jaipur, Bikaner, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Mysore and Hyderabad. Four days after the Ahmedabad blasts, Bangladesh emerged as the deadly link to the bloody affair. It is quite intriguing why UPA government cannot respond to nation wide demand for the revival of POTA and a similar legislation for the state of Assam. Still more intriguing is why Delhi and Dispur are indifferent to effective border management in order to contain the menace of illegal migrants from across the border. It is high time stringent measures are taken to save not only the North-East but the entire country.
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