Pak-Bangla militants nexus to destabilise India: DG BSF

Agartala, Dec 06: Pakistani militants Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) have joined hand with Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) of Bangladesh to destabilise India's sovereignty taking the strategic advantage of eastern border, Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) A K Mitra today said.

Talking to media here, Mr Mitra pointed out that the western frontier of India was relatively tough for Pakistani militants but eastern border with Bangladesh had become more useful for them and foreign militants were utilising South Bengal border for anti-Indian activities.

The BSF chief along with top officials of the force have arrived here yesterday on a two day visit to Tripura-Bangladesh border to oversee the border management strategy on the eve of state assembly elections.

"We have authentic report of Bangladeshi fundamentalist movement being abetted by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are using south Bengal border in West Bengal," Mr Mitra underlined and added that Bangladeshi and Pakistani ultras have formed a strong nexus to carry out attacks in Indian hinterland.

Referring the incidents and intelligence inputs, he said as many as 14 militants of LeT and JeM were arrested in South Bengal border, trying to sneak into India from Bangladesh in past six months.

Speaking on the recent terror attacks in the country, including the multiple blasts in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Mitra said circumstantial evidences point to a kind of a joint mission by the banned Bangladesh militant group HuJI along with LeT and JeM and the investigation had been launched in the same line.

Indian intelligence agencies believed that HuJI militants in connivance with JeM ultras are conducting terror strikes in the country at the behest of Pakistan's ISI and suspect the Bangladesh- based terror group behind this year's Uttar Pradesh, Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts and last year's Malegaon blasts at a mosque, he stated.

India shares about 4,096 km long border with Bangladesh, including 1,116 km of river frontiers, and only 66 per cent of the land border has been fenced so far while 277 kms of the border area were covered under floodlights.

UNI