Agartala blasts a handiwork of HuJI: Rajnath

Agartala, Oct 4 (UNI) BJP president Rajnath Singh today affirmed that as per intelligence reports, the serial blasts in Agartala were a handiwork of the ISI-backed Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami (HuJI).

Addressing mediapersons here, the BJP leader alleged that both the Centre and Tripura government were intentionally ignoring the issues for their vote bank in the Northeastern region.

''Bangladesh has become the breeding ground of various terrorist outfits, including HuJI, which is considered as Al-Qaida's operating arm in Southeast Asia,'' he said.

He demanded that India's concerns about the neighbouring country harbouring terrorists and anti-Indian activists should be registered with the caretaker government in Bangladesh.

Criticising the Left Front government in Tripura, Mr Singh said, ''The ideology of Left parties is no less responsible for rampant illegal immigration from Bangladesh and I am sure the Agartala blasts have come as a rude shock to the Left-ruled state as well because it indicates that terror follows no ideology.'' Mr Singh arrived here this morning on a brief visit to Agartala and met the blast victims while speaking to his party's workers on the issues.

He alleged that Bangladeshi infiltrators form the backbone of nearly more than 5,000 sleeper cells in India.

''The UPA government does not have any integrated action plan, firm resolve and stringent law to combat terrorism and the Congress and Left parties have always been soft on the Muslim anti-national forces for their narrow political interest,'' he said.

He claimed that the HuJI had been consolidating its position in Bangladesh for the past four years and it boasts a membership of more than 15,000 and now they floated Islamic Democratic Party in Bangladesh with the permission of the caretaker government.

''This could have serious implications on India's internal security as the perpetrators of terrorist attacks in India are trying to gain political legitimacy in Bangladesh,'' Mr Singh pointed out and added that HuJI had been using illegal immigrants to carry out serial blasts in several Indian cities.

''Despite several demands from the BJP to prevent illegal immigration, the UPA government has not heeded the requests. The POTA was also withdrawn without formulating its substitute, which definitely indicates the mindset of the UPA partners to combat terrorism in the country,'' he mentioned.

Mr Singh added that only a few months ago National Security Advisor M K Narayanan claimed that intelligence agencies of the country had unearthed nearly 800 sleeper modules in the country, but the growing number of serial blasts made it clear that either the government had made false statements or international terrorist networks were spreading faster than government action.

UNI BB DPM DB1557