FACE THE NATION | JAIPUR BLASTS PROBE
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Look East for terror: Will India blame Bangladesh?
Published on Sat, May 17, 2008 at 07:46, Updated on Sun, May 18, 2008 at 20:20 in India section
Tags: Face The Nation, Jaipur Blasts
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India has not blamed any country for the serial blasts in Jaipur on Tuesday but the suspicion lies heavily on Bangladesh-based terrorists.
Authorities suspect the serial blasts were carried out by the Harkat-ul Jehad-e-Islami (HUJI), a radical Islamic group which was formed in Bangladesh and which is believed to have supporters hiding among Bangladeshi immigrants in Indian cities.
HUJI has been blamed for the attack on the American Center in Kolkata, the 2005 Delhi serial blasts, the attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Sankat Mochan Mandir attacks in Varanasi, Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad and the serial blasts in Uttar Pradesh courts.
According to the shopkeepers who sold the cycles used in the Jaipur blasts, the buyers spoke in Bengali accents. The Rajasthan government has decided to throw out all illegal Bangladeshis migrants in the state. Forty Bangladeshi nationals have been detained and are being interrogated, said a state minister.
Security experts allege Bangladesh has become a breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalists and the latest source of terrorism. Is that allegation true? Is Bangladesh now India’s new source of terror?
CNN-IBN’s Vidya Shankar Aiyar asked this to Jaideep Saikia, security analyst and writer of Bangladesh: Treading the Taliban Trail, G Parthasarathy, India’s former envoy to Pakistan and a commentator on national security issues, and Nurul Kabir, editor of the New Age daily in Dhaka.
Parthasarathy called Bangladesh an “old source of terror”, not new. “When I was ambassador to Myanmar in 1992-1995, Bangladeshi leader Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh National Party in their first term of government provide active assistance to the ULFA, the Nagas (NSCN) and the PLA of Manipur,” he said.
“When Khaleda Zia came back to power the second time, the September 11 attacks had taken place and Americans had attacked Afghanistan. HUJI moved from Afghanistan-Pakistan to Bangladesh. HUJI was close to Jamaat-e-Islami, which was close to Zia.”
“Zia encouraged HUJI. The Bangladesh army, like the Pakistan army, has links with Islamist organisations,” said Parthasarathy.
HUJI, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), or Jaish-e-Mohammed-the lines between Islamic terror groups have started to blur, said Saikia. “When you talk about a terror attack in South Asia or India, there could be HUJI involvement but there could be a LeT or Jaish-e-Mohammed hand too.”
“These groups are interchangeable and Bangladesh is not a new source of terror but a very old source of terror,” said Saikia.
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