Dhaka: More than 60 Pakistani and Indian
"foreign extremists" are operating in Bangladesh, with
security agencies tracking at least 20 operatives of Lahore
based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), reports and officials said on Sunday.
"We are aware that Bangladesh could be a soft area for
foreign militants and terrorists to take refuge particularly
from neighbouring Pakistan and India in view of intensified
security clampdown there" deputy commissioner of polices'
detective branch Monorul Islam told a news agency.
He said that in the past several months police had
arrested 11 suspected foreign extremists belonging to
different outfits from both India and Pakistan and a manhunt
was underway to nab several others in line with the
information obtained from them.
Islam said of the 11, six were suspected LeT
operatives or linked to the Pakistani outfits. Three being
Pakistani and three being Indian while others belonged to
India's separatist ULFA, KLO or the gangster Dawood Ibrahim's
network members.
His comments came as the New Age newspaper quoting
intelligence sources today reported that over 50 religious
extremists from Pakistan and India were active in Bangladesh
in collaboration with Bangladeshi Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
(HuJI).
In another report, the Daily Star quoting intelligence
sources said police were tracking 20 more LeT operatives after
the arrest of three Pakistani nationals three days ago.
Of the 20 LeT operatives, some hail from Kerala and
Jammu and Kashmir and some from Pakistan. Most of them work as
textile technicians here; the report said quoting anonymous
official familiar with investigation.
The reports and comments came as Bangladesh three days
ago arrested three suspected Pakistani operatives, all
qualified engineers who were planning to return home soon.
Their arrest came under a manhunt for militants who
allegedly hatched a plot to attack the Indian High Commission
and US Embassy in the capital city after the detective
branch's plane-clothesmen last week arrested two suspected LeT
operatives and one HuJI man.
Police earlier said the local operatives of LeT and
their Bangladeshi partner HuJI man received information from
Pakistan over phone while they visited Baridhara diplomatic
enclave to chalk up the attack plan.
Ret Maj Gen ANM Muniruzzaman, who heads Bangladesh
Institute for Peace and Security Studies (BITSS) told PTI that
geographic features has made the country a safe heaven for
such foreign operatives.
"Particularly an intensified military campaign and US
intervention against militants in Pakistan alongside
Afghanistan could prompt these elements to seek refuge in
Bangladesh" he said suggesting "an effective regional
cooperation to face a regional crisis"
A senior security official preferring anonymity told
a news agency earlier that the previous "sub-state" activities of
Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) made Bangladesh a
transit route for regional militants groups.
Bureau Report