Author: Srinjoy Chowdhury
Publication: The Statesman
Date: December 1, 2002
URL: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2002-12-01&clid=2&id=6761
The Army was set to strike at terrorist
camps in Bangladesh five years ago, but the Centre did not accept the proposal.
External affairs minister Mr Yashwant
Sinha said in Parliament recently that the ISI was active in Bangladesh.
Five years ago, the situation was different. The ISI was not as active
and the camps were mostly of terrorists who operated in India and moved
to Bangladesh to seek refuge.
The Centre hesitated because Sheikh
Hasina Wazed had just come to power in Bangladesh and a strike, it was
felt, would weaken her position, and therefore, be politically "counter-productive".
The camps were situated in eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh, in Sylhet
and Chittagong hill tracts.
The Army had planned to strike at
the camps from Karimganj in Lower Assam, Tripura and Nagaland. Small detachments
of infantry plus special forces commandos, if necessary, would have been
used to clear the camps.
The camps were situated close to
the border and deeper strikes would not have been necessary. It would have
been a quick operation with soldiers, quickly moving in, destroying the
camps and moving out.
But the government felt that security
forces in Bangladesh were not entirely with Sheikh Hasina.
A substantial number of terrorist
camps were operating in Bangladesh at that time. Arms for them were mostly
being purchased in Bangkok and shipped in trawlers and fishing boats to
the ports of Cox's Bazar and Chalna. The weapons were mostly 'war surplus'
from Cambodia. They were unloaded in these areas - mostly forested - and
moved to the camps.
In the mid '90s, a number of terrorist
groups were very active in the North-east. Running away from Indian security
forces, they sought refuge in Bangladesh and Bhutan. There were plans to
strike at Ulfa camps in Bhutan, but the proposals were turned down. Many
of the camps are still active today.
