Author: Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui,
Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
- Internet Edition
Date: September 6, 2001
Pakistan militants are now using
a new corridor to enter the country. According to a recent report of the
intelligence agencies sent to their Delhi headquarters, a route through
Bangladesh surfaced during investigations into the movement of three Jaish-e-Mohammed
ultras, who were killed in Lucknow, and one Lashkar-e-Taiba militant, who
was shot dead in Faizabad recently. Similar details came to light
during the grilling of two Pakistan-trained ISI agents arrested by the
Special Task Force (STF) last month.
Seen as the safest passage to India
till recently, the Indo-Nepal border is being avoided by the ultras owing
to the heightened Maoist activity in the Himalayan Kingdom and the extra-alert
security forces of the two countries.
Heightened vigil along the Rajasthan
and Gujarat borders has also forced the militants to opt for the Bangladesh
route, revealed an officer citing information gathered during the interrogation
of Altaf Husain and Salim Qamar, the two Pakistan-trained militants owing
allegiance to the LeT who were arrested in Lucknow on August 13, and from
whom RDX, firearms and ammunitions were recovered.
The West Asia route via Mumbai too
is no longer considered viable as the intelligence agencies there are exploiting
the Dawood-Chhota Rajan rivalry to their advantage, sources said.
The Bangladesh route came to light
when the route taken by the three JeM ultras killed in Lucknow on April
18 last was traced. Two of the militants were from Sindh, and the third
from Lahore. Investigating their movements in India, the intelligence agencies
managed to locate the house which they had rented in West Bengal soon after
they landed in India via Dhaka.
Further investigations revealed
that the three were on a suicide mission and had planned to load RDX on
a truck and then ram the vehicle into the disputed structure at Ayodhya.
The intelligence agencies, sources
said, discovered that the three had already bought a truck from a small-time
transporter in Cuttack (Orissa) before they moved to UP.
Interestingly, in the Godbole report
recently submitted on the security and porosity of the international borders,
particularly those accessible to Pakistani agents, it was feared that the
Bangladesh route was one sector which needed more attention.
