Author: Suman K Jha
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 31, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tripura-cm-asks-centre-to-take-up-issue-of-isi-presence-in-bangladesh/379539/
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has said
that the Centre must take up the issue of ISI presence in Bangladesh and their
attempts to use the Bangladeshi soil for anti-India activities. "Who
doesn't know that the ISI is very active in Bangladesh? The Bangla-deshi soil
must not be used for anti-India activities. The response of the Bangladesh
Government, however, has been shocking," Sarkar told The Indian Express
on a day when serial blasts killed over 50 in Assam.
"Terrorism is being used to destabilise
the country. Militant camps are active in Bangladesh," the CPI(M) leader
added. Tripura was hit by blasts when four bombs went off within an hour in
state capital Agartala on October 1, killing two and injuring 100.
The two militant outfits active in Tripura
- the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tribal
Force (ATTF) - are said to be running camps in Bangladesh. The details of
the camps have been shared with the Bangladesh Government, but the Government
there has shown little consideration for the Indian concerns.
While infiltration has been the bane of Assam,
leading to a huge influx of Bangladesh infiltrators, Tripura has had its own
share of problems, with militants often using the porous border to sneak into
this side of the country. "The strength of the BSF is not up to the mark
on the border even though their presence has been augmented lately,"
said Sarkar. Nearly three-fourths of the state's border with Bangladesh has
now been covered under surveillance and border fencing.
Asked if Bangladeshi infiltration posed a
problem for the North-East, the Tripura Chief Minister said his state didn't
face this particular problem and that he couldn't speak for other states in
the region.
Asked if parties like the Congress, the CPI(M)
and the BJP needed to be united in the country's war on terror, the Tripura
Chief Minister said: "People must be united against terrorism as well
as communalism."
