Just after Dhaka siege, India’s home ministry had issued an alert to the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies to keep strict vigil along the Bangladesh border.
It had also directed them to ensure that no radical elements can enter from the other side.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told media that the so-called Islamic State was not involved in Friday’s deadly Gulshan cafe siege; rather it was carried out by home-grown militant outfit Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Indian security experts have taken his statement seriously.
Police investigation indicated that several JMB leaders from Bangladesh had visited a few districts of lower Assam. The inquiry had also found that bomb-makers of the outfit had entered West Bengal through this route.
Indian security agencies are on high alert right and border security has been tightened in states such as West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.
Assam police DGP Mukhesh Sahay said that the ghastly attack took place in a country adjoining Assam, that is why everyone was on alert. Surveillance along the river route has been increased.
Replying to a question, the state police chief said that they had been tracking the JMB module and in the last couple of years, police arrested several people associated with it and this action will continue.
In Bangladesh, JMB reportedly claims itself to be a representative of the Islamic State, but no proven links have come up until now.
Meanwhile, the BSF has arrested 13 Bangladesh nationals in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district while they were trying to cross into the Indian side of the border. Twelve of those arrested were Hindus.
According to the BSF, the incident took place on Sunday and there were three women and four children among the arrested Bangladeshis.
A BSF officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the arrested Bangladesh citizens were scared of the increasing attacks on religious minorities and tried to cross the border into India at the first opportunity they got. They told the BSF that they would rather die than return to their own country.
According to BSF, all the arrested people were residents of Anandpur village under Netrokona district of Bangladesh. They were travelling to North Bengal through Meghalaya to live with their relatives.
Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and leader of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which is in alliance with the state government, has urged the central government to formulate a policy for rehabilitation of the Bangladesh Hindus who are waiting to enter Assam due to unrest there.
"We want the Modi government to clearly formulate a policy for the rehabilitation of these people so that Assam is not made a victim again for short political gains by any political party," he said.
Mahanta pointed out that Assam was already over-populated and the central government must formulate a clear policy to settle and rehabilitate these people from the other side of the border elsewhere in India, excluding Assam.