Indian border states tighten security after Dhaka terror attack, 12 Hindu Bangladesh nationals arrested

Shaken by the brazen Dhaka terror attack, Indian states, especially those adjoining Bangladesh, have tightened their security.

Dilip Kumar Sharma, Assam Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 5 July 2016, 10:00 PM
Updated : 6 July 2016, 07:45 AM

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.

This is the same militant outfit, which was involved in the 2014 Burdwan blast in the Indian state of West Bengal. A few JMB militants had also been arrested in Assam following the Burdwan blast.

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.

According to Pallab Bhattacharyya, Additional DGP (Special Branch) of Assam Police, after the Dhaka incident, the three districts that share international boundary with Bangladesh – Dhubri, Karimganj and Cachar have been put on extra alert. The BSF has been also asked to step up vigil in these three districts.

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.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Pparty (BJP)-led NDA government has talked about allowing people belonging to religious minorities who have fled Bangladesh on being persecuted to live in India, a few alliance partners of the Assam government are opposed to the idea.

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.