The Hindu : National : Fresh list of insurgent camps to be given to Dhaka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

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National

Fresh list of insurgent camps to be given to Dhaka

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 8. India will give Bangladesh a fresh list of insurgent training camps being operated there when the Home Secretary, Dhirendra Singh, pays a three-day visit to Dhaka from September 15.

India is also likely to seek custody of fugitive insurgent leaders, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chief, Paresh Baruah, from the Khaleda Zia Government.

Mr. Singh will meet his counterpart, Omar Faruque. Well-placed sources in the Home Ministry said the revised list of camps will include those serving as shelter-cum-transit points for insurgents active in the north-eastern States. These camps belong to the ULFA, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and other militant outfits active in Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Tripura.

During talks with the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) last month, the Border Security Force (BSF) had submitted a list of 195 camps run from Bangladeshi territory. The BDR denied the existence of these camps. The list is being updated for the Home Secretary's visit. The Home Secretary will be accompanied by a joint secretary from the Ministry of External Affairs. The list of fugitive leaders, whose handing over is to be demanded, includes Paresh Baruah, who is hiding in Dhaka with the connivance of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Others are his deputy Arabinda Rajkhowa and the NLFT leader, Deve Burman.

Chetia on list

Mr. Singh will also reassert the Government's demand for extradition of the imprisoned ULFA general secretary, Anup Chetia, who was arrested by the Dhaka police in 1997 and will complete his jail term by this year-end. Chetia, who was sentenced for illegal entry into Bangladesh and possession of foreign currency, is wanted for crimes committed in India.

He is allegedly being helped by some Bangladesh organisations to seek political asylum there. The sources pointed out that a recent five-part article in a prominent Bangladeshi newspaper, Prothom Alo, reported that the banned Bangladeshi Islamic extremist outfit, Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HUJAI) — declared a terrorist outfit by the U.S. State Department for its links with the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban — has established an active network through `madrasas' and local non-governmental organisations.

The HUJAI was suspected to be behind the recent attack on the Awami League leader, Sheikh Hasina, at a rally in Dhaka.

It is imparting training to extremist groups from Myanmar and India, the newspaper report said.

Sources in the security establishment here said it was of concern to India that the reports referred to HUJAI activists being based in camps located in the Naikhangchari no-man's land between the two countries.

The central command headquarters of ULFA and outfits such as the NLFT and the NDFB are based in these areas.

The HUJAI was reported to be using its clout with certain Bangladeshi Islamic political groups such as the ruling Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote (Islamic Unity Forum).

The organisation, set up in 1998, had sent hundreds of volunteers to Afghanistan to assist the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.Top HUJAI leaders such as Mufti Abdul Hannan, Mufti Qamaruzzaman and Mufti Saleh Ahmed, who have fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya, are now operating from underground, the report said.

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