‘ISI shifts bases from Afghanistan to Bangladesh’
P P SINGH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2002 08:21:04 PM ]
GUWAHATI: After having suffered major setbacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s ISI was now reinforcing its operation in Bangladesh to carry out their operations in India, senior Army and police officers have said here.
Talking to Times News Network, a top intelligence official of the Assam Police said on conditions of anonymity, “after 9/11, the ISI had to close their Kabul chapter and re-deploy their machinery elsewhere under US pressure.”
Moreover, he added, increased vigil on the Indo-Pakistan border and change of guard in Bangladesh reinforced ISI’s decision to set up bases in Bangladesh.
The official said that the presence of a large number of militants from the North East region in Bangladesh only made things easier for the ISI. The meeting of a top Pakistani army official with ULFA and other militants in Bangladesh during President Pervez Musharraf’s visit here helped speed up their operations.
One of the ISI officials who played a major role in arranging the meeting is still reported to be in Dhaka “on a political assignment”.
Top intelligence officials of Assam Police said that a feeling of alienation had only made matters easier for the ISI-backed people.
A senior officer of the Army’s Red Horn Division said, “if one looks at the increase in militant activities of KLO and their tie-up with organisations like ULFA, one does not need any proof of ISI increasing their activities in Bangladesh.”
He further said that the population pattern around the Bangladesh border, the terrain and lack of identity cards for the Indians in this region helped the ISI in making this region a safe passage to other parts of India.
India has proof of ISI in Dhaka: Fernandes
PTI FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2002 05:40:06 PM ]
BANGALORE: Defence Minister George Fernandes on Friday said India has intelligence information and “human evidence” to support its charge of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and al-Qaeda using Bangladesh territory for anti-India activities.
Responding to Dhaka asking New Delhi to provide “credible evidence”, Fernandes told reporters here: “We not only have intelligence information but also human evidence in the sense that our border security forces in that area and media people covering that area have personally told me about al-Qaeda elements in Bangladesh”.
Bangladesh on Thursday had rejected India’s charge that its territory is used by Pakistan’s ISI and al-Qaeda for anti-India activities.
He said it was only expected that Dhaka would deny it.
“No body expects anyone to say that… yes.. yes… we have them (ISI and al-Qaeda) in our territory. They (India’s charge) are contradicted. That was expected”, said Fernandes, who earlier attended a function organised at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited here.
To a question, Fernandes said the atmosphere was not conducive to have a India-Pakistan Confederation.
“Border situation is what they are and situation being what it is, I don’t think the atmosphere is conducive for that”, he said when asked about the confederation in the context of solving the Kashmir problem.
Fernandes recalled how actively he was pursuing the idea during Ram Manohar Lohia’s time and his visit to Pakistan during the tenure of President Zia-ul-Haq and how Bangladesh and Nepal also wanted to join that confederation.
Asked if incidents such as attack on Raghunath temple at Jammu suggested that Pakistan was stepping up cross-border terrorism, Fernandes said cross-border terrorism was in the same mode as it was earlier. “There isn’t any stepping up nor any reduction,” he said.
On whether the situation had changed after installation of a new government in Jammu and Kashmir, Fernandes said: “I don’t see any change in the situation as such.”
India has proof of ISI in Dhaka: Fernandes
