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Christian Terrorism on raise in North-East India

Gail Omved | 02.10.2004 19:06 | World

North East India is burning

The North East is burning, but the events once you link them together are
even more disturbing...

From the articles below...five sets of connected facts

Today, close to 50 people have been killed, according to NDTV, in blasts in
the North East - what is clear that they were co-ordinated attacks...
"A series of bomb blasts and militant attacks in Nagaland and Assam have
killed at least 49 people today" ---- NDTV

Second, a couple of days ago, we saw the TRipura CM report on ISI activity
in BDesh - a few days ago, intelligence officials talked about 5500
terrorists being trained in BDesh in ISI run camps...

"The ISI was actively helping the separatist movement launched by different
militant organisations of the region," Sarkar said speaking at the inaugural
ceremony of the Annual Conference of Cardiological Society of India,
north-east chapter, in Agartala on Friday night---- PTI


Third, BDesh completely rejects the notion of any camps/terrorists in ther
territory...
Major General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told reporters in New Delhi after a
meeting with Home Minister Shivraj Patil "We don't have even a single
insurgent camp in our territory and the addresses provided by BSF have been
found either to be a cantonment area or headquarters of armed forces"...


Fourth, in the most ridiculous statement, BDesh threatens to take action if
India builds a fence on our side of the border - not that it should matter
to us much, but, its just a point to note...

"The two sides did not get into the nitty-gritty of the standoff on allowing
India to erect a fence within 150 yards of the zero line as Dhaka had sought
time to take a decision. But the home ministry has threatened to continue
with the fencing. Chowdhury indicated that the BDR might not remain silent
if Delhi carries out its threat. "The situation will dictate the response,"
he said"


Finally, we note that the Chinese navy is being invited into Chittagong -
which if they do - they may have easier access to the NE than our own Navy.
"Bangladesh is seeking cooperation from the Chinese Peoples' Liberation
Army-Navy (PLAN) for upgrading its Chittagong Port naval facility to launch
joint patrolling of the Bay of Bengal to prevent smuggling, piracy and
terrorism. The Bangladesh army chief, General Hasan Masshud Chowdhry, who
visited China last week, has given the green signal to PLAN to go ahead with
the project which could cost $1.5 million over a period of two years. During
his meeting with PLAN chief Zhang Dingfa in Beijing, General Chowdhry
conveyed the necessity to upgrade the Chittagong facility on a
build-operate-transfer basis with PLAN who he considers a "reliable friend".
PLAN has sent nine delegations since 2000 to explore the possibility to set
up a joint base with the Bangladesh navy as part of China's eastward
expansion into the Bay of Bengal"

As I have been saying for a while - too much respecxt for the sovereignity
of Bangladesh is becoming unacceptable to Indian security interests...India
must consider co-ercive actions within Bangladesh.


Article 1

 http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Northeast&slug=49 killed in blasts in Assam, Nagaland&id=15391&callid=0&category=National

Saturday, October 2, 2004 (Kohima):


A series of bomb blasts and militant attacks in Nagaland and Assam have
killed at least 49 people today.

In Assam, there have been several explosions and attacks all through the
day, killing 26 people. In fact, as many as five bombs went off
simultaneously at about 6 pm.

Series of attacks

Militants belonging to banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)
struck terror in lower Assam indulging in indiscriminate shooting at weekly
markets and triggering explosions in Dhubri and Chirang districts and in
Bogaigaon

In one incident, a group of five heavily armed NDFB guerillas stormed a
weekly market on National Highway 31 in Dhubri district at around 5.30 pm
(IST) and opened fire killing 11 people on the spot and seriously injured
four others.

In a simultaneous attack, a separate group of NDFB militants fired on a
truck travelling from Guwahati to Bihar and injured three people inside the
vehicle, official sources said.

In another incident in neighbouring Chirang district on the Indo-Bhutan
border, terrorists exploded a bomb at a busy market, killing two persons.

Twin blasts in Dimapur

Meanwhile, in Dimapur in Nagaland, 23 people died in two explosions. The
first blast was on a platform of the Dimapur railway station crowded with
people, including school children.

The bomb was apparently planted near the entrance and was so powerful that
it completely damaged the station master's office, the reservation and
enquiry counters and blew up the shed of the platform.

A minute later, another bomb went off in a nearby crowded market. Over 50
people are injured in both these explosions.

Condemning today's attacks, the Home Minister promised all help in finding
those behind the explosions. He has already briefed Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh about the blasts.

Patil indicated that there was a larger design behind what he called
'dastardly' attacks especially since it was carried out on Gandhi Jayanti.


Article 2
From PTI

ISI trains north-east militants in Bangladesh

Press Trust of India
Posted online: Saturday, September 11, 2004 at 1430 hours IST

Agartala, September 11: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has said that
militants of the north-east run a number of camps in neighbouring Bangadesh
with the active support of ISI.

"The ISI was actively helping the separatist movement launched by different
militant organisations of the region," Sarkar said speaking at the inaugural
ceremony of the Annual Conference of

Cardiological Society of India, north-east chapter, in Agartala on Friday
night.

"The anti-India foreign agencies are trying to create trouble in the
country's backward region and the time is ripe to prevent attempts at
destabilising our nation," he observed.

Criticising the Central government, Sarkar said that the region is backward
and adequate infrastructure for development was not created as a result of
which the aspirations of the people of the region could not be fulfilled.

"This facilitated insurgency."

There is no dearth of human resources in the region, he said. The literacy
rate in the region is about 67 per cent which is higher than the national
average (65), but it has not being properly tapped.

However, he appreciated the UPA government's recent initiative to form an
expert committee which would adopt necessary steps to create infrastructure
for development of the region

Article 3

BDR working on proposal submitted by India: Maj Chowdhury
Press Trust of India
New Delhi, September 28


Bangladesh Rifle said on Tuesday that modalities for co-ordinated patrolling
at the Indo-Bangla border to curb any illegal flow of immigrants and check
drug smuggling would be worked out soon even as it continued to deny
presence of any Northeast Indian insurgent's camps in its territory.

"India has submitted a proposal and we are working on it. A decision is
likely to come up in one month's time," BDR Chief Major General Jahangir
Alam Chowdhury told reporters in New Delhi after a meeting with Home
Minister Shivraj Patil.

"We don't have even a single insurgent camp in our territory and the
addresses provided by BSF have been found either to be a cantonment area or
headquarters of armed forces," Chowdhury said.

"Some of the addresses provided by New Delhi have even been traced in Bay of
Bengal," he quipped even as BSF Chief Ajai Raj Sharma gave a sarcastic smile
over his statement.

During their brief meeting with Patil, BSF and BDR chiefs apprised the Home
Minister about their day-long deliberations after which Patil expressed
happiness over the progress of talks.

Khan told the Home Minister that there were some issues between the two
countries, but they were not beyond solution.

The BDR chief gave a guarded reply when reporters asked him about handing
over insurgent leaders like Anup Cheita of ULFA who is now lodged in a
Bangladesh Jail.

"This is for the Home department to respond. We only man the borders,"
Chowdhury said.


Article 4

 http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041002/asp/nation/story_3831616.asp

Pact to trap criminals
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Oct. 1: Bangladesh and India, likely to decide on
modalities for co-ordinated patrolling along the 4,000-km border, have
finalised a deal to work together to cut the possible lines of escape for
criminals across the border.

The BSF had expected to reach an agreement on the final draft of the
modalities at the meeting of the heads of the BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR) that ended here today. However, it is now expected to take some time.

BDR chief, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, said he would
respond to the BSF's suggestions shortly. Neither Chowdhury nor BSF chief
Ajai Raj Sharma spelt out a time frame for the co-ordinated patrolling but
some officials associated with the discussions said they were hopeful that
it would be in place by February.

Members of the Indian delegation, however, are suggesting that when an
agreement was reached on sharing information about miscreants, Dhaka had
opposed the use of the words insurgents and terrorists, and settled for
criminals.

The BSF had proposed the pact in view of Northeast insurgents crossing
over to Bangladesh. Under the agreement, Sharma said, the security forces
would inform their counterpart when a "serious crime" is committed and steps
would be taken to seal all escape routes.

Security officials said Delhi does not expect the BDR to act on all
its requests but believes the pact would put it under pressure to keep a
distance from militants.

The two sides did not get into the nitty-gritty of the standoff on
allowing India to erect a fence within 150 yards of the zero line as Dhaka
had sought time to take a decision. But the home ministry has threatened to
continue with the fencing.

Chowdhury indicated that the BDR might not remain silent if Delhi
carries out its threat. "The situation will dictate the response," he said.

Article 5

PLA to upgrade Bangla port facility

29 September 2004: Bangladesh is seeking cooperation from the Chinese
Peoples' Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) for upgrading its Chittagong Port naval
facility to launch joint patrolling of the Bay of Bengal to prevent
smuggling, piracy and terrorism.

The Bangladesh army chief, General Hasan Masshud Chowdhry, who visited China
last week, has given the green signal to PLAN to go ahead with the project
which could cost $1.5 million over a period of two years.

During his meeting with PLAN chief Zhang Dingfa in Beijing, General Chowdhry
conveyed the necessity to upgrade the Chittagong facility on a
build-operate-transfer basis with PLAN who he considers a "reliable friend".

PLAN has sent nine delegations since 2000 to explore the possibility to set
up a joint base with the Bangladesh navy as part of China's eastward
expansion into the Bay of Bengal.

Gail Omved