KOLKATA:
With the Maoist and KLO scare still looming over Bengal, security
agencies have woken up to a possible terror threat that has sneaked into
the city from as far as Myanmar.
It all started when Bangladeshi national Mujibur Rehman was arrested in March for staying at a guest house near Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital purportedly for the treatment of his "relative." The Chittagong resident carried a valid passport and visa and his aide Amanullah produced a voter's identify card from Hyderabad.
However, when the anti-terror unit STF took over investigation, it was shocked to find that Amanullah was neither a Hyderabad resident nor was he a Bangladeshi. He is a Rohingya Muslim from Burma who entered India some months ago. Worse, he had recently received a huge amount of money from Saudi Arabia through hawala channels.
STF now wants to ascertain why these foreigners entered Indian soil and chose to set up base in Kolkata - the same place where Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal had stayed while on the run. He had openly supported the Rohingya cause just before his arrest and even carried out the Bodh Gaya blasts to try to win their support, say sources. At present, 86 Rohingya Muslims are lodged in jails of Bengal.
By the time STF discovered the Rohingya link, Lok Sabha election was knocking at the door and police would not take any chances. So far, another eight "Bangladeshi" nationals have been arrested from the same Haridevpur area. "We are ascertaining their real identities," said a Lalbazar official.
Sleuths are still trying to determine the reason for Amanullah and Rehman's prolonged stay in the city. "None of his friends or relatives is admitted to the cancer hospital. He merely wanted to book a room in Padma Guest House," a source said. Guest house owner Vinit Chandra Haldar was arrested along with Mujibur for allowing him to stay without valid documents.
The Buddhist-Rohingya conflict in Myanmar has created a widening zone of instability that stretches to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia. Rohingyas, a Bengali-speaking Muslim minority community, are treated by Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Bangladesh rejects them as Myanmarese, making them the nobody's people. Even Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent on the issue, drawing criticism from the West. Rohingyas are not one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar, which complicates the issue.
In mid-2012, Lashkar-e-Toiba under its alias Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) created a forum Difa-e-Musalman Arakan (Burma) Conference (Defence of Muslims in Myanmar) to mobilize support for an anti-Myanmar campaign. JuD spokesperson Nadeem Awan and JuD publications wing member Shahid Mahmood Rehmatullah were deputed in August 2013 to forge covert links with like-minded Islamic organizations in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Other terror outfits, such as Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are also trying to exploit the Rohingyas' plight to establish new bases in Bangladesh. Jammat-ul-Arakan, a new outfit comprising elements of JMB and Rohingyan extremists, is reportedly running militant camps in Bandarban district along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
Significantly, NIA suspects an Indian Mujahideen hand or a local arm sympathetic to the Rohingya cause in the Bodh Gaya blasts, and is investigating the involvement of an Assamese radical group in arranging explosives for the bombs
It all started when Bangladeshi national Mujibur Rehman was arrested in March for staying at a guest house near Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital purportedly for the treatment of his "relative." The Chittagong resident carried a valid passport and visa and his aide Amanullah produced a voter's identify card from Hyderabad.
However, when the anti-terror unit STF took over investigation, it was shocked to find that Amanullah was neither a Hyderabad resident nor was he a Bangladeshi. He is a Rohingya Muslim from Burma who entered India some months ago. Worse, he had recently received a huge amount of money from Saudi Arabia through hawala channels.
STF now wants to ascertain why these foreigners entered Indian soil and chose to set up base in Kolkata - the same place where Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal had stayed while on the run. He had openly supported the Rohingya cause just before his arrest and even carried out the Bodh Gaya blasts to try to win their support, say sources. At present, 86 Rohingya Muslims are lodged in jails of Bengal.
By the time STF discovered the Rohingya link, Lok Sabha election was knocking at the door and police would not take any chances. So far, another eight "Bangladeshi" nationals have been arrested from the same Haridevpur area. "We are ascertaining their real identities," said a Lalbazar official.
Sleuths are still trying to determine the reason for Amanullah and Rehman's prolonged stay in the city. "None of his friends or relatives is admitted to the cancer hospital. He merely wanted to book a room in Padma Guest House," a source said. Guest house owner Vinit Chandra Haldar was arrested along with Mujibur for allowing him to stay without valid documents.
The Buddhist-Rohingya conflict in Myanmar has created a widening zone of instability that stretches to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia. Rohingyas, a Bengali-speaking Muslim minority community, are treated by Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Bangladesh rejects them as Myanmarese, making them the nobody's people. Even Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent on the issue, drawing criticism from the West. Rohingyas are not one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar, which complicates the issue.
In mid-2012, Lashkar-e-Toiba under its alias Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) created a forum Difa-e-Musalman Arakan (Burma) Conference (Defence of Muslims in Myanmar) to mobilize support for an anti-Myanmar campaign. JuD spokesperson Nadeem Awan and JuD publications wing member Shahid Mahmood Rehmatullah were deputed in August 2013 to forge covert links with like-minded Islamic organizations in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Other terror outfits, such as Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are also trying to exploit the Rohingyas' plight to establish new bases in Bangladesh. Jammat-ul-Arakan, a new outfit comprising elements of JMB and Rohingyan extremists, is reportedly running militant camps in Bandarban district along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
Significantly, NIA suspects an Indian Mujahideen hand or a local arm sympathetic to the Rohingya cause in the Bodh Gaya blasts, and is investigating the involvement of an Assamese radical group in arranging explosives for the bombs
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kolkatas-Rohingya-link-worries-security-forces/articleshow/34067301.cms
