In the wake of the unrest in Bangladesh, Indian intelligence agencies have sounded a very high alert along the border, fearing a massive spillover of illegal immigrants.
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NEW DELHI — In the wake of the unrest in Bangladesh, Indian intelligence agencies have sounded a very high alert along the border, fearing a massive spillover of illegal immigrants. However, officials also say that as security agencies there are too busy controlling the situation in their country, many pro-ISI outfits are already planning a massive infiltration bid into India.
The idea would be to send in lakhs of people near the Indian border with a clear intention of overwhelming the system. The push would be harder closer to the elections in West Bengal, and this is the time to watch out for, the Intelligence agencies say.
The elections in West Bengal would be hard fought one, and the security agencies are anticipating some level of violence. The ISI would take advantage of the scenario and then try to push scores of illegal immigrants at that time.
It is a very sinister plot that is being hatched in Bangladesh, officials say. The Indian security agencies would have to handle this situation very carefully. While trying to overwhelm the system with illegal immigrants, the ISI is also looking to push as many terrorists as possible at the same time.
The plan is to push in both Bangladeshis and Rohingya at the same time. While on one hand, the ISI is attempting massive demographic changes in West Bengal and the northeastern states, on the other, it wants to send in many terrorists into these regions.
Since the ISI increased its influence in Bangladesh post the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, it has trained dozens of terrorists with the specific intention of sending them into India.
An Intelligence Bureau official says that the risk of infiltrations are at the low-visibility routes and riverine gaps in Assam, Tripura, and West Bengal. Further, these elements would try to take advantage of the forest cover in these regions as well, the official added.
The ISI-backed groups in Bangladesh over the months identified scores of Rohingyas and took advantage of their financial duress. They are picked up and then sent to da edicated camp. Most of them are trained in terror-related activity. Security officials say that these camps, which have been in the making for over a year now, house thousands of desperate Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. They are lured with financial benefits and then trapped into joining a terror outfit.
The camps that have been set up are divided into two. While one camp comprises people who are only meant to infiltrate and enforce demographic changes, the other comprises trained terrorists.
Another official says that the plan is not just restricted to West Bengal and the northeastern states. Over a period of time, once the infiltrations take place, these elements would be sent to other parts of the country, such as Jammu and Kashmir, the southern states, and Maharashtra.
This has been the plan in the making ever since Pakistan lost the war with India in 1971. Pakistan realised that a conventional war with India would not yield any results, and there should be another way to stress the system. In 1973, the Research and Analysis Wing learnt that the Jamaat-e-Islami and ISI hatched a plan whereby they would enforce mass infiltrations of illegal immigrants into India. The idea was to enter India and then enforce demographic changes. This would then lead to insecurity among the majority community, and eventually, communal clashes would erupt.
The plan was not entirely successful, because Bangladesh has had several dispensations that have been friendly with India. However, today, the situation has changed, and the ISI-backed Jamaat is completely in charge after Hasina’s ouster. For the ISI, which has been planning this operation for a year, there is no better time than now to execute this plan. The regime in Bangladesh is pro-Pakistan, and hence it would not stand in the way of the ISI and Jamaat to execute its plan, officials say.