Northeast India now facing threat from Rohingya Islamist group!

Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile)-long international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262 km in Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram, 443 km in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in Bengal. Likewise, four Northeast Indian states share the border with Burma: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.

Myanmar has blamed Aqa Mul Mujahideen (AMM) , a little known Rohingya Islamist group, for the recent spate of attacks on border outposts on the border with Bangladesh. With the highly porous borders in the state, the sealing of which has not been completed as yet, it is evident that terror attacks at the border poses a threat to Northeast Indian states which shares close proximity with its neighbours.

It may be mentioned that on October 8, nine Myanmar policemen were killed in the attack and eight attackers were gunned down in the encounters alleged to have been conducted by Rohingya Islamist group.

The AMM is headed by Hafiz Tohar, a 45-year old Rohingya man , who hails from Kyauk Pyin Seik village in Maungdaw .

Now, the catch is that Myanmar intelligence says Hafiz Tohar was trained by Pakistan Taliban for six months, after which he returned to Myanmar to recruit young Rohingyas who were angry with relentless Burmese persecution of the community.

Indian intelligence which closely monitors Islamist radical groups including the Rohingyas says Tohar's group has grown out of the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami-Arakaan (HUJI-A). The HUJI-A chief is Abdus Qadoos Burmi, a Pakistani national of Rohingya origin, who recruited Hafiz Tohar, 45, and arranged for his training in Pakistan.

Here, we see a close proximity between Rohingya Islamist group and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba/ Jamaat ud Dawa (LeT/JuD) as Qadoos Burmi is reported to be close to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.Qadoos Burmi developed the HUJI-A network in Bangladesh , using the remote hills on its border with Myanmar , where coverage by Bangladesh security forces was at best limited.

After training a few promising recruits in Pakistan, they were send to set up bases on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border , where new Rohingya recruits were trained in combat techniques and use of explosives.That was during the 2013-14 phase.

Indian officials say Rohingya militants could be used to disturb the Myanmar-Bangladesh border zone not only by staging attacks inside Myanmar but also by forging close links with jihadi groups in both Bangladesh and India. They could be a useful element for Pakistan's ISI to destabilise the border regions of Myanmar, Bangladesh and India after all the three joined in attacking Pakistan's export of terror

With the Northeast Indian states sharing such close proximity with Myanmar and Bangladesh,and the terror outfits sweeping through the borders in such a planned manner, it is high time the BSF and the concerned authorities take stance in resolving not only the issue of border fencing but also strict security measures along the borders.

–TNT Desk with inputs from bdnews24

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