Border alert after Bangla turmoil

NEW DELHI: The Centre, while sensitising state police chiefs assembled here on the immediate challenges to internal security, also asked states bordering Bangladesh to be extra vigilant after intelligence inputs of significant pre-poll disturbances across the border and their likely ripple effect in West Bengal and some north-eastern states.

The Centre shared with the states its agencies’ apprehensions regarding communal violence that may precede polls in Bangladesh scheduled early next year. The DGPs of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, as also the BSF, were told to step up surveillance at the border to guard against heightened egress of Bangladeshis in the wake of the pre-poll violence.

Both RAW and IB are also said to be apprehensive that fundamentalists across the border may not restrict violence to Bangladeshi territory.: Reports indicate a possibility of a spillover effect here, particularly in West Bengal.

The recent blast on the Haldibari-Siliguri express in Jalpaiguri is seen as a handiwork of Bangladeshi terror group Jama’at ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). The JMB is said to enjoy a cosy relationship with the Jamaat e Islami, a member of the erstwhile ruling BNP coalition.

The Centre particularly instructed the police chiefs of the 5 border states and BSF to step up vigil in border areas to prevent violence-hit Bangladeshis crossing over to India.

The need to guard against threats from another front — the Indo-Nepal border — also came up for discussion at the DGPs/IGPs meeting. Even as the Centre appreciated the recent peace deal brokered between the G P Koirala government and the Maoists, it asked the border states of UP, Uttaranchal, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim to be vigilant during the transition period. The same message went to the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), exclusively in charge of guarding the Indo-Nepal border.

Recent intelligence reports had expressed apprehensions about Maoists trying to circumvent the pact condition of surrendering their weapons to the UN by stashing them away in hideouts across the border in India.

As for threats of a general nature affecting all the states, the Centre recommended stepped up vigil around Republic Day. The possibility of terrorists groups, both jehadi outfits and north-eastern ultras like Ulfa, resorting to major strikes around January 26 is seen as being high.

The targets could be the country’s vital installations including nuclear plants, oil refineries, monuments and even IT hubs. The states and UTs were asked to incorporate these threats while drawing up their security deployment plan for R-Day.