The events that unfolded in the region in recent months – the toppling of the Sheikh Hasina-headed Awami League government in Bangladesh – have successfully prompted the Indian intelligence agencies to feel threatened by the terror groups running amok in the region.
However, despite the labeling of the protests as student demonstrations, intelligence reports point to some of these acts of violence, including those targeting the Indian-origin population, the work of active terrorists. Of them, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba group has been reported to have joined hands with the Bangladeshi militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team to plot possible terrorist attacks in the Indian North Eastern States.
As indicated by intelligence information, Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is reported to have directly supported the ‘regime change’ operation in Bangladesh, extending support to Jamaat-e-Islami and other militant banned groups, including- ABT.
LeT has been known to be working with ABT since 2022, with both militant groups sharing a common base in Bengal with the primary intention of staging an attack in India. Another popcorn event, this time in Tripura, during which reports of attacks on mosques came to light, resulted in LeT’s decision to join forces with the ABT to attack Hindu-dominated regions.
From the intelligence reports of 2022, it was learned that 50-100 ABT cadres were planned to infiltrate Tripura, and several terrorists connected to the group have been arrested in Assam, which indicates that this group is gradually posing as a menace.
Formed in 2007 as Jamaat ul-Muslimeen, the outfit rebranded as Ansarullah Bangla Team in 2013. It claimed the mantle of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, an organization that has claimed the murder of many progressive and secular Bangladeshis.
Nine big Islamic terrorist outfits are now fully operational in Bangladesh, and the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, who is known for her close links with New Delhi, has done much to rein them in. However, what has followed in the form of continuous bloodshed and what may look like the work of terrorists in the recent disturbances calls into question the real forces behind this violence and what this may portend for stability in the region’s security.
