New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS): With the western border becoming increasingly difficult to operate along, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is seeking to intensify activities on the eastern front. Terror groups in Bangladesh have long been nurtured by the ISI, with the focus largely on targeting West Bengal and the northeastern states.
The ISI has been focusing on three groups in Bangladesh: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), and Neo-JMB. While all three groups have their own strengths, they lack the capabilities for large-scale operations, particularly attacks in India.
The ISI wants these groups to build capabilities on the lines of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which have carried out several deadly attacks in India.
An official said that the ISI understands that in order to operate a bigger scale, these groups need to be united. Although each one follows the same radical ideology, which is to bleed India, they lack unity.
This the ISI wants to fix, and get these groups under one umbrella so that their operational might is scaled up.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that although these groups may not be fighting against each other directly, they have a tendency to operate on each other’s turf.
“This has caused confusion when it comes to operations and very often also caused a rift. Such overlapping is hurting these groups, and hence they have not been able to scale up,” the official said.
The ISI wants these groups to take a leaf out of the book of Jaish and Lashkar. Their operations have rarely overlapped, as the ISI has maintained strict control over them. Both groups remain focused on the Kashmir cause and, during operations, have generally avoided stepping on each other’s turf.
“In fact, after Operation Sindoor last year, Pakistan brought both these groups to operate together. At the launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), operatives of the Lashkar, Jaish and Hizbul Mujahideen work in tandem. In case they do manage to infiltrate, operations in Jammu and Kashmir would be carried out jointly,” the official said.
When it comes to Bangladesh operations, the ISI is now revisiting a 2019 proposal made by the so-called chief of the JMB, Salehuddin Saleh.
He had suggested that in order to function better and remain stronger, it would be best if the JMB, ABT and Neo-JMB merged into one faction. The ISI feels that going ahead with this proposal would benefit all three groups.
Another official said that while the ABT may be okay with the merger with the JMB, the problem lies with the Neo-JMB. The split in the JMB led to the formation of the Neo-JMB.
The split was in fact a bitter one and was driven by factors such as leadership disputes, ideological differences, and the global rise of the Islamic State.
The JMB was aligned with Al-Qaeda, but a faction within the group felt that the Islamic State had a more radical ideology and was also a fast-growing global terror group, the official said.
The ISI has been working on sorting out the differences between these groups. If even one group is not on the same page, then it could hamper operational abilities largely. Moreover, if one group stays out of this merger plan, then there is every chance that it would hamper operations by other groups.
Saleh had made several attempts to bring all these groups together, but was not entirely successful. However, things are likely to change as the ISI has taken charge and is directly dealing with the leadership to ensure that a merger takes place.
If this merger were to take place, then the policing along the eastern border would become challenging, and the Indian security agencies would have more on their plate to deal with, an official said.
