Tarun Gogoi statements

GUWAHATI, April 17 – Axom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s latest acknowledgement, that groups like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Harkat-ul-Jehadi-al-Islam (HuJI) are trying to expand their network in Axom, there are reports that Bangladeshi Bangla Bhai has entered neighbouring West Bengal and is planning to cross over to Axom soon. Bangla Bhai is currently on the run in his native country where he is hunted by the local police for involvement in a string of political murders.Despite the Chief Minister’s effort to downplay the threat of Islamic militancy in the State, the sources said that the activities of the jehadi groups within Axom as well as in Bangladesh hold ominous portents for the State.Bangla Bhai is a key figure in Operation Pin Code launched in Bangladesh last December with the design of creating a separate Islamist homeland out of Axom and West Bengal territories. . The JMJB has been recently banned in Bangladesh.“Bangla Bhai is supposed to meet religious leaders in West Bengal and Axom,” the sources disclosed, adding that a sharp eye is being kept on the latest developments. Operation Pin Code, they said, was launched in the town of Mahammadpur, near Dhaka, during a two-day conclave of several Islamic organizations on December 27 and 28. The meeting was convened by Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh. The plan has been masterminded by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Significantly, the ULFA had also sent a representative to the meeting.The sources said that Brigadier TK Baksh of the ISI was the one who explained the nitty-gritties of the operation to all those who attended the meeting. Among them was a Bangladeshi minister. The plan includes the raising of a 20,000-strong army to fulfil the objective of creating a greater Islamic homeland on Indian soil. A large part of lower Axom comes in the ambit of this “dreamland”, the sources said.