Appendix .....

Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence is working with Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies to facilitate cooperation between north-east militant groups like United Liberation Front of Asom and other jihadi outfits in South Asian regions, besides Tamil rebels in Lanka, a US intelligence service publication Startfor has said.

In its latest forecast titled “India: The Islamisation of the Northeast,” it observes that there is a growing Islamization in the region — spurred by ISI, and instability in neighbouring Bangladesh which is giving foreign powers (China and Pakistan) a gamut of exploitable secessionist movements to use to prevent India from emerging as a major global player.

Stratfor says there exists a strong nexus between ISI and Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies.

There are growing indications, says the report, that these two agencies are working clandestinely in Bangladesh to bring all the north-east-based insurgent outfits and jihadi elements under one umbrella.

“The ISI has facilitated cooperation between ULFA and other north-eastern militant outfits; with the LTTE in Sri Lanka, Islamist militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir, Islamist groups in Bangladesh and a growing number of Al Qaeda-linked jihadi groups operating in the region,” it adds.

“ULFA’s growing links with Bangladeshi Islamists and jihadi elements in the area are increasingly coming to light,” the report  claims.

The 9 April attack timed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Assam marked the group’s first-ever suicide bombing, a tactic that was pioneered by the Tigers and has been frequently employed  by Islamist militants.

To be continued…………