Foreign militants used country as transit point

Discloses detained Indian terrorist; safe homes also built for fugitives
Militants fighting in Kashmir have regularly used Bangladesh as a transit point to travel to Pakistan and have built safe havens here to shelter and train militants for terrorist operations in the region.
Detained Indian terrorist Mufti Obaidullah, a top leader of the India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), revealed this information to law enforcers in his interrogation statement, obtained by The Daily Star. ARCF works as an associate of international terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Obaidullah said that Pakistani militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to enter India to run terrorist operations and fight with government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir then cross the border into Bangladesh to fly back to Pakistan.
“As it was tough to cross back to Pakistan through the India-Pakistan border, the Mujahideen would cross to Bangladesh and then left for their destinations using fake passports and visas,” the statement said.
He said his student Selim and close associate Jalal helped him in this operation.
The detained Indian militant also said that he built a safe-home in Habiganj in 2002 to shelter fugitive terrorists, and recruit and train Bangladeshis to take part in terrorist attacks in Kashmir, India, Pakistan.
Obaidullah built the safe-shelter under the cover of a kindergarten named ‘Noor Shah Islami Kindergarten’ in Habiganj’s Shayestaganj upazila.
One of LeT’s operations chiefs in Bangladesh, Faisal alias Khurram Khaiyam alias Abdullah, supplied Tk 18,000 in two lots to Obaidullah to construct the house.
Intelligence sources said, however, that Obaidullah has not revealed all the details about his operations in Bangladesh since his arrival in 1995.
In his statement, Obaidullah said several other militants in Bangladesh visited his safe-home, including Moulana Mohiuddin, who he knew from the Deoband madrasa, and Harkat-ul Jihad, Bangladesh leader Mufti Abdur Rouf.
His fellow Indian LeT member Habibullah alias Mansur and Jamal, visited Srimangal twice in 2002 to rent a house for a temporary safe-home.
Later, the then ARCF chief Asif Reza ordered Habibullah and Jamal to open a training camp for Bangladeshi recruits that would also serve as a safe shelter for Pakistani and Indian mujahideens, according to Obaidullah’s statement.
Obaidullah decided against opening the training camp because of security risks.
In 2005, Obaidullah met ARCF chief Amir Reza, Asif Reza’s brother, at Khurram’s house near the Noorani mosque in Dhaka’s Goran area. There, Amir asked Obaidullah to buy a permanent safe house and provide Jihadi training to Bangladeshi recruits.
Obaidullah claims they insisted on giving him the responsibility for the camp despite his reluctance.
At the end of 2008, Khurram called him from Pakistan to press him to work harder for the organisation as demanded by his senior commanders. Khurram also told Obaidullah that he may return to Bangladesh after he (Khurram) discusses the move with “ISI and LeT high-ups.”

Courtesy of The Daily Star