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| ISI-LTTE nexus to target south India? | | |
BANGALORE: Terrorism is sinking its teeth into the south of the Vindhayas, if the catch in Mysore is any indication. Intelligence agencies are working overnight to unravel the Colombo connection, which is surfacing now as investigations get deeper.
Does it signal a marriage of convenience between two of the most dreaded terror networks the LTTE and the ISI? To what extent is the ISI linked to the LTTE, if at all?
The arrest of Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Fahad alias Neduthanni along with an accomplice in Mysore has uncloaked the terror network linked to Colombo, from where Pakistan's ISI reportedly controls its south India operations, some police officers say.
A senior police officer told the Times of India, "Though a Pakistani, Fahad speaks Tamil and Malayalam very well. He even has an alias Neduthanni.
"We don't rule out the Sri Lankan link." Fahad's parent organisation, Al-Badr, is one of the surrogates of ISI along with Laskhar-e-Taiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Anti-terrorism expert B Raman explained, "Intelligence inputs point out that subversive activities in South India are planned and monitored by ISI agents stationed in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo."
The sleeper cells in North India are, however, controlled by ISI bases in New Delhi and Kathmandu, Raman added. Another anti-terrorism expert said, "Till now, Bangalore had found a place on the narcotic circuit that linked Karachi with Sri Lanka.
But now terrorists appear to take over the circuit." Moreover, Fahad's Tamil-Malayalam connections point out how terrorists who are sent to the South are trying to adapt themselves to local conditions to avoid being identified as an outsider.
"We will liaise with the central intelligence agencies and coordinate with neighbouring states to identify such infiltrators," the officer said while admitting that Bangalore was on the hit-list of terrorists.
"Till recently terrorists used Bangalore as a hideout, but now indications are that they are prepared to launch attacks," he added.
Though south India has not become the preferred target overnight for terrorists, it was only post-IISc attack in December 2005 that the police here woke up to Bangalore being a potential target. On December 28 last year, a gunman fired indiscriminately killing a scientist and injuring few others.
Over a dozen arrests have been made so far, but only of those with Laskar-e-Taiba links and none directly involved with the incident. Bangalore, however, appears glaringly on the terror map. Several locations including some IT firms are part of the reconnoitred locations of terrorists including the LeT.
Bangalore in particular has become a potential target because of the several defence, atomic and space establishments besides installations of the booming IT/BT sector.
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