India Increases Vigilance Along Border With Bangladesh Amid Terrorism Threat

By Steve Herman

New Delhi
19 December 2008

India government officials say they have ordered closer surveillance of
land borders amid concerns of more potential terrorist strikes inside
the country by militants infiltrating from either Bangladesh or
Pakistan.

India
has increased vigilance along its border with Bangladesh. Domestic
media reports say officials made the move following intelligence that
suspected militants have entered the state of West Bengal.

There
are specific concerns about members of Harkat ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which
operates in both Bangladesh and Pakistan, and has been blamed for urban
attacks in India in recent years. There are also worries about
potential strikes by separatists targeting West Bengal and Assam, who
are believed to have camps across the Bangladeshi border.

The
director general of the Border Security Force, M.L. Kumawat, tells
reporters security has been stepped up in the wake of such
intelligence.

"We have asked our people to be highly alert and
see that in no circumstances people from other countries can come into
our country," he said. "We have heightened our vigilance, heightened
our alertness and I can assure you that border guarding forces are much
more alert than they were ever before"

The border with
Bangladesh is notoriously porous with smugglers routinely moving across
it without challenge. Kumawat says that border is of particular concern.

"About
Bangladesh border, as you know, we have 4,096 kilometers of border on
our eastern frontier and there are some areas where we do not have a
fence, even now," he said.

India's home minister Palaniappan
Chidambaram told the parliament on Wednesday that he is ordering faster
construction of additional fencing along the Bangladesh border.

The
minister, who took responsibility for internal security in wake of last
month's Mumbai terror attack, also says diplomatic efforts are being
made to have the Bangladeshi and Burmese governments take action
against anti-Indian insurgents on their soil.

India blames the Mumbai attack on at least 10 radical Islamic terrorists who infiltrated by sea from Pakistan.

That
has prompted top Indian government officials to vow to upgrade and
unify coastal and port security. At present India has no coordinated
system for defense of its shores with security responsibilities divided
among more than 20 separate ministries, agencies, departments and
civilian and military forces.