North East News Agency

The Centre has laid all speculations to rest by admitting that ISI modules are indeed active in certain districts of Assam. The admittance is significant because it is the first time the Home Ministry has accepted in Parliament that ISI has been active in the NE State. “As a result of the coordinated efforts of the Central and State Intelligence agencies, a number of Pakistan-backed terrorists and espionage modules have been detected in various parts of the country including Assam,” Minister of State for Home Affairs, S Reghupathy said in a Lok Sabha reply to a question by Narayan Borkotoki. The Minister, however, did not name the districts of Assam, where the ISI modules were active.

Reghupathy’s colleague Minister of State for Home Affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal also conceded that there were incidents of Pakistan trained terrorists sneaking into India through Bangladesh and Nepal. The Government of India has conveyed its security concerns to Bangladesh and Nepal, he said. He also listed out a number of steps taken to check the infiltration. On the Indo-Bangladesh border, fencing, installation of high-tech surveillance equipment and floodlighting have been undertaken, he said.

In a separate reply, the Minister conceded that illegal migrants from neighbouring countries have managed to obtain ration cards, passports and voter’s identity cards as these illegal migrants mingle easily with the local population due to ethnic and linguistic similarities. However, he declined to make an estimate of the population of the illegal migrants. “Since the illegal migration takes place clandestinely, the realistic estimate of such migration cannot be determined,” he said.

 The Government has sanctioned 3656 posts in various ranks under Prevention of Infiltration of Foreigners and mobile Task Force Scheme in Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Tripura to detect and prosecute and deport illegal migrants. Till date, 2,477.59 km of fencing on Indo-Bangladesh border has been completed.

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