Intelligence Bureau report says people from Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, a terror outfit active in Bangladesh and Pakistan, were spotted among the refugees.
New Delhi: The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has submitted a fresh report to the Home Ministry suggesting there has been mass movement of Rohingya refugees from India’s northeastern states to the south, especially Kerala and Hyderabad, in the past few days, ThePrint has learnt.
“There is movement of these people from Guwahati in trains going to Palghat — train no: 12508, 12506 and 15906 are being used,” the report said.
The trains mentioned are Guwahati-Trivandrum Central Express, the Delhi-bound Northeast Express and Vivek Express from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari.
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Calling this development a “threat to national security”, the IB report also mentioned that among the refugees were spotted a few radical elements who were facilitating this movement to the south.
Last week, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked the home secretary to alert the Kerala government after his ministry received a communication from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on 26 September on possible movement of Rohingya refugees.
The communication — marked ‘secret’ — listed 14 trains that Rohingya refugees reportedly boarded to reach Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The RPF was asked to keep a tight vigil and report any such movement to the state police.
‘HuJI recruiting Rohingyas’
The fresh IB report also says that some people from the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), a terror organisation active in Bangladesh and Pakistan, were spotted among the Rohingya refugees.
“Apart from members of HuJI, there were other radical elements, trying to tap the refugees and recruit them. This is a looming threat on India’s security,” a source said.
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The intel reports have been shared with investigating agencies.
“The Rohingya refugees are a vulnerable lot and are being approached by these terror outfits. There are strong inputs to suggest that some of them have even been recruited and sent for training via Nepal, while some have moved to Hyderabad and Kerala,” the source added.
Steps taken to ‘contain’ refugees in Bangladesh
Apart from alerting agencies, a formal communication has also been sent to the Bangladesh government to “contain” the refugees in their territory. The diplomatic discussions regarding the same have been on, sources said.
“The Indian government is ready to build shelters for the refugees in Bangladesh so that they do not move into India territory,” a Home Ministry official said.
“The government has also offered to spend resources to rehabilitate the refugees in Bangladesh and the talks are on,” the official added.