JMB's larger plans include publicising the presence of the ISIS in India and recruit for the group (File)
The threat to India from ISIS may well come from the eastern border. The Jamaat-Ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, a terror group which was behind the Dhaka Bakery Attack and aims to establish an Islamic caliphate in the country, has been coordinating with the ISIS to create terror in India, sources said.
The possibility of an ISIS attack from the east is being seriously considered after the interrogation of Mohammad Mosiuddin alias Musa, an alleged JMB operative who was arrested in July last year from Burdwan in West Bengal.
Mosiuddin's interrogation has thrown up chilling revelations that include terror plans that go beyond targeting foreigners at Kolkata's Mother House and lone wolf attacks on foreign tourists in Srinagar. The group aims to replicate in South Asia what the ISIS has done in the middle-east, sources said.
Mosiuddin's close links to the mastermind of the Dhaka Bakery terror attack and the ISIS could open a new front.
"They want to first capture Bangladesh and set up an Islamist state there. Then they want to expand their Islamist state in the neighborhood. Something like what Taliban thought about, what Al-Qaeda thought about or what the ISIS is thinking about," Professor N Manoharan, an Associate Professor at the Department of International Studies and History at Bengaluru's Christ University, told NDTV.
Sources say the JMB's larger plans include publicising the presence of the ISIS in India and recruit for the group. It also wants to coordinate with Pakistan-based groups like Lashkar e Taiba and Jaish e Mujahideen and create terror in eastern and southern India, where Mosiuddin was based, sources say.
Another aim of the group is to help spread Salafist Islam in states like Bihar and Bengal. "They want to start with Bangladesh and they want to expand this Darool Islam to the wider region and link up with other groups," Professor N Manoharan added.
The common threat from terrorism was discussed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Modi earlier this year, when Sheikh Hasina visited Delhi. The two leaders decided to tackle the menace together.
"This is a decision which is taken at the highest level. We are trying to translate the vision of the Prime Ministers of both countries. We are getting huge support from the Bangladesh side," said PSR Anjaneyulu, a senior officer of Border Security Force.