lashkar-e-Tayyeba and its new avatar the Jamaat-ud-Dawa have been training the Rohingya Muslims at their terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and one of their modules could have targeted the Buddhist shrine in Bihar.
Fugitive Indian Mujahideen (IM) leaders including Riyaz Bhatkal are also reportedly under the safe protection of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT). Investigators probing the Bodh Gaya blasts have not ruled out the possibility of the leT using its module to target the Buddhist shrine.
Probes by the agencies so far have revealed that retaliation by the Rohingyas was being built up by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and leT by championing the cause of Bengali-speaking Myanmarese Muslims.
At a Press conference at the Karachi Press Club on June 15, JuD leader Hafiz Sayeed had said that his outfit backs the cause of Myanmarese Muslims and exhorted them to take up jehad and form their own tanzeems.
JuD had also organised demonstrations on June 14 against the alleged atrocities on Rohingyas in nine cities including Islamabad, Hyderabad and Karachi among others. During the demonstrations, Sayeed urged the Rohingyas to remain strong and not rely solely on international humanitarian agencies for their cause.
JuD further organised a workshop on “productive use of computer and social media for jehad “ at Markaz-al-Kuba madrassah where the participants were trained to use social networking sites for furthering the cause of Islam and jehad. A number of Rohingyas are said to have participated in the workshop.
Recently, Sayeed had tweeted that the Indian Government was helping the Myanmar Government in ethnic
cleansing. The JuD leader had also said in his tweet that the JuD will not remain a mute spectator to the developments in Myanmar.
Incidentally, an IM message on Twitter claiming responsibility for the Bodh Gaya blasts also originated in Pakistan.
The leT and its affiliate IM supports a number of modules across India and may carry out more such attacks. A number of NGOs are also under the scanner of agencies for their close liaisons with the leT and JuD.
The Rohingyas who have been trained by the leT have particularly been indoctrinated against Buddhist interests besides the Western powers and may hit their assets in India.
The terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) supported by the ISI remains intact. Reports with the Centre indicate there are 42 terror camps active across the borders - 25 in PoK and 17 in Pakistan with about 2,500 militants in the camps.
The spat between the CBI and the Intelligence Bureau over the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat could have boosted the morale of the Pakistan-based terror groups to carry out the latest offensive, sources claimed.