WEST BENGAL FRETS OVER ALLEGED ISI CONTAGION

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 006032

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015
TAGS: PTER PREL KISL IN BG PK
SUBJECT: WEST BENGAL FRETS OVER ALLEGED ISI CONTAGION

Classified By: Charge Robert O. Blake Jr. for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) A two day visit to Calcutta revealed surprisingly deep
anxiety over the presence in West Bengal of terrorist cells
and radical Islamist groups allegedly linked to Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The starkest message
during PolCouns' August 1-2 visit came from Home Secretary
Prasad Ranjan Ray, who claimed that the state government is
seeing a systematic effort by ISI to establish terrorist
cells and foster Islamic radicalism using a string of Wahabi
influenced madrassas along the Bangladesh border. Pressed on
the relative absence of terrorist attacks in West Bengal
compared to other parts of India, Ray attributed this to the
fact that ISI's plan was not yet complete, suggesting it was
just a matter of time before the impact is felt.


2. (C) The forcefulness of this message from the West Bengal
government was made more striking by the number of times we
heard the same concern from across the state's political
spectrum. Congress politicians, journalists and liberal
Muslims joined in expressing fear that ISI has begun a
systematic effort to radicalize West Bengal's large Muslim
population (estimated 30%). Interestingly, and unlike their
counterparts in Delhi, few Bengalis cast the blame for this
trend on Bangladesh. Rather, they ascribed it to a
Pakistan-based effort to create an eastern front in what they
labeled as ISI's proxy war against India. A liberal Muslim
intellectual, for instance, described vividly his travels to
border-belt villages where "ignorant mullahs" crossing over
from Bangladesh spread a message of jihad and hatred that
defies the tolerant traditions of Islam as practiced in
eastern India. Another Muslim leader claimed that, in
addition to some 450 "registered" madrassas, West Bengal is
seeing a proliferation of unregistered facilities that do not
have the broad curriculum of state-supported schools.
Likewise, Congress politicians, who are otherwise focused on
the thuggish practices of the ruling Communists, expressed
concern about an undercurrent of fundamentalism spilling over
from the border to radicalize their Muslim vote bank.
Calcutta's leading publisher claimed that when he talks to
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister
states that the only threats he faces are "the ISI and CITU"
(the leftist national labor federation).


3. (C) Comment: These are only impressions, and we do not
rule out that much of this anxiety about ISI reflects a
generalized atmosphere of conspiracy in which ISI has
replaced the American CIA as the fountainhead of everything
bad that happens in eastern India. It is notable that these
concerns are echoed here in Delhi by Ajai Sahni, editor of
the respected South Asian Terrorist Portal, who claims that
ISI is actively targeting migrant Muslim populations in
border districts of West Bengal. This tactic, he asserts, is
aimed at creating a base to be mobilized in the future and
facilitating the movement of terrorists and weapons through
the honeycombs of Calcutta and West Bengal. We will not be
surprised to see this issue getting more attention as West
Bengal heads toward elections in spring 2006 and will also
seek to address it through our C/T reporting.
BLAKE