Jehadi footprint in NE in elementary stage: IB

Shillong, October 31: The jehadi ‘footprint’ in the North East was in the elementary stage, but it could mature in future, a top IB official said on Saturday.

“There are no major footprints of jehadi terrorism in the Northeastern region,” Additional Director of Intelligence Bureau R N Ravi said.

“You have radical elements in the neighbourhood. Again, you have some people in the North East who are disgruntled against the state and the system. There is a convergence between the two,” Ravi told reporters after the conclusion of the North East DGPs conference here.

The convergence, he said, was at an elementary level, but it could mature soon.

“The security apparatus is focusing its resources to pre-empt any situation which is pregnant with such possibility,” the IB official said.

Meghalaya DGP SB Kakati said though only some parts of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland were insurgency affected, states like Meghalaya, which has an international border, were being used by militants as corridors.

He admitted that there were inputs of frequent movement of militants from Bangladesh through the porous Indo-Bangla border.

–Agencies