US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI6032

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, Counter-Terrorism 
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