Bengal raises issue of ISI-backed groups

Bringing the issue of Pakistan's ISI-backed fundamentalist organisations to the fore, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee Wednesday said militant groups operating in northeastern states were helping insurgents in her state.

"I would like to state that some ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)-backed fundamentalist organisations operating in Bangladesh and Nepal pose threat to the security of the state," Banerjee said in her speech, which was read out by state Finance Minister Amit Mitra at the chief ministers' conference on internal security here.

In the speech, she said that militant and insurgent groups operating in the northeastern states remain on the lookout for safe shelters in her states in lieu of which they aid and support a few militant groups intending to operate in West Bengal.

"A few militant groups of West Bengal are again trying to forge some sort of alliance with the insurgent groups active in the northeastern states," she said.

The chief minister also opposed the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

"The views of the state government are well known to the central government. Like many other states, West Bengal too is of the opinion that the proposed version of NCTC upsets the federal structure of the country," she said.