With the arrest of Mohammad Fahad and Mohammad Ali Hussian, two Pakistan nationals, in Mysore on 27th October, the contours of a plan by the Al-Badr terrorist group to attack the State Secretariat and its Annexe, the Vikas Soudha in Bangalore and the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore has surfaced. From the terrorists' maps, it appears they had surveyed these places, and the map of Vikas Soudha had perhaps been sent to Pakistan. Fahad was instructed by Al-Badr to arrange safe hideouts and create an 'Indian identity' for its recruits who would later be sent to India via Nepal. He had come to India on a Pakistani passport with an Indian visa issued on 30th November 2005, valid for 45 days. Hussain had sneaked into India through the Lipa Valley in 2002. He had been a district commander of the al-Badr in Kashmir, and was given the task of creating a base for the outfit in South-India.

Al-Bada traces its origins to a quasi-fascist militia set-upestablished by Pakistan's armed forces in 1970, which was responsible for large scale killings of nationalists, communists and members of religious minorities during the Bangladesh liberation war. It fought against the Soviet Union forces in Afghanistan as part of the US - funded Jihad. In mid- 1990 it operated as part of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Later on it parted company with the Hizb and allied with Tehreek-i-Islami. Its present chief, Bakht Zamin Khan, plans to expand its underground structure and spread its organisation to the rest of India. It receives monthly subsidies of Rs. three lakh from ISI. [Seems gross under-estimate. Figure be re-checked.] Its funds are also raised from the ethnic - Mirpuri Diaspora in England, and in Karachi, and have close cooperation with other Jihadi groups in Pakistan.

Al-Badr is the oldest existing Jihadi terrorist organisations of Pakistan and is as close to ISI as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). It was the first Jihadi organisation to bring suicide terrorism into the sub-continent. Pashtuns constitute the largest single group in Al-Badr, which has its head quarters in Manshera in North-West Frontier Province. The arrests in Mysore reveal Al- Badr's desire to increase its reach beyond Jammu and Kashmir. It ranks fourth behind LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Hizbul Mujahideen in terms of cadre strength, but had remained, by and large, confined to the valley.

It is believed that these subversive activities in South India are being planned and monitored by ISI agents stationed in Colombo. Bangalore has a place in the narcotic circuit that links Karachi with Sri Lanka. But now terrorists groups seem to have taken over this circuit, highlighting a likely dangerous connection between the LTTE and ISI networks.It seems that the ISI has established sleeping cells in different terrorists' organisations outside J and K. It is trying to recruit cadres that do not raise any suspicion and merge easily with the local population. It is trying to carry out its subversive operations within India through various terrorist organisations to create confusion. ISI is also trying to establish such cells in north-east India. Its biggest achievement is that now it can carry out terrorist activities anywhere in India. These sleeping cells work independently and only require explosives and funds from across the border. Transfer of funds is not a problem by using e-banking or hawala channels. There is some difficulty in sending explosives, but with well educated youths being lured terrorist organisations, the time is coming when explosives could be manufactured by terrorists within India.

It is obvious that Pakistan-backed terrorists are keen to spread mayhem in places that showcase India's economic success and where it can hurt India the most. They have already tried to attack India's IT industry, commercial centres and tourism industry, besides trying to disturb communal harmony. Ali Hussain had masterminded a series of grenade attracts on tourists in Kashmir during May-June this year. After analysing their strategy, perhaps the next target would be the Indian tourism sector, like in Goa. Their objective is to weaken international confidence and create an atmosphere of pervasive terror to affect the country's capacity to attract foreign investment.

There is a possibility that there might be more such cells in South India that are waiting for the right time to strike. Kerala, which is turning into a potential hotbed of radical Islam, may attract these terrorist organisations, which may find the area congenial for establishing hideouts and cells to operate in South India. Terrorism is not a new challenge for India. India has been grappling with it for decades. Counter-terrorism needs sustained institutional efforts and massive resources. The need of the hour is for better networking and assessment of intelligence data.