Tunda wanted LeT to bomb India for helping Rohingyas

Nabbed terror ideologue Syed Abdul Karim ‘Tunda’ had promised Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed that he will train Rohingya Muslims in making bombs and in motivating them, but only if they carried out a bomb blast in India, an intelligence official has told HT.

Confirming such conditions to be Tunda’s signature style of functioning, the source said: “So strong is his hatred for India that when Saeed sought Tunda’s help to train Rohingyas, Tunda made it subject to a bombing in India by his Lashkar-e-Taiba.”

Numbering about 5% of Myanmar’s 60 million people, Rohingyas are Muslims mainly from the Rakhine province in Myanmar and have been recently in news for alleged atrocities against them by the majority Buddhists there.

“Tunda was always in close touch with Saeed. When rumours spread of widespread atrocities against Rohingyas in Myanmar, Saeed sought his help. For that, Tunda made several trips to Bangladesh where the Rohingyas have a strong network,” the official added.

Nabbed on Thursday, Tunda a few years ago was the veritable lynch-pin around whom a Pakistan-based terror network thrived. He was familiar with most top leaders of the LeT, who in turn held Tunda in high regard for his bomb-manufacturing prowess as well as his ability to operate in relative anonymity which helped him to move across many countries including the Gulf, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India with relative ease.