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46-653: The proposal for the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project was conceived by India, primarily to provide an alternative route to India's landlocked northeastern states. The only access to these seven states is through the Siliguri Corridor , a narrow strip of Indian territory wedged between Nepal and Bangladesh . Routing all cargo destined for the northeast through this corridor causes significant transportation delays and cost overheads. India attempted negotiating with Bangladesh since

92-533: A space of 30 minutes. Dhaka International Airport, government buildings and major hotels were targeted. There were 50 minor injuries and only two fatalities - a child in Savar, near Dhaka , and a Rickshaw-puller in Chapai Nawabganj District - because of the small size of the bombs. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh claimed responsibility for the bombings. Bombs later in the year were more deadly, resulting in

138-573: A survey for a possible new route extension from Sairang to Hmawngbuchhuah on Mizoram's southern tip on the border of Myanmar, where at nearby Zochachhuah village the National Highway 502 (part of Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project ) enters Myanmar, leaving a possibility open for yet-unplanned future rail connections to Paletwa. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen ("Assembly of Mujahideen –Bangladesh", abbreviated: JMB ; Bengali : জামাত-উল-মুজাহিদীন বাংলাদেশ )

184-400: A trilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement to facilitate seamless movement of passenger and cargo vehicles among the three countries. In May 2017, during a visit by Thai officials to Manipur, the state's Chief Secretary Oinam Nabakishore declared that the draft of the trilateral agreement had already been prepared. As of May 2018, the signing of Motor vehicle agreement is still pending. Myanmar

230-751: Is a radical islamist terrorist organisation operating in Bangladesh . It is listed as a terror group by Bangladesh, India , Malaysia , The United Kingdom and Australia . It was founded in April 1998 in Palampur in Dhaka Division by Abdur Rahman and gained public prominence in 2001 when bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organisation were discovered in Parbatipur in Dinajpur district . The organisation

276-575: Is a "proxy" established by the legal Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh party to "push the center of gravity of the political debate toward radical Islamism" and make Jamaat-e-Islami appear more centrist. According to SATP, "many members of the JMB and JMJB have invariably been found to be cadres of the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a partner in the ruling coalition" with

322-656: Is a US$ 484 million project connecting the eastern Indian seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State , Myanmar by sea. In Myanmar, it will then link Sittwe seaport to Paletwa in Chin State via the Kaladan river boat route, and then from Paletwa by road to Mizoram state in Northeast India. All components of the project, including Sittwe port and power, river dredging , Paletwa jetty, have been completed, except

368-834: Is a war with China. Integrated Customs & Immigration Checkpost at Zorinpui in Lawngtlai district , is already operational since 2017. In early 2018, visa agreement were signed for the citizens of two nations to travel by road for education, medical assistance, tourism and other purposes. This agreement was operationalised on 9 August 2018. Indians and Myanma citizens with valid passport and visa can pass through two official Land Border Crossings at Moreh in Manipur ( Tamu in Sagaing Region of Myanmar) and Zokhawthar in Mizoram ( Rihkhawdar in Chin State of Myanmar). In 2015, India proposed

414-756: Is alleged to have taught JMB operatives that "it is not a sin to loot valuables of Grameen Bank, BRAC, Proshika, Asa and Caritas as they encourage women to shed the Burqa (veil)." On 20 May 2001, 25 petrol bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organisation were discovered and eight of its members were arrested in Parbatipur in Dinajpur district . JMB is believed to have been involved in an explosion of seven bombs on 13 February 2003 at one of its hideouts. They had been preparing to use them in northern Bangladeshi towns during International Mother Language Day . On 17 August 2005, 500 small bombs at 300 locations in 50 cities and towns across Bangladesh detonated within

460-678: Is also to a proposal to build 1,575 km (979 mi) long Sittwe–Aizawl–Silchar–Guwahati–Siliguri–Gaya gas pipeline to transport gas from Sittwe gas field where ONGC and GAIL hold 30 percent stake in oil and gas exploration. Indian has decided to build an INR130 crore (US$ 20 million) bridge over the Feni River at the Tripura -Bangladesh border to connect the existing NH8 Agartala – Sabroom on Indian side to Chittagong port in Bangladesh 80 km (50 mi) from South Tripura. In February 2017,

506-654: Is being funded through a long-term interest-free credit line from India. Construction started in 2010, and is expected to be completed by June 2013. There is also to a proposal to build 1,575 km long Sittwe- Aizawl - Silchar - Guwahati - Siliguri - Gaya gas pipeline to transport gas from Sittwe Gas Field where ONGC and GAIL hold 30 percent stake in oil and gas exploration. 20°08′40″N 92°53′49″E  /  20.14444°N 92.89694°E  / 20.14444; 92.89694 Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project The Kaladan Road Project ( Burmese : ကုလားတန်မြစ်ကြောင်း ဘက်စုံဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေး စီမံကိန်း )

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552-700: Is being piloted and funded by the Ministry of External Affairs (India) . The preliminary feasibility studies were carried out by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) . Construction work on Sittwe port and the boat jetty in Paletwa , as well as the dredging work, will be executed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), with Essar Projects Ltd, a division of the Essar Group appointed in May 2010 as

598-472: Is building a rival Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone and port 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Sittwe. Thathay Chaung Hydropower Project(TCHP) is an 1800 megawatt, two dam project being built and financed by India on Chindwin River in Rakhine State of Myanmar, a 1,200 megawatt dam at Thamanthi (Manthi) and 600 megawatt dam at Shwejaye. The electricity produced will be supplied to Manipur state of India. There

644-686: Is expected to boost trade and commerce in the ASEAN–India Free Trade Area , as well as with the rest of Southeast Asia. India has also proposed extending the highway to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The proposed approx 3,200 km (2,000 mi) route from India to Vietnam is known as the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) . Paletwa–Cikha–India Highway Project is a INR 20 billion (US$ 315 million) 645 km (401 mi) long under construction Paletwa – Cikha road highway in Chin State of Myanmar, which will also be connected to

690-919: Is funded by Indian government, which will connect Paletwa in southern Chin state to Cikha (also misspelt as Chikha in Indian media) sub-town in northern Chin state. New roads will also be built to connect the Paletwa-Chikha highway to villages and towns in Chin state. India–Myanmar Zokhawthar–Rihkhawdar–Kalemyo Highway will provide second connection to the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMT), between NH102B Zokhawthar Indian border village of Champhai district in east Mizoram to Rihkhawdar border town in Myanmar, connecting it to IMT 120 km (75 mi) away at Kalemyo , where it will connect to

736-636: Is key part of India's "Look East" policy and Kaladan project has enabled several other associated projects with ongoing development of growing list of integrated linkages. Sittwe Special Economic Zone (Sittwe SEZ) at Ponnagyun town was announced by India's Union Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh at the India- ASEAN Foreign Ministers meet at Laos in August 2016. The 1000 acre SEZ will be built 60 kilometres (37 mi) north from Sittwe upstream of Kaladan River at Ponnagyun town. China

782-533: The Bangladesh National Party "under Prime Minister Khaleda Zia " that came to power in 2001. Main areas of JMB operations were: Since its foundation, the group was led by Maulana Abdur Rahman, a.k.a. Siddiqul Islam a.k.a. Bangla Bhai , and Shaykh Abdur Rahman . Six of their top men were captured by RAB security authorities in 2005. After being convicted at trial, on the evening of 29 March 2007, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai, and four other leaders of

828-746: The ISIL in Bangladesh . The JMB's aim is to replace the government of Bangladesh with an Islamic state based on Sharia Law . It has explicitly stated on more than one occasion that it opposes the political system of Bangladesh and ostensibly seeks to "build a society based on the Islamic model laid out in Holy Quran and Hadith." The organisation follows the ideals of the Taliban of Afghanistan. Its chief has been quoted as stating that "our model includes many leaders and scholars of Islam. But we will take as much (ideology) from

874-624: The hijab (veil). In a 2016 attack on a cafe in Dhaka , the perpetrators were allegedly JMB members. Members of the group have been convicted for the 2014 Burdwan blast and the 2018 Bodh Gaya bombing attacks in India. JMB allegedly received financial support from individual donors residing in Kuwait , UAE , Bahrain , Pakistan , Saudi Arabia and Libya . Certain reports claim that JMB received funding from international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of

920-554: The 1970s for transit access from the Bay of Bengal to these states, but was repeatedly denied access by the latter. The USD 500 million Kaladan project was hence conceived as an alternative, aimed at accelerating infrastructure and economic development in both India and Myanmar. The project includes the construction of a deepwater port at the mouth of the Kaladan River in Sittwe , the dredging of

966-596: The ARSA, created by Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Toiba and has links with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen in Bangladesh and the Indian Mujahideen in India, was behind the mass killing of Hindu Burmese Indians in the Kha Maung Seik massacre . Paletwa is less than 20 km (12 mi) from the Bangladesh border. This project will reduce distance from Kolkata to Sittwe by approximately 1,328 km (825 mi) and will reduce

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1012-593: The IMT at Kalemyo. Indian Railways has already converted to broad gauge the current 84 km (52 mi) rail line from Katakhal (Assam) to Bairabi 2 km (1.2 mi) inside Mizoram. Its further 51.38 km (31.93 mi) Bairabi Sairang Railway extension from Bairabi to Sairang (20 km (12 mi) north of Aizawl ) in Mizoram is under construction with target completion date of March 2019 as per status update in March 2016. In August 2015, India railway completed

1058-483: The Indian border on two places, Paletwa to NH502 Zochachhuah border village of Lawngtlai district in south-most Mizoram (main road route of Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport project) and at Khenman (Myanmar) to NH102B Behiang border village of Churachandpur district in southernmost Manipur. On 21 April 2016, Chin State Chief Minister Pu Lian Luai in Myanmar informed that the project

1104-456: The JMJB. According to JMJB leaders, the whole country has been divided into nine organisational divisions. Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Chittagong have an organisational divisional office each, while Dhaka has two divisional offices and Rajshahi three. The outfit also had committees in each village and, according to media reports, villagers were being forced to join the committees. If anybody refused, he

1150-535: The Kaladan Multi-Modal project) to northeast India, India is also developing railway route from Cox's Bazar deep water port to South Tripura district by rehabilitating the railway link from Santirbazar in India to Feni in Bangladesh, where a road and rail bridge is being built to connect the " Belonia, India – Parshuram, Bangladesh road and rail crossing checkposts", this will reduce traffic through Sittwe, but will provide strategically redundancy if there

1196-674: The Myanmar government to transport gas to north-east India via Manipur . Work on the port in Sittwe and the IWT in Paletwa, Chin State, is in its final stages, and the six cargo vessels are meant to facilitate transportation of goods from Sittwe to Paletwa. The $ 81.29 million cost of the vessels was met through a grant from India. The construction work was assigned to IWT in October 2012, the keels were laid in March 2013 and

1242-660: The Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and the Rabita Al Alam Al Islami , Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. South Asian Terrorist Portal (SATP), The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism and Defenddemocracy.org state that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh "appears" to be connected with putatively non-violent, legal Islamist group or groups in Bangladesh, Defenddemocracy speculating that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh

1288-603: The Taliban as we need." It opposes democracy as being in violation of Sharia or Islamic law. It also opposes socialism and its avowed objective is to neutralize left-wing extremists, especially cadres of the Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP). JMB also is opposed to cultural functions, cinema halls, shrines and NGOs. In another leaflet it said, "We don't want Taguti (non-Islamic) law, let Qur’anic law be introduced. Laws framed by humans cannot persist and only

1334-530: The death of judges, lawyers, policemen and even mere ordinary people. JMB killed two judges in Jhalakathi in South Bangladesh on 14 November 2005. The group has also threatened journalists, with more than 55 receiving death threats between September and December 2005. Following an 8 December 2005 suicide bombing, Reuters reported the group threatened to kill women, including non-Muslims, who did not wear

1380-556: The government does not establish Islamic law in the country after this [third] warning and, rather, it goes to arrest any Muslim on charge of seeking Allah's laws or it resorts to repression on Alem-Ulema, the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen [JMB] will go for counteraction, Insha Allah. Several captured members of the group have claimed that their targets include traditional Bangladeshi cultural and non-government organisations such as BRAC , Proshika , and Grameen Bank . Leader Abdur Rahman

1426-483: The laws of Allah shall prevail." They have claimed responsibility for several violent attacks and bombings. JMB's communiqués reveal a Salafist doctrine that is common across international radical Islamist organisations. A 2005 leaflet proclaimed: We are the soldiers of Allah. We have taken up arms for the implementation of Allah's law the way the Prophet, Sahabis and heroic Mujahideen have implemented for centuries. If

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1472-454: The main contractor. Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project initially faced problems such as underestimation of the road length in Myanmar and plans to construct hydro-electric projects — Chhimtuipui River and Lungleng River — on two tributaries of the Kaladan River followed by another project downstream. That the first two projects are being built by one public sector undertaking and

1518-528: The monsoon and start construction after the monsoon in October. The project has several sections combining multi-modes of transport: This railway route will complement the river–road route of this project in Myanmar-Mizoram: Compared to the 1,880 km (1,170 mi) long, congested "Chicken's Neck" Siliguri Corridor , this Kaladan project will almost half the distance to a mere 950 km (590 mi). As an alternate route (unrelated to

1564-439: The need to transport goods through the narrow Siliguri corridor, also known as Chicken's Neck . Initially India had tried to persuade Bangladesh to offer transport and transit rights to the northeastern states. However, Bangladesh has consistently refused to grant such rights, including access to its Chittagong port, which is less than 200 km (120 mi) away from Agartala , the capital of Tripura . The project

1610-486: The ongoing land acquisition is complete. The upgrade of 52-km long road from Tuipang to Myanmar border, from 2-lane to all-weather 4-lane highway, is also included in this 352 km (219 mi) long National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) project. The India–Myanmar–Thailand (IMT) Trilateral Highway (Friendship Highway) is a highway under construction that will connect Moreh , India with Mae Sot , Thailand via Myanmar . The road

1656-420: The operation of completed Sittwe port and Inland Water Terminal at Paletwa to Myanmar. In June 2017, India added six gas tanker cargo vessels to transport gas to Northeast India via Manipur . An agreement on the project was signed between the governments of India and Myanmar in April 2009. The contract for the construction for the Sittwe port was awarded to the Essar Group of India. The USD 120 Million port

1702-456: The organisation were executed by hanging for the killing of two judges and for countrywide bombings in 2005. The JMB reportedly has a three-tier organisation. The first tier of the outfit consists of activists called Ehsar, who are recruited on a full-time basis and act at the behest of the higher echelons. The second tier, known as Gayeri Ehsar , has over 100,000 part-time activists. The third tier involves those who indirectly co-operate with

1748-630: The project was in tendering stage. In June 2017, to ensure faster movement of goods between Sittwe and Mizoram capital of Aizawl in the North West which is close to the Barak Valley of Assam, India started an INR6,000-crore upgrade of current 2-lane 300 km (190 mi) Aizawl–Tuipang national highway to all-weather four-laning of international standard, the tender will be floated in September and construction contract will be awarded by December 2017 after

1794-453: The river to enable cargo vessels to navigate the river from Sittwe to Mizoram in India, the construction of a river port at Paletwa in Myanmar's Chin State and the upgrade of highways from Paletwa to Myeikwa on the Indo-Myanmar borde r. In 2017, the Sittwe port, Paletwa jetty, road to India and shipments to India are likely to be operational in 2019. In April 2017, India handed over

1840-503: The third is being constructed by another PSU (Public Sector Unit) has also led to coordination issues. Due to construction of this hydro electrical projects, navigation of boats could be effected. In April 2017, the Sittwe port and IWT Paletwa jetty were ready and operational. In April 2017, India handed over the operation of completed Sittwe port and Inland Water Terminal at Paletwa to Myanmar. In June 2017, India handed six gas tanker cargo vessels worth US$ 81.29 million (K110.08 billion) to

1886-532: The top leaders of JMB were captured by the RAB security forces in 2005. After being tried and convicted in court, on the evening of 29 March 2007, four were executed by hanging for the killing of two judges and for the August 2005 bombings. In two separate incidents in 2015, it was discovered that JMB had been receiving financing from officers at the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka. Visa Attache, Mazhar Khan,

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1932-449: The under construction Zorinpui-Paletwa road. Originally, the project was scheduled to be completed by 2014, but end-to-end project is expected to be fully operational only by December 2023 as per November 2023 update. The route of the project around Paletwa and along the Kaladan river is troubled with Chin conflict , Rohingya conflict and militant groups such as Arakan Army and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Among these

1978-660: The vessels were launched between April and December 2016. On completion of the tests and trials at Yangon, the vessels reached Sittwe in March 2017. Acceptance trials were completed in April 2017 in Sittwe. In June 2017, after several upward budget revisions and troubles in finding contractors, the INR1,600-crore (US$ 250 million) contract has been finally awarded to an Indian company C&C construction for building 109-km road connecting IWT Paletwa river terminal to Zorinpui in Mizoram border. The contractor would open offices at Sittwe, Paletwa and Yangon in Myanmar, mobilise men and machine during

2024-525: Was branded as a "collaborator" of the PBCP and taken to the JMJB "trial centre" The group has been condemned by other Islamist organisations like the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh . In 2014 spokesman Azizul Haque Islamabadi said: There is prevailing a congenial and peaceful environment in Bangladesh. People are living in peace and in such a situation the announcement by Al Qaeda chief Zawahiri has made

2070-558: Was caught red-handed at a meeting with a JMB operative in April 2015, who said that they were involved in pushing large consignments of fake Indian currency into West Bengal and Assam. Second Secretary, Farina Arshad, was expelled by Bangladesh in December 2015 after a JMB operative admitted to having received 30,000 Taka from her. An offshoot of the group, the Neo-Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, effectively operates as

2116-616: Was officially declared a terrorist organisation and banned by the government of Bangladesh in February 2005 after attacks on NGOs . But it struck back in mid-August when it detonated 500 small bombs at 300 locations throughout Bangladesh. The group re-organised and has committed several public murders in 2016 in northern Bangladesh as part of a wave of attacks on secularists . The JMB was believed to have contained at least 10,000 members, and have an extensive network of organisations, including connections to legal Islamist organisations. Six of

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