Pakistan’s Rohingya Gambit: How Refugees Are Being Used As Militant Pawns

Last Updated:October 01, 2025, 16:37 IST

Indian intelligence agencies have consistently raised alerts about the activity of the ISI to provide ideological and arms training to Rohingya teenagers within Bangladesh

India has been closely observing the activities of the ISI and possible radicalisation of Rohingya refugees, understanding the repercussions that such activity can have on national security. (X)

Pakistan’s strategic moves with respect to Rohingya refugees are attracting the world’s attention, particularly Bangladesh, before national elections. Intelligence inputs indicate that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), supported by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is increasingly working with militant Rohingya groups, including the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO).

Rohingya Exodus Into Extremism

The training camps have been activated by various Bangladeshi districts such as Mymensingh, Cox’s Bazar, Bagerhat, Naikhongchhari, and Brahmanbaria, and vulnerable Rohingya refugees have been enlisted and radicalised to indulge in terrorist activities. The move follows Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) having raised red flags way back in 2017-18 of ISI’s plan to exploit the refugee crisis to aid hardline Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JeI) party. Seeing that JeI’s leaders had been convicted of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War, the party now wants to make a return to power and Islamabad seems determined to aid this return to power.

Links to Pakistan-Based Extremism

Sources indicate that organisations like Aqa Mul Mujahideen (AMM)—responsible for attacks within Myanmar—are immediate branches of Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami Arakan (HUJI-A). AMM’s leader, Abdus Qadoos Burmi, a Pakistani national of Rohingya origin, is accused of enjoying close relations with Hafiz Saeed, notorious founder of LeT and listed global terrorist. Another AMM commander, Abu Aman Jununi, is known to have been professionally trained in Pakistan after being poached from Myanmar’s Maungdaw area. Many such Rohingya youths now have now been radicalised and trained in para-army forces within Bangladesh-Myanmar’s porous frontier, only to be utilised in covert operations against regional stability.

Security Concerns of Bangladesh

For Bangladesh, these revelations carry sharp warnings. The 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery terrorism attack and a series of targeted assassinations of secular voices have been traced to Pakistani and specifically ISI-linked networks earlier by Bangladeshi intelligence. The nation being plunged into fresh political turmoil and the shadow of Rohingya militants being used as pawns of cross-border militancy heighten Dhaka’s security dilemma.

India has been closely observing the activities of the ISI and possible radicalisation of Rohingya refugees, understanding the repercussions that such activity can have on national security. Indian intelligence agencies have consistently raised alerts about the activity of the ISI to provide ideological and arms training to Rohingya teenagers within Bangladesh, with specific concern that radicalised elements can creep into Indian territory and cause turbulence to internal stability. Security officials have pointed to potential risks, particularly within sensitive Indian states such as West Bengal and Assam and J&K, and referred to proof of some Rohingya refugees being associated with extremist groups operating on Pakistan’s behalf.

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