Out of the 600 foreigners including 200 hardcore maulvis (Muslim religious preachers) deported by Colombo over the last week after the suicide bombings there, over a 100 were Indians, reports The Pioneer on May 13. They, along with those from Pakistan and Maldives, were suspected to be engaged in radicalisation in the Sri Lankan mosques. Sri Lankan authorities have identified about 1,200 such individuals who are being screened for terror links and depending upon antecedent verification more such clerics are likely to be deported to the respective countries. Besides the Indians, clerics from Pakistan and Maldives have also been deported in large numbers owing to their terror links that emerged after serial suicide bombings in Colombo on Sunday Easter last month that took a toll of over 250 persons including 11 Indians. Besides the 200 maulvis, the 400 other individuals are also suspected to have travelled on tourist visas but have been essentially been engaged in radical preachings, sources said. The revelation of the Indian maulvis in radicalisation activities in the island nation has set alarm bells ringing in the security establishment here as they apprehend the international terror groups might have developed a hub of such transnational radical preachers in the country. The deportations began on May 14 after the Sri Lankan authorities informed the respective foreign missions on the issue. By May 16, the 600 such radicals were deported to the respective countries. Pakistani clerics have infiltrated the mosques in the region including in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Maldives and even in some of the ASEAN countries. These clerics are being exploited by the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for the larger design of implementing state agenda of sponsoring terror in the neighborhood, sources said.