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Locals demolish madrasa over ‘terror links’ in Assam
A private madrasa (Muslim religious school) allegedly used for jihadi activities and sheltering cadres of Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in Assam’s Goalpara district was razed by local Muslim residents on Tuesday, police said.
A private madrasa (Muslim religious school) allegedly used for jihadi activities and sheltering cadres of Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in Assam’s Goalpara district was razed by local Muslim residents on Tuesday, police said.
This is the first instance of public destroying a madrasa in the state. Last month, three such institutions were demolished by the state government following arrests of persons allegedly linked with ABT and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
A video of Tuesday’s demolition released by Assam Police showed residents breaking the wall of the madrasa made with bamboo and removing tin-sheets used for the roof.
“The residents of Darogar Alga in Pakhiura Char destroyed the madrasa and a residence next to it on Tuesday morning to protest against purported jihadi activities. The madrasa was used by Jalaluddin Sheikh, an imam of a local mosque, who was arrested by police last month,” Goalpara superintendent of police (SP) VV Rakesh Reddy said.
Sheikh was an active member of AQIS and was responsible for recruiting jihadi sleeper cells in the district, according to police. He is also accused of engaging two AQIS/ABT cadres from Bangladesh, Aminul Islam and Jahangir Alom, as teachers in the madrasa that was brought down on Tuesday, they said.
“Both Bangladeshi nationals (Islam and Alom), who had illegally entered India, stayed in the madrasa and the nearby residence for almost a year. They set up a jihadi network in the area under the garb of teaching in the madrasa,” Reddy said.
After the demolition, local residents told police that they were earlier not aware of any purported jihadi activities at the madrasa, the SP said. “While some madrasas with terror links have been razed, the local administration had no plan to demolish the one at Darogar Alga,” he added.
Local residents claimed it was a collective decision to bring down the institution and the residence due to their purported links with jihadi groups.
“We came to know about the happenings here only after Jalaluddin Sheikh was arrested and decided to remove both structures. The two Bangladeshi nationals were engaged as teachers in the madrasa. Both fled from here before we came to know about their antecedents and activities,” a local resident said, seeking anonymity.
As reported earlier, the state government demolished three private madrasas last month in Morigaon, Barpeta and Bongaigaon districts. The action came within days of arrests of persons connected to these institutions over alleged links with AQIS and ABT.
Since March this year, the government claims to have busted five jihadi modules and arrested nearly 30 people, including a Bangladeshi national.
Although the madrasas were razed soon after the arrests, the reason provided by the state government and district administrations behind such actions was that the buildings were found to be structurally vulnerable, unsafe for human habitation, did not conform to building guidelines, constructed without permission on government land or had an illegal electricity connection.
The last madrasa demolished by authorities in Bongaigaon, on August 31, was brought down on the grounds that it was “structurally vulnerable, unsafe for human habitation” and not constructed as per specified norms. It took the administration several bulldozers and nearly two days to demolish the concrete building.
In a memorandum to National Commission for Minorities in New Delhi on Monday, Congress MLA from Assam Abdul Khaleque and four party MLAs alleged the madrasa in Bongaigaon was demolished illegally without any concrete basis to prove it was used for jihadi activities. The memorandum urged the NCM to look into the matter.
Lok Sabha MP and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Badruddin Ajmal termed the actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government against private madrasas as illegal and demanded an immediate stop on such activity.
Last month, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed Assam has become a hotbed of “jihadi activities” as five “jihadi” modules with links to Al Qaida-affiliated terror outfits in Bangladesh were busted in the past four months.
“We don’t have plans to continue demolishing madrasas. But if we get specific inputs on any madrsasa being used for expanding jihadi or anti-India activity, under the guise of a madrasa, we are going to take strongest possible action in each and every such case,” he said recently.
On Sunday, office bearers of several organisations operating private madrasas held a detailed discussion with senior Assam Police officials and decided to set up a committee to prepare norms on regulating such institutions in the state.
There are around 3,000 private madrasas in Assam at present, according to police records.
Last year, the Assam assembly had passed a legislation to convert 731 government-run madrasas in the state to regular schools.
