Police verification of non-local imams to be a must: Assam CM Himanta Sarma

The announcement came days after two imams were arrested in Goalpara districts for alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

Police verification and online registration will soon become mandatory for imams and madrasa teachers from outside Assam, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. (PTI)

The announcement came days after two imams were arrested in Goalpara districts for alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). The imams, however, are local residents and not from outside the state, police said.

Besides, at least 25 people, including Bangladeshi nationals, have been arrested in the past four months over alleged links with the two terror groups, according to the police.

“We have prepared some standard operating procedures (SOPs) wherein residents will have to inform local police about new imams and madrasa teachers who are from outside the area, so that police can verify their antecedents before they take up any work,” the chief minister told reporters.

A government portal will be launched where imams and teachers of madrasas from outside the state will have to register their details, he added.

Sarma, however, did not specify when the SOPs or portal will be introduced.

Two imams – Abdus Subhan (43) and Jalaluddin Sheikh (49) – were arrested in Goalpara district on Saturday. Incriminating documents, phones and SIM cards were seized from their possession, police said.

Speaking on the arrests, Sarma said: “Two persons with ‘jihadi’ links have been arrested. One of them was found to be a kingpin who, besides working as an imam, was involved in expanding the terror network.”

Goalpara superintendent of police VV Rakesh Reddy said the accused would provide logistic support to those associated with the two terror groups.

“They were also recruiting people for new ‘jihadi’ sleeper cells in Goalpara and were getting logistical support from AQIS and ABT,” Reddy said.

“Both of them were produced in court on Sunday and have been remanded in police custody for seven days. They are residents of Goalpara and not from outside the state,” he added.

Earlier this month, chief minister Sarma had claimed that 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.

According to intelligence inputs, at least six ABT members from Bangladesh entered India illegally between 2016 and 2017 to set up terror modules and sleeper cells by indoctrinating local youths about “jihadi” ideology, Sarma said.

While one of them, who was working as an Arabic teacher as well as an imam in Barpeta district, have been arrested, the others are missing, he added.

“Interestingly, the hub of all ‘jihadi’ activities, as of now, appears to be ‘madrasas’. I am not generalising but whoever has been arrested till date, have had some connection with madrasas or were acting as preachers in some mosques,” the chief minister said.

“These people were working as preachers in mosques as a cover job. Their aim was to wage ‘jihad’ against India and establish the ‘shariat’ law. Several training camps were set up by these, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. They were trained in tradecraft (techniques/technology used in modern espionage), radicalisation, indoctrination, gun training and bomb making,” he added.

On Monday, Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta informed that the police are preparing a directory of all private madrasas being operated in Assam. The DGP tweeted this after a meeting with Maulana Abdul Qadir, secretary of Taznim Council, which runs majority of the madrasas in Assam. Qadir handed over a directory of all madrasas being run by his organisation to Mahanta.

“We want to create a master directory of all madrasas being run in Assam. A tough job, as many of them are unregistered and unauthorised. Our objective (is) to prevent anti-India, jihadi elements from utilising the madrasas for their nefarious fundamentalist purposes,” tweeted Mahanta.

Last year, the BJP-led government in the state had decided to shut down nearly 800 government-run madrasas in the state and convert them to regular schools. At present, the state has only prive madrasas.