Presence of Bangladeshis & jihadi groups in Assam

The arrest of five persons in the Barpeta district a couple of days ago for their alleged links with a Bangladesh-based jihadi group having affiliation to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) is a matter of grave concern. The five persons arrested from villages under Howly, Kalgachia and Barpeta police stations also include a Bangladeshi national. According to police, the Bangladeshi person has been identified as Md Suman alias Saiful Islam alias Haroon Rashid, and he hails from a village in Narayanganj in Bangladesh. It has been also stated that this person had indoctrinated the other four persons of Barpeta district to spread the tentacles of the Islamic terror group in Assam by influencing more youth of the immigrant Muslim community which has its roots in the neighbouring country. These arrests also prove once again the presence of Bangladeshi infiltrators in Assam, who must be taking shelter in villages where residents comprise families having roots and connections in Bangladesh. The simple question whose answer is simple is: why would a Muslim person of Howly, Barpeta or Kalgachia entertain or provide shelter to a Bangladeshi infiltrator – and that too, a member of the Al Qaeda – if he or she does not have connections with Bangladesh? The answer to this question also points at the fact that there are indeed Bangladeshis staying in villages in Howly, Barpeta and Kalgachia, and obviously in other places which have sizable numbers of Muslims of immigrant origin. What can be also assumed or suspected is that some of these Muslims of immigrant origin will stand and work in the interest of their masters who are based in Bangladesh and whose basic objectives include fomenting trouble in Assam with the larger intention of fulfilling Jinnah's dream of converting Assam into a Pakistan. The arrest of five persons in Howly, Barpeta and Kalgachia is not an isolated or stray incident. This is just the tip of the iceberg. It was in December 2014 that the Assam Police had arrested one Sahanur Alom, an important Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operative from a village near Sarthebari in Barpeta district, who had links to the Burdwan blast of October 2014. Following this, in September 2015 that the Assam Police had busted a training camp set up by a jihadi module in Chirang district. In addition to that, the police had in 2015 also arrested several youths belonging to the immigrant Muslim community from villages in Tulsibil, Muwamari, Bhawraguri and Joypur in Kokrajhar district. Altogether close to 40 persons, all young people between 18 and 35 years ago – were arrested by the Assam Police as a follow-up of the arrest of Sahanur Alom, the notorious Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operative, during 2015. But then there is a strong suspicion that the majority of immigrant Muslims in Assam has an inclination or soft corner for jihadis and anti-India Islamic forces. Records show that the government of Assam had prepared and submitted in the State Legislative Assembly a list of as many as 14 different Islamic militant groups in the state in 2012. Even before that, way back in April 2000, then Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had presented a statement in the Assembly detailing the activities of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the state. While the Assam Police must be congratulated for having arrested the jihadis including one Bangladeshi national, what the BJP-led government probably needs to do is to instruct the police to intensify its investigations and identify/arrest as many Bangladeshis as possible. There will be hues and cries from certain quarters if a person is arrested for being Bangladeshi. Such hue and cry are raised by some political parties and some Leftist self-styled intellectuals. But then, it is also for the government and the alliance partners of the BJP in Assam – all of them representing the indigenous people of the state – to launch a massive campaign against those who are harbouring or providing shelter to Bangladeshis and jihadis. It is not that all people of Bangladesh are jihadis. The student bodies of Assam – many of which are accused of collecting 'donations' by force – too should mount a campaign against these forces.