Police to keep tabs on youths going outside Assam: DGP

TERROR THREATS

* Militant outfits working clandestinely; Qamar-uz-Zaman to be brought to State

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 22: Alarmed at youths joining terror outfits, the Assam Police on Saturday said it is trying to work out a mechanism to keep track of youths going out of the State so that they do not eventually engage themselves in any anti-national act.

Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia told reporters here that a large number of youths from the State are going to different places in India for various purposes. “We are trying to explore the possibility of creating a comprehensive database of youths going out of the State so that the police could trace them easily in case they go astray. We have also asked gaonburahs (village heads) and Village Defence Party to gather information about youths going out of the State. They will inquiry whether such youths are maintaining contacts with their parents and relatives,” he said.

Responding to the reporters’ question as how could the Assam Police remain clueless about Qamar-uz-Zaman, a youth from Hojai district in Central Assam who joined Hizbul Mujahideen, an ISI-backed terrorist outfit, Special DGP (SB) Pallab Bhattacharyya said these terrorist outfits carry out their movements and activities in very clandestine manner to evade the police and security forces. Qamar was arrested recently by the Anti Terror Squad from Kanpur.

“Assam Police is also working clandestinely with its allies and intelligence agencies to counter the movements of terror groups in the State,” Bhattacharyya said.

Bhattacharyya, while reacting to the query that the terrorist outfit such as Hizbul Mujahideen is now using the religion as a tool to indoctrinate the youths with its ideology, said “We cannot let the social fabric of the State to get harmed. The media should also not create hype in creating sensational news and create an unnecessary situation of fear and suspicion.”

Emphasizing on the need for a joint fights by various agencies to prevent terror outfits to spread its network in the State, the DGP said the police is working and examining information and inputs about Qamar-uz-Zaman provided by the Uttar Pradesh police and Anti Terror Squad. He said the Assam Police is in touch with the Uttar Pradesh police to bring Qamar-uz-Zaman to Assam for the purpose of interrogation.

Saikia said the militants’ or terrorist outfits are trying to radicalize people in the region through various social media tools and giving maximum efforts in mass campaigning through social media. The police is aware of such fact and making all efforts to counter the same, he said.

He asserted that the police is making no differentiation while treating terror and stern action will be taken against Hindu terrorists also in case they are found in the State.

According to Assam Police the Islamic terrorist groups had started spreading their wings in the State soon after the Neellie massacre in 1983. For the last several years the terror outfits, namely Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (first such organization worked in Assam), HUJI and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen of Bangladesh had worked to motivate the State’s youths to join such outfit. He said soon after the Burdwan blast in West Bengal in 2014 the Assam Police had arrested 57 Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen rebels of Bangladesh. The group was almost eliminated from the State then. Hizbul Mujahideen is now trying to trying hard to use the State’s youths.