The fallout of the crackdown on activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in the Kausa-Mumbra area of Thane, has resulted in the police turning the heat on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants camped in the region.
Besides arresting SIMI activists over the past two days, the Thane police also arrested an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, 30-year old Ayub Mohammed Nisar alias Mohammed Ayub Yunus alias Mohammed Fayyaz, who had been camping in Kausa for nearly two years. He had been living there for a year-and-a-half after his visa had expired. However, a section of Muslims residing in the Kausa Mumbra region allege that the police are on a witch-hunt under the pretext of nabbing Bangladeshis and SIMI activists.
A resident of Millat Nagar said, on condition of anonymity, “They come knocking in the middle of the night and ask for all kinds of details to prove our identity. And in case someone doesn't have the requisite papers, even if he is a local resident, he has to bribe them to evade arrest.”
Dismissing the allegations, Inspector Datta Ghule said that though it is widely known that thousands of Bangladeshis are illegally staying in the Kausa-Mumbra area, raids are conducted on the basis of specific information.
Citing statistics, Ghule said Ayub's
arrest was the fourth in recent times. Last month, two Lashkar-e-Taiba
militants were flushed out of Mumbra and another Pakistani national, 35-year-old
Abdul Rehman Taj Khan, was nabbed in June. Earlier in the year, four hardcore
Pakistani militants were nabbed from Mumbra and handed over to the Jammu
and Kashmir police.