HVK Archives: Assam, a haven for Islamic militants
Assam, a haven for Islamic militants - The Indian Express
Express News Service
()
September 12, 1998
Title: Assam, a haven for Islamic militants
Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 12, 1998
The arrest of a top-ranking leader of the All-India Muslim
liberation Front (AIMLF) in the State has confirmed that Islamic
militancy is on the rise in Assam.
Kamrul Haque Barbhuyan was apprehended by the police quite
accidentally at the Jorhat railway station on September 3 for
travelling without a ticket.
A through checking of his belongings led to the recovery of a
large number of incriminating documents including propaganda
literature of the AIMLF, following which he was brought to
Guwahati, where he is still under interrogation.
Initial police reports have even linked Barbhuyan to the murder
of cassette king Gulshan Kumar, as also to the serial blasts of
Mumbai of 1993.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani told a press
conference here yesterday that the Government was aware of a well-
organised attempt of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of
Pakistan to set up a network of sorts in India.
slamic militancy is increasing day by day, and it is a matter
of great concern for India," the Union Home Minister has said.
Highly-placed sources in the Assam police on the other hand said
the ISI was trying to sponsor or back up various splinter groups
of Islamic activists, and several organisations had sprung up in
Assam in the past few years.
Two such groups, the Muslim United liberation Front of Assam
(MULTA) and the Muslim United liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA)
have, however, been nipped in the bud with the key leaders
already falling into the security dragnet, police said.
The police also said that the ISI was sending batches of trainers
to Assam through the porous borders to motivate Muslim youths.
Some Muslim youths of Assam have also undergone training in arms
in Manipur, where one or two Islamic militant groups are active.
For the ISI, the task is not very difficult going by the fact
that Assam has about 40 lakh people who are believed to have
illegally crossed over from Bangladesh, while a large number of
people had also sneaked in be 1947 and 1971.
There are in fact reports in the past, of Pakistan flags being
hoisted in some interior districts of Assam during the 1965 and
1971 Indo-Pak wars, which add to the point that sympathy for
Islamic militants is very much available here.
Besides the Assam police, the Border Security Force (BSF) too is
actively monitoring the infiltration of ISI operatives and
Islamic militants into Assam. According to the BSF, there are at
least 14 Muslim fundamental organisations currently operating in
Assam.
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