Assam police on Tuesday said local residents at Darogar Alga, a riverine village in Goalpara district demolished a private madrasa, where two Bangladeshi nationals worked as teachers earlier. 

The two Bangladeshi nationals, Aminul Islam alias Usman and Jahangir Alom are now absconding and are wanted by the Assam Police for being members of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a banned terror group and an affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), police said.

Police said Jalauddin Sheikh, who was arrested recently for his alleged involvement with the ABT, disclosed that he had engaged the two Bangladeshi nationals in the madrasa as teachers.

Three madrasas were earlier demolished by the administration in Morigaon, Barpeta, and Bongaigaon districts in August. But police on Tuesday said the fourth madrasa at Goalpara was demolished by local residents and not by the administration. A house adjacent to the madrasa was also demolished by Muslim villagers, police said.

Morigaon, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, and Goalpara districts have a sizeable Muslim population. The demolition of three madrasas had invited strong protests by the Opposition parties in Assam. 

The administration said the private madrasas were demolished as they were found violating construction and safety norms. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, said a police investigation found that members of Islamic terror groups, ABT and AQIS also used madrasa in some places to carry forward their "jihadi activities."

The state police have arrested at least 37 people including Madrassa teachers since March this year for their alleged links with ABT and AQIS. 

The BJP-led government had earlier closed down nearly 800 government-aided madrassas in the state stating that religious education can not be allowed with public funding. The government also asked the state police to step up vigil against private madrasas in order to prevent the use of such institutions by unlawful organizations. 

Crackdown on Madrasas in Assam

As reported by ANI, SP Swapnaneel Deka told, “District administration said in an order that the Madrasa is structurally vulnerable and unsafe for human habitation as the Madrasa buildings were not built as per APWD specifications/IS norms.”

SP Deka also added that a search operation was conducted at the same madrasa on August 30 to investigate certain links with respect to one of the 37 people including imams and madrasa teachers who have been arrested for terrorism links with AQIS/ABT in Assam. He confirmed that the directions to demolish the madrasa has come from the district administration.

Previous demolitions and the Assam govt’s crackdown on madrasas with links to Islamic terror organisations

On Monday, August 29, the district administration and police in the Barpeta district in Assam demolished a Madarsa, run by Maulvis Akbar Ali and his brother Abul Kalam Azad, arrested for their links with Bangladesh-based terror outfit Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

The madrasa named Shaikhul Hind Mahmudul Hasan Jamiul Huda Islamic Academy against which the action was taken was located at Dhakaliapara in the Barpeta district of Assam and is said to be illegally constructed on government land.

The police also arrested Mahmunur Rashid, the principal of the madrasa. The madrasa named Shaikhul Hind Mahmudul Hasan Jamiul Huda Islamic Academy had housed the Bangladeshi terrorist Md Suman alias Saiful Islam, who was arrested by the Assam police in March this year. Md Suman reportedly stayed here along with one of his aides, who is still on the run.

The demolition and the arrests are a part of the ongoing crackdown on Jihadi terrorists operating from mosques and madrasas in the state.

References:

deccanherald.com