GUWAHATI, May 2—With Jehadi Islamic militancy on the rise across the globe, security agencies in the North East are worried about its spread in the region. With the region already embroiled in a large number of secessionist movements, there are fears that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) may fire the imagination of susceptible young minds, among the Muslims here, with “ultra-fundamentalist” propaganda.
What has caused alarm in security circles here is the steady growth in the number of madrassas in the region, particularly in the states bordering Bangladesh. Among these states are Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal. “There has been an unprecedented growth in their numbers in recent years,” a worried security source said here.
According to data available with the security establishment, in the last half-decade over 80 new madrassas have been established in these four states. Most of them have come up very close to the international border. Not surprisingly, because it is along the border that the Muslim population in these states are the maximum.
Madrassas, the centres of Islamic learning, have often been eyed with suspicion in Assam, with several organisations, most notably the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), alleging that they have become centres of sedition as well as safe houses for Islamic militants. Though security agencies do not want to paint all the madrassas with the same brush, they fear that at least a few of them are indeed being utilised for anti-national activities.
Sources said that there are some serious suspicions that a few madrassas in Dhubri district in the state are being used as transit houses for gunrunners and for jehadi elements. What gives credence to such doubts is the fact that dozens of new madrassas have also come up along the border in the Bangladeshi side.
Nascent Islamic separatist group Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA), which wields considerable influence in the char (riverine) areas of lower Assam, is said to be making effective use of these madrassas to channelise funds from across the border. Its cadres also use them for their trans-border movements, the sources said. The MULTA has the backing of the ISI and is gradually emerging as a force.
According to the sources, it is not only the ISI that is involved in the madrassas. There are also reports that a large number of countries, especially from the Middle East, are also encouraging the spread of madrassas in the region. They are spending a huge amount of money to set up these centres in both Bangladesh and the adjoining territory of India. “That is why we see glittering and magnificent madrassas in even the most impoverished areas,” the sources said.