Migrant ammo for
jihadi gun
- War of words in Bodo heartland
OUR BUREAU TELEGRAPH INDIA
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| Suspected Bangladeshi migrants. A file picture |
Kokrajhar/Guwahati, Aug. 1:
The migrant purge in Assam has spawned a jihadi threat and a
conflict with communal overtones.
Intelligence agencies today warned of violence by jihadi
groups on the pretext of standing up for minorities facing
harassment at the hands of organisations spearheading the
oust-Bangladeshi campaign.
Trouble is already brewing with the Ex-BLT Welfare Society
asking migrants of Bangladeshi origin to quit the Bodo
heartland immediately and the All Bodoland Muslim Students’
Union threatening the All Assam Students’ Union with
retaliation if it continues harassing Indian
“Bengali-speaking Muslims”.
The threat came from the Kokrajhar and Chirang units of the
student organisation.
Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland have pushed as many as 3,000
migrants of suspected Bangladeshi origin into Assam in the
past two weeks. But chief minister Tarun Gogoi said
yesterday that all but 38 of the migrants were Indian
citizens.
The government also decided to constitute committees
comprising representatives of political parties and
organisations like the All Assam Students’ Union and the All
Assam Minority Students’ Union in each circle, subdivision,
district to refer suspected illegal migrants for official
verification.
A senior official of an intelligence agency said the
tug-of-war over migrants of suspected Bangladeshi origin was
the perfect setting for jihadi groups looking to “fish in
troubled waters”. He said Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (Huji),
which co-ordinates jihadi activity in the region, had long
been trying to make its presence felt and might incite
radical groups representing the minorities.
Vital installations and religious places could also be
targeted as part of the counter campaign, the official
added.
The police have stepped up vigil in the districts bordering
Bangladesh to prevent activists of jihadi groups from
sneaking into the state.
Of the 42 fundamentalist groups known to be active in the
country, as many as 29 operate in the Northeast. The Muslim
Liberation Tigers of Assam and the Islamic United
Reformation Protest of India are the two most active groups
operating under Huji.
These groups worked under the banner of the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen before Huji took over.
Maulana Maqbul Hussain, alias Zuber, of Dhubri district has
been reportedly masterminding Huji operations in the
Northeast from his base in Bangladesh.
A source said jihadi groups would definitely capitalise on
the recent developments in Assam to create social unrest.
“Any attack by these groups at this juncture will enhance
their acceptability among the radical sections of the
minorities and also create social unrest. In any case,
illegal migrants constitute the base of these groups.”
The president of the Chirang unit of the Minority Students’
Union, Mohd Nazrul Islam, said in a statement to the media
that harassment of Bengali Muslim wage-earners after
branding them Bangladeshis would not be tolerated.
Bodoland joins
migrant purge
- AASU catches more ‘infiltrators’
OUR BUREAU
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| Suspected Bangladeshi migrants in Dibrugarh on Tuesday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
July 24: The Bodoland administration today gave a group of
suspected Bangladeshi migrants in Kokrajhar district 24
hours to move out or be forcibly evicted.
Kokrajhar deputy commissioner J. Gogoi issued the eviction
notice, one that could annoy an allegedly protective Dispur,
even as student activists in another part of the state
rounded up more migrants of doubtful origin.
As in Sonitpur, where activists of the BJP’s youth wing
intercepted a group of settlers evicted from Arunachal
Pradesh last week, members of the All Assam Students Union
herded 69 suspected Bangladeshis into a police station in
Dibrugarh.
The Kokrajhar administration’ s eviction notice came at the
end of the deadline set by the All Bodo Students’ Union and
the All Assam Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union to evict the
settlers. Paranoia had gripped Kokrajhar town after the
alleged arrival of groups of suspected migrants in Bhotgaon
and Kashipara. Makeshift camps housing illegal migrants
sprang up overnight in these areas.
Police admitted that 244 families arrived in Kashipara
recently and set up makeshift camps, allegedly with the help
of the All Bodoland Muslim Students’ Union.
Another group of settlers reportedly set up base in
Gossaigaon, a subdivision of Kokrajhar district, a few days
later. “These settlers of doubtful origin have built huts in
Harsabil, Tilipara, Tamarhat, Burisatum and Sar, all along
the Sonkosh river,” a source said.
Representatives of the settlers in Kashipara met officials
of the district administration yesterday. “We asked the
encroachers who have settled at Bhotgaon-Kashipara near
Kokrajhar town to leave by tomorrow morning,” the deputy
commissioner said.
The Rajya Sabha MP from Kokrajhar, U.G. Brahma, said the
Congress-led government might have had a hand in the influx
of people of doubtful nationality into areas administered by
the Bodoland Territorial Council.
In Dibrugarh, AASU activists caught the suspected
Bangladeshis entering the district from Pasighat in
Arunachal Pradesh by ferry.
“We had prior information about these suspected Bangladeshi
nationals trying to sneak into Dibrugarh after they were
chased away from various parts of Arunachal Pradesh. We
managed to apprehend these people at Maijanhat. We will not
allow any of them to stay in Assam,” Ananta Das, the
secretary of the Dibrugarh unit of the AASU, said.
Those detained and turned over to the police claimed they
were from Barpeta, Goalpara and Dhubri districts. An
official said the police were verifying their antecedents.
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Threat to Asomiyas
exposes AAMSU design: AASU
By our Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, July 29: Each and every district and regional committee of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) is up in arms against the All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) for its comment against AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya and threat to the Asomiya society of retaliation if it continues to go ahead with its oust-Bangladeshi drive harassing ‘minorities’. It may be mentioned here that AAMSU leaders, in a press meet in the city yesterday, termed AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya as an agent of the Congress. The AAMSU leaders also warned the Asomiya society of retaliation in lower Asom if the latter continues to go ahead with its oust-Bangladeshi drive harassing ‘minorities’. Talking to The Sentinel, AASU president Sankar Prasad Rai said: “The AAMSU leaders’ statement against Samujjal is laughable, and this statement has exposed the stupidity of the AAMSU leaders. Samujjal’s visit to the Indo-Bangladesh border along with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was in accordance with the decision taken in the latest tripartite talks on the Assam Accord, and as such the AAMSU’s allegation that Samujjal is an agent of the Congress has little sense”. He further said that the visit to the Indo-Bangladesh border was to find ways to prevent infiltration into Asom from Bangladesh. “The AAMSU leaders are irked at the AASU leaders’ visit to the Indo-Bangladesh border because the minority students’ union is an agent of the ISI and Bangladesh, and it never wants to put an end to the infiltration of Bangladeshis into Asom,” Rai said, and added: “We won’t allow the AAMSU to counsel for Bangladeshis staying in Asom, and its repercussion will be dangerous. If there is any communal flare-up in Asom, the AAMSU will be held responsible”. On the AASU’s stand on Bangladeshis, Rai said: “The AASU is quite clear on its stand that those who entered Asom from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) before March 25, 1971 will be treated as Indians, but those who came after the cut-off date (March 25, 1971) will have to leave Asom. The AAMSU is also seemed to be supporting this point, but doing something different in the field. The AAMSU leaders have to be pragmatic in their approach on the Bangladeshi issue”. Maintaining that the people of suspected nationality who descended to Asom from Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland recently are Bangladeshis, Rai said: “We demanded of the Government to keep the people of suspected nationality in detention camps till they are detected. If some of them are detected as Indians, they should be sent to their respective places, but if some of them are detected as Bangladeshis, they should be pushed back to Bangladesh”. In a statement issued to the press today, AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya said that all the Bangladeshis staying in Asom have to leave the State. All Guwahati Students’ Union (AGSU) president Dipak Barman and general secretary Dipankar Das said that the AAMSU leaders’ threat to the Asomiyas proved that they were Bangladeshis, and the State Government should take punitive action them. Meanwhile, talking to The Sentinel, Bongaigaon Anchalik Chatra Santha president Robin Nath and general secretary Pulen Raj Bongshi said: “The AAMSU leaders should tender an apology for their statement on Samujjal Bhattacharyya and threat to the Asomiya society. The minority students’ union should change its name to All Bangladeshi Students’ Union, and the State Government should arrest the AAMSU leaders for their communal statement”. Sidli Anchalik Chatra Santha president Nilu Rai and secretary Dipankar Choudhury said: “The AAMSU is an ISI agent, and if it touches any Asomiya so as to appease the ISI and Bangladeshis, the existence of the minorities students’ union will be a history in Asom”. |
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BJP: Initiate criminal prosecution against AAMSU
Asom BJP unit president Ramen Deka today demanded of the State Government to initiate criminal prosecution against AAMSU chief organizing secretary Ajijul Hussain Khondakar for his threat to the Asomiyas. The State Government should take sou moto action against the AAMSU leader for provoking communal flare-up in the State. “The mysterious silence being maintained by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on the AAMSU threat to the Asomiyas has proved beyond doubt that the party is playing vote-bank politics on the issue,” Deka said, and appealed to the people of the State to be aware of it. He added that the so-called secular intellectuals in Asom and the Left parties should clear their stand on the issue. BJP ST Morcha: Threat exposes plot BJP’s ST Morcha national executive member Arun Konwar said the threat to the Asomiya society by the AAMSU has exposed the students’ body and ISI’s plot to carve out an Islamic country from the North-east, including Asom. He said it is the duty of every Asomiya to tackle the AAMSU threat with an iron hand. “That the existence of Asomiyas in Asom is at stake has been proved beyond doubt when the AAMSU threatened them on their homeland,” Konwar said, adding that if the AAMSU executed its threat, the Asomiyas should not sit idle. ‘Boycott B’deshis economically’ Appealing to the Asomiyas to tackle the AAMSU threat to them with an iron hand, State BJP’s women wing secretary Indira Medhi told the mothers in Asom not to engage any Bangladeshis in their domestic works. Goria-Moria raps AAMSU The Sodou Asom Goria-Moria-Desi Jatiya Parishad, in a statement said that the comment aired by the AAMSU leader was to appease the jehadi forces active in Asom. The parishad asked the AAMSU not to use the term ‘harassment of Muslims’, but to use the term ‘harassment of Bangladeshis’. The parishad also urged the Asomiyas to stand against the AAMSU’s stand. Bhojpuri body warns AAMSU The All Assam Bhojpuri Yuba Chatra Parishad (AABYCP) told the AAMSU that if any Asomiya was attacked, the AABYCP would give a befitting reply. AAMSU is anti-Asomiya, says Asomiya Mancha Asomiya Yuba Mancha president Diganta Bora said that the AAMSU’s threat to the Asomiyas proved it beyond doubt that the students’ body is anti-Asomiyas. “Asom is famous for its hospitality, but that doesn’t mean that Asom will welcome the illegal Bangladeshis in the State,” he said. AAMSU statement detrimental to State: Brindabon JORHAT: Asom Gana Parishad president Brindabon Goswami today termed the warning issued by the All Assam Minority Students’ Union against the ‘majority community’ as unfortunate. The AAMSU has been led astray, the AGP chief remarked at a press conference here this afternoon. Such inflammatory statements do not bode well for the State, Goswami added. It may be mentioned here that the AAMSU had warned of a backlash against the ‘majority community’ in minority-dominated districts like Goalpara and Dhubri if the minority community was “harassed in the name of detection of Bangladeshis.” The AGP chief also came down heavily on the Tarun Gogoi-led State Government for “doing nothing” about the influx of alleged illegal migrants who were being pushed into Asom by the neighbouring States of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. The Chief Minister has been declaring them as bona fide residents of Asom without proper verification by sitting on his cosy seat in Dispur, Goswami, who is also the leader of the Opposition, quipped. The AGP president also alleged that huge funds were being wasted by the Government with regard to tackling the current wave of floods, “which has been nothing short of a tsunami,” in the State. The requisite help has not reached the flood-affected, Goswami maintained. Goswami is on a tour of the State in the run-up to the general conference of the regional party at Guwahati, slated for August 29 and 30. The AGP chief later visited former Mariani MLA Noren Tanti at the private nursing home where he had been admitted for the treatment of multiple ailments. Tanti, who was elected to the Mariani legislative Assembly constituency on an AGP ticket in 1985, has been suffering from protracted illness. |
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Damage-control steps by AAMSU
By our Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, July 29: Barely 24 hours after issuing a threat to the Asomiyas of retaliation if they continue to ‘minorities’ in the name of their oust-Bangladeshi drive, the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) today took some damage-control measures so as to bring the situation under control. The students’ body said a section of media has ‘misinterpreted’ the statement aired by its leaders in the Saturday’s press conference. “We have never made any statement against any particular community since we honour the contribution of all communities in building a beautiful and developed Asom,” said AAMSU president Abdul Aziz and its general secretary Ajijur Rahman in a statement here today. “What we said is that if such torture and harassment of minorities by a section of AASU and NESO activists continue, the agitated minorities may retaliate and that may aggravate the situation in the State,” said Aziz. He said the AAMSU also believes in coordination, brotherhood and mutual cooperation among the various communities in Asom. “We are for a dialogue with the AASU and other organizations for a permanent solution to the vexed issue of infiltration”, he said. He appealed to the media and all sections of the society to be more cautious on the sensitive issue. (However, The Sentinel stands firm on its report published on the basis of the statement aired by Ajijul Hussain Khondakar, chief organizing secretary of AAMSU, in a press conference in the city yesterday.) |
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Why mum on AAMSU threat:
APW to ULFA
GUWAHATI: The Assam Public Works (APW) today asked the ULFA as to why it was silent on the threat to the Asomiya society issued by the All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) on the issue of deportation of Bangladeshis from the State. “Had the ULFA realy loved Asom, its leaders would have come to Asom to rescue its people from the AAMSU’s threat,” APW director Abhijit Sarma said, and added that the AAMSU dared to pose such a threat to the Asomiya society due to the ULFA’s pro-Bangladesh stance. Staff Reporter |
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With B’deshi and ISI blessing
By our Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, July 23: Pakistani intelligence agency ISI is trying to break Asom’s integrity since long. If intelligence sources are to be believed, the ISI is in command of a whole lot of Islamic fundamentalist organizations. These organizations are not only trying to create a greater Islamic state in the North-east but also aiming at converting the region into a terror zone. Intelligence sources said these organizations are controlled by the ISI and they play different roles to attain their goal. There need to be more pressure on the Bangladesh Government to stop would-be illegal immigrants to Asom, fundamentalists and extremists on their side of the border instead of exporting them to Asom and the rest of the North-east. These organizations are listed below. Muslim Volunteer Force (formed in 1984 and has around 500 AK-47 rifles), Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam (formed in 1990), Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam (formed in 1993), Islamic Liberation Army of Assam (formed in 1993 and aims at marrying Hindu women and decreasing Hindu population), Islamic Sewak Sangha (formed in 1993 and aims at helping Islamic fundamentalists cross the Indo-Bangladesh border to the NE), Social Reform Army of Assam (formed in 1987), NE Muslim Front (formed in 1991), Harkat-ul-Jehad- ul-Islam (formed in 1992 and helps Islamic fundamentalists get trained in Myanmar and Bangladesh), Meghalaya All Islamic Sunnat (formed in 1995 and helps the Bangladeshis cross over to India through the Meghalaya-Banglades h border), Adam Sena (formed in 1996), Pasayan (formed in 1995), Saddam Bahini (formed in 1993), United Islamic Liberation Army (formed in 1995), Muslim Action Force (formed in 1996), Students’ Islamic Movement of India (formed in 1986 and distributes religious books among Muslims), Harkat-ul Mujahiddin (formed in 1992 and imparts jehadi training in Bangladesh), Liberation Islamic Tiger Force (keeps a close watch on Hindu leaders), Islamic Thick Force, Jamat-e-Islami Assam, United Social Reform Army (aims at safeguarding of Muslims exclusively) , United Reformation Protection of Assam, People’s United Liberation Front, Students’ Islamic Army, Islamic Liberation Army, Independent Liberation Army of Assam etc. Meanwhile, sources said 17 camps of Islamic fundamentalists are based in Bangladesh. These camps are located at Akashi Basti, Hafizia Madrassa Camp, Halabot Camp, Kharegia Madrassa Camp, Borbari Hafizia Camp, Nazirahat Darul-Uloom Madrassa, Subid Bazaar Camp, Shamsher Nagar TE, Sathijuri Camp, Tillaganj Camp, Monu Village, Teknaf Village, Mandolibhug Camp, Madhupurgarh Camp, Tokimari camp, Dhupp-adighir Par Madrassa and Laakhachari Camp. |
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Asom minority ministers move Sonia against AUDF
Our Bureau NEW DELHI/ GUWAHATI, July 23: With a view to closing the Congress’ door for AUDF legislators or their share of power with the Congress in Asom, all the minority Congress MLAs and ministers of the State today met All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, and told her that any sort of Congress’ understanding with the AUDF at this point of time — merger or share of power — would spell doom for the ruling party. The Asom minority legislators made it clear before the party high command that any understanding between the Congress and the AUDF would work as oxygen for the latter that was fast losing its support base in the constituencies where the party won seats in the last Assembly elections. “At this point of time, the Congress in Asom doesn’t need the support of any party, but if any party wants to support the ruling party it shouldn’t be allowed to share power,” the Congress minority leaders told Sonia. According to sources, the Asom minority MLAs reported to have told the party high command that political leaders and organizations without any support base in the State were vocal in New Delhi in favour of the AUDF. “If you are to take any decision concerning the minorities of Asom, you need to take us into confidence first,” sources quoted the Asom minority legislators as telling the party high command. According to sources, Sonia Gandhi assured the minority legislators of looking into the matter. Meanwhile, to put pressure on the Congress high command for sharing of power at Dispur, all the AUDF MLAs have been camping in New Delhi, and sources said that the AUDF legislators were backed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi who was initially against share of power with the AUDF. On the issue of Congress-AUDF understanding in the State, Gogoi recently passed the buck on the party’s minority MLAs and ministers who are against the share of power with the AUDF. |
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