STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Assam Police have successfully busted nine modules of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which is affiliated to the al–Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS), in the State and arrested 53 persons belonging to these nine modules, said Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta.
While talking to media persons in Guwahati today, the DGP said that some Bangladeshi extremists were on the run. "After the ABT was banned in Bangladesh, they fled to Deoband and Banda. There some unofficial religious centres were constituted. Some madrassa students from Assam went to these centres for studying. The terror modules track the vulnerable youths and they come to Assam as maulanas and muftis. They take part in mashwaras and try to propagate fundamentalist and radical ideas," said Mahanta.
As Assam has a large Muslim population, the State is a natural target for jihadi elements, he further said. "It is important for the madrassas in the State to remain alert. I have met many Islamic leaders and they have been kind and cooperative. They have come forward to bring in institutional and structural reforms in the madrassas," said the DGP.
He added, "There will be many reforms in madrassas and we are moving in that direction. Madrassas with less than 50 students will be merged with bigger madrassas. About 100 such madrassas have already been merged."
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