Student from IIT Guwahati allegedly plans to join ISIS

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Following the discovery of an open letter on his LinkedIn profile tagged as 'An Open Letter,' it is suspected that a student from Guwahati, Tauseef Ali Farooqui, is allegedly on his way to join the Islamic State, or ISIS. It is stated that he is a student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT Guwahati).

In the 'open letter' on social media platform LinkedIn, Farooqui states that he wishes to 'disassociate' himself from the Indian Constitution and other Indian institutions. His statement, interspersed with Ayats or verses from the Quran and their renderings, consists of his willingness to embark on 'Hijrat' or emigration to Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a regional branch of the Islamic State terrorist group active in South-Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan.

The Islamic State, or ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or by its Arabic acronym, Daesh, is a militant organization that emerged as an offshoot of al Qaeda in 2014. It has re-established a caliphate and imposed strict Islamic rule.

The letter by Farooqui also states that he plans to start his travels on foot from Panbazar in Guwahati. He plans to 'pledge' his 'allegiance' to the organisation headed by Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. In his letter, Farooqui urges non-believers to convert to Islam.

It should be mentioned here that two leaders of ISIS in India were nabbed by a STF team, headed by IGP Partha Sarathi Mahanta and Addl SP Kalyan Kumar Pathak, from the Dhubri district on March 20. One of them was identified as Haris Farooqi, the head of ISIS in India, and his associate, Anurag Singh. Both are accused and wanted by the NIA. They are suspected to have crossed the border into India from Bangladesh, and intelligence reports gathered by the STF hinted at suspected nefarious activities to be carried out by them on Indian soil.

Subsequently, the STF handed the duo over to a NIA team that arrived here on receipt of the information about their capture. Both of them are said to be highly indoctrinated and motivated members of ISIS in India. They were allegedly carrying out recruitment, terror funding, and terror acts at several places across India.

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