GUWAHATI, April 28 - Though the crackdown by the police and security forces against jehadi elements in Assam is yielding the desired results, the main module of the Jamaat-ul-Mujaheedin, Bangladesh (JMB) in the State, who is a Bangladeshi national, is still at large. Meanwhile, lack of security presence in the remote char areas has become a major cause of concern as no one knows if the jehadi elements are active in those areas.
Highly placed security sources told The Assam Tribune that the crackdown against the jehadi elements in the last couple of years resulted in arrests of more than 30 persons. The sources said that the police and security agencies are working in coordination with the Central intelligence agencies to root out the jehadi elements from the State. However, Zahidul, who is suspected to be the main module of the JMB in Assam, is still at large and efforts are on to nab him. Zahidul is a Bangladeshi national and it is not known whether he is still in Assam or has managed to cross over to Bangladesh following the crackdown launched in the State.
Sources revealed that among the arrests made so far, the busting of the training camp in Chirang in September last year was the most important breakthrough as the JMB elements were trying to recruit local youths and train them. However, those who managed to escape following the busting of the training camp, have recently been arrested after months of effort by the police and security forces.
On the game plan of the JMB in the State, sources said that no major plan of the outfit to create disturbance in the State has come to light so far. �The main enemy of the JMB is the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the activities of the outfit are limited to that country only. The JMB started its bases in Burdwan in West Bengal after the Bangladesh government launched a massive crackdown against the outfit and the outfit gradually started to set up bases in Assam. Investigations revealed that the JMB activists managed to prepare bombs in Burdwan and sent several consignments to Bangladesh and they did not try to indulge in violence in India,� sources added.
However, it is a fact that the JMB tried to recruit youths from Assam by raising the issue of ethnic violence in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts in 2012 and tried to motivate youths to join the outfit for their own protection.
Sources also revealed that lack of any presence of the administration in the remote char areas, particularly in those located near the international border areas with Bangladesh, is a matter of concern. No one knows whether any jehadi element is trying to establish bases in those areas and there is urgent need for augmenting security presence in those areas, sources admitted.
