Goalpara district residents in Assam destroy a madrasa over “anti-national, terrorist” activities

A madrasa in Assam’s Goalpara district was razed on Tuesday by locals in Pakhiura Char under the Matia police station due to allegations that it was being used for ‘jihadi’ and anti-national activities. A madrasa-related preacher was detained a few days before to the action for alleged anti-national actions.

In the past few weeks, Assam has seen the demolition of four madrasas, with the first three being carried out by the government. Government officials destroyed the first one, Jamiul Huda Madrasa at Moirabari in the Morigaon district, on August 4. The authorities razed the Markazul Ma-Arif Quariayana Madrasa in the Bongaigaon district on August 31 after tearing down the Jamiul Huda Academy Madrasa at Howli in the Barpeta district on August 29.

V V Rakesh Reddy, Goalpara Superintendent of Police said, “The residents of the area were agitated over the alleged anti-Indian and ‘jihadi’ activities involving the Darogar Alga Pakhiura Char Madrasa after Jalaluddin Sheikh, 49, a religious cleric associated with the madrasa was arrested on August 20 for his role in ‘jihadi’ activities.”

“The locals developed strong resentment. The area, their village and the madrasa were used for jihadi activities without them having any knowledge about any of it. The madrasa being demolished was a strong message from the public that they are against anti-national elements and they don’t want to be party to such activities,” the officer said.

\When asked about the anti-Indian and ‘jihadi’ activities exposed upon the crackdown on these madrasas, the SP said, “After busting the Goalpara module of the AQIS, we found clues that there were links between the Barpeta, Morigaon and Goalpara modules. There were similar training activities at the madrasas and a common Bangladeshi contact who tried to indoctrinate people and set up bases at various points of time.”

“We feel these terrorist sleeper cell modules were probably trained by the same group of people since similar kind of bases were being set up in different parts of Assam. The investigation has so far suggested that the modules were usually set up by establishing bases through madrasas or by using local logistics,” Reddy added.