Burdwan blast: Gogoi govt faces new security challenge

Guwahati: For a state that has struggled through more than three decades of insurgency, the Bangladesh-Burdwan-Barpeta terror link has thrown up another security challenge for the government.
The arrest of six Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) linkmen from Barpeta district in connection with the IED blast in West Bengal’s Burdwan district has only given credence to Ayman Al Zawahiri’s recent announcement that al Qaida would spread its wings in Assam along with other parts of India.
While the Union home ministry and the state government have alerted security agencies to curb the growth of JMB and other Islamic terror groups in the state, police said the six linkmen were part of the module operating under JMB’s patronization, which is believed to be behind the October 2 blast in Burdwan.
JMB is one of the terror groups which want to dismantle the secular-democratic and Left forces in India and establish a theocratic state based on Islam. Police officers investigating the Barpeta case said one of the six arrested, Shaikul Islam (20) alias Abdull of Kahikuchi village in Barpeta district, is an important member of the module operating in Assam and was associated with Shakil Ahmed alias Shamin, a JMB activist who died in the Burdwan blast.
Police said investigation has also revealed that Shaikhul had undergone training in jihad at Simulia madrassa in Burdwan and another madrassa in Murshidabad. “Instruction was given to Shaikhul to remain as a sleeper cell and look for potential Muslim youths to be motivated for jihad. Shakil used to visit Barpeta under the cover of garment business for motivating Muslims in the name of Pan-Islamism. Investigation is on to identify other members of the module and arrest them,” a police official said.
Sources said NIA officials would also interrogate the six arrested men as it needs to be found out the kind of training these men have undergone and the kind of weapons that have entered Assam through the terror link. Intelligence agencies did not rule out the presence of other terror sleeper cells in the state. Security agencies are apprehensive that the sense of deprivation among Muslims, especially due to lack of
employment opportunities and frequent eruption of
violence in the BTAD, could have radicalized many in the community.