In a first, Muslims raze ‘al Qaida-linked’ madrassa in Assam

GUWAHATI : Members of the minority community demolished a madrassa in Assam’s Goalpara on Tuesday after finding that a teacher of the seminary was arrested for alleged links with al-Qaida and two more were o n the run. This was the fourth madrassa to be razed following a state government crackdown against Islamic seminaries that have, according to authorities, become hubs of jihadi elements owing a llegiance to international terrorist groups like al-Qaida.

The Goalpara demolition is the first instance of m inority community members demolishing a madrassa, heeding CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s call to help authorities identify jihadis. He has asked residents to keep an eye on outsiders who might be terroristsposing as imams in masjids or teachers in madrassas. Locals, however, didn’t report Tuesday’s demolition in Goalpara. “We were not aware…the district administration was not involved in it,” SP VV Rakesh Reddy said. “We have arrested one person,” he said. Police said the arrested man, Jalaluddin Sheikh, had engaged two Bangladeshi nationals as teachers of the madrassa at different times since 2020. Both are on the run.
The police caught near ly 40 people since March who are said to be members of alQaida in Indian Sub-continent/Ansarullah Bangla Team (AQIS/ABT), an offshoot of the terroroutfit. Most of them were posing as imams or mad rassa teachers. The government has demolished three madrassas in three districts last month alone.
Watch Muslims raze ‘Qaeda-linked’ madrassa in Assam