Assam minister Pijush Hazarika said that the people arrested with alleged links with a Bangladesh-based terror outfit recently from different parts of the state are just “jihadi sympathisers”, having no connection with jihadi activities.
The state police recently busted an Al Qaeda-linked terror module and arrested several persons with alleged links with a Bangladesh-based terror outfit.
Asked about them, Hazarika said, “We are monitoring (the situation). Strict action would be initiated against those engaging in jihadi activities. But so far, we have found no connection. They just happen to be jihadi sympathisers.”
Earlier on Friday, senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia said that a cabinet minister had recently alleged that AIUDF has links with ‘Jihadis’ active in the state and that charge must be investigated.
In a statement, Saikia said, “No one with alleged links with the case must be outside the purview of the investigation. A high-level inquiry must be conducted into the recent Jihadi activities in Assam and AIUDF’s alleged links with it.”
While the Congress was in the power in the state, the then Opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had alleged that an AIUDF MLA was having links with a fundamentalist outfit and the state government had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate the allegation.
“Since AIUDF’s name is again cropping up, there is a need for a transparent investigation. Even the CM had last year alleged that AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal was running the party with funds from a foreign fundamentalist organisation,” Saikia said in the statement.
