GUWAHATI: Though Guwahati is nowadays considered peaceful from the terror-threat perspective, the same always remains a concern for the security agencies. Now, after the dreadful Sri Lanka terror attack, the security agencies have sounded alert even in Guwahati.
The Commissioner of Police, Kamrup (Metro), Deepak Kumar talking to G Pus said, “All the suspected areas in the city are under surveillance and we are alert to any untoward situation.”
A senior IPS officer of Assam Police, talking to G Plus in condition of anonymity said, “There is a Jihadi threat in Assam as Jihadi motivators were arrested from Assam earlier and some boys of Assam have even joined terror outfits outside. It is a matter of concern.”
A senior official of Assam Police revealed that Popular Front of India (PFI) has set its roots in Assam which is another matter of concern.
PFI is known as an Islamic fundamentalist organisation in India and since its inception, the organisation has been accused of various anti-social and anti-national activities. It is suspected by the security agencies that the PFI is a radical Islamist outfit with links to the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
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Due to the fact that PFI started its organisation in south India, after the Sri Lanka terror attack, the Indian security forces are keeping a strict vigil on all the suspected radical groups.
Also, a few months ago the Special Task Force of the Kolkata Police arrested a Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operative from Kerala in connection with the 2014 Burdwan blast case and the suspect - Abdul Motin - hails from Assam's Barpeta district, where the JMB once had a sleeper module.
The relation of such organisations from Assam to places in south India is worrisome and after the Sri Lanka incident, the security agencies should scrutinise the activities of all the suspected groups minutely, expressed a retired Assam Police IPS officer.
Intelligence inputs regarding a possible terror attack in Sri Lanka were shared by Indian agencies with their Sri Lankan counterparts earlier this month, as per media reports. After the National Investigation Agency completed its probe into an Islamic State-inspired module planning to kill prominent leaders in south India, input was sent through diplomatic channels to the island nation after a thorough investigation.
In 2018, a missing young man from Assam was suspected to have joined terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu & Kashmir after a photo in which he was seen holding an automatic rifle surfaced. It also prompted his mother to say that the government should shoot him dead.
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The Assam Police had then said that it has started a probe into the matter and is trying to find out if the youth, identified as Qamer Uzzaman, has indeed joined the terrorist organisation. The police are still investigating the matter.
It is also suspected that Hizbul Mujahideen has good relations with the Islamic State (IS) which has claimed the responsibility of the Sri Lanka terror attack.
As Guwahati is always a preferred and soft target for terrorists the city police have identified the pockets where the Jihadi motivators might operate and the Sunday attacks have alerted the police here.
Over 350 people were killed in Sunday's (21st April) serial blasts at churches and upmarket hotels in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.