Ominous signs for Assam

The threat of Islamic radicalisation and communal violence looms over India's restive North Eastern state Assam. Several districts of lower Assam have been witnessing a rise in jihadi activities after repeated armed clashes between the indigenous Bodo tribals and the Bengali-speaking Muslims migrants in the recent years. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the 2012 riot in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) region disclosed the involvement of Islamic fundamentalists in the violence. A number of jihadi modules had been found active in the five districts. These include three in the BTAD – Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa, and the adjoining districts of Barpeta and Nalbari.

The rise of jihadi forces in western part of Assam assumes significance against the backdrop of the recent announcement of Abu Ibrahim al Hanafi, Islamic State's (IS) new chief in Bangladesh, that they would extend their operations in eastern India and Myanmar. The intelligence reports suggested that the dreaded international terror group IS was planning to attack Assam ahead of the Independence Day in 2015. In the wake of deadly Paris attacks in November last year, the union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification cautioning that the IS might target a number of Indian states, including Assam. Earlier in September, a red alert was sounded in five lower Assam districts following the busting of a jihadi training camp and arrest of four suspected Islamic militants along with arms and ammunition from Kokrajhar.

The presence of jihadi modules in the state was first brought to light following the investigation into the 2014 Burdwan blast case and arrest of at least ten Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh (JMB) operatives from lower Assam. The senior Assam police officials said all the jihadis had been operating in the state under the aegis of Bangladesh-based JMB. This jihadi outfit, which seeks to provide protection to the Bengali Muslims settled in the BTAD, is making efforts to set up bases in lower Assam. The JMB has stepped up activities in the BTAD region and the local youths are trying to recast this organisation in the name of "jihad".

The interrogation of the arrested persons revealed that the "char" (small river islands) areas were being used for jihadi training. According to reports, two JMB leaders came from Bengal to impart physical training and subsequently, arms training to the local cadres. The security forces have been conducting intensive operations against the jihadis over the last several months in the BTAD and apprehended several persons who were directly or indirectly engaged in recruitment, gunrunning and extortion networks of various Islamic militant groups.

The series of arrests of suspected JMB activists amply demonstrated the growing jihadi activities in Assam. In a major breakthrough on April 20, 2016, Assam police arrested seven alleged Islamic militants from Chirang district when they were preparing to establish a training camp in the area. Two of them had been Imams of local mosques. Earlier on April 16, police nabbed four suspected jihadis from the same district. The security forces are currently engaged in counter-terrorism operations to catch sixty JMB members. Reports say that twenty nine of them have already been apprehended.

The state's security establishment feared that the Islamic terror groups, including JMB, had been engaged in the recruitment of Muslim boys in the BTAD with an aim of launching offensive during the 2016 assembly polls. Although the election was peaceful, the security forces are on the alert in view of intelligence reports that recruitment by the jihadi groups continues in the BTAD region. The religious extremists had been visiting many districts of lower Assam to enlist Muslim youths for jihadi training. Some of the detained operatives were carrying out religious indoctrination and imparting physical training to the recruits. The higher echelons of the state police maintain that the cadres had undergone a three-phase training schedule comprising religious indoctrination, and physical and arms training. They said the lo\cal jihadi modules follow the training programmes similar to the JMB.

The proliferation of small arms and inter-linkages among the militant groups are also matters of concern for the state government. Reports say the jihadi forces in lower Assam are trying to forge links with arms smugglers of Nagaland and Myanmar to access the underground market of sophisticated arms. Besides, a number of local clandestine arms makers are providing a few handmade weapons to the radical Islamic groups. In a joint operation with the Army, the Assam police arrested four gunrunners suspected to be supplying arms to the religious extremists on May13, 2016 from Bongaigaon district.

Though the state police have not said anything regarding the possible nexus between jihadi forces and other militant groups of the region, reports indicate that some gunrunners in the southern Barak Valley are helping the JMB modules get access to the thriving arms market in Myanmar. The illegal arms generally enter from Myanmar through the porous international borders along Nagaland and Manipur. These are transported to Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial capital and hub of illicit arms in North East, and eventually reach the rebels operating in Assam and neighbouring states.

The Bodo-dominated western part has been one of the most disturbed regions of Assam for more than two decades. The changing demographic pattern of this belt is the primary source of tension between the local tribesmen and the Muslim migrants who constitute about 15% of the BTAD population. Bhopal-based Satya Shodhan Trust in its report titled "Unrest in Assam-2012" released on March 31, 2016, held the rise of illegal immigration from Bangladesh responsible for the 2012 carnage in the BTAD. The report observed that Assam is facing the threat of genocide as infiltration continues across the international border.

It has been noticed that young boys from Muslim migrant families are getting attracted to jihadi ideologies espoused by the IS and other terror groups. The BTAD region is experiencing radicalisation of the youths ever since a large number of minorities lost their lives in the recurrent riots. There were two major incidents of violence targeting the Muslim migrants, in 2012, and immediately after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls claiming more than hundred lives and leaving nearly four lakh people homeless.

This has generated widespread resentment among the minorities who are still struggling for shelter and livelihood. The lackadaisical approach of the local administration towards the rehabilitation of the displaced families has alienated them further. Under such circumstances, the riot victims have become vulnerable to the jihadi recruitment. Reports suggest that the radical Islamic forcers were conducting door-to-door religious indoctrination programmes in many areas especially targeting the riot victims. The Assam police claimed that a new militant outfit called Muslim Tiger Force of Assam was floated to avenge the killing of minorities in the consecutive communal violence. The recently arrested four gun runners were connected with this new outfit.

The increasing Islamic radicalisation in Assam is a key concern and challenge for the security forces. The state has been facing a low key Islamic militancy for more than one decade. Though there are ten-fifteen religious extremist outfits linked to the regional jihadi groups and Pakistan's notorious spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operating in the lower Assam districts, the danger of international terror networks making inroads into the insurgency-ridden region could drastically change the security complexion. Therefore it is imperative that the newly-formed terror modules are nipped in the bud to prevent the intrusion of the global jihadi forces into India especially its sensitive North Eastern region in the guise of local organisation.