Hizbul Mujahideen Crackdown in Assam: How things unfolded

In April 2018, a Twitter account claiming to be the mouthpiece of Hizbul Mujahideen released a photograph of a youth holding an AK 47. The youth was identified as Qamer Uz Zaman, son of Ibrahim Zaman, a resident of Hojai district in Assam. Republic TV was the first to break it and following the story to the root, we traced his family in Jamunamukh, Hojai. 

Since then, no whereabouts of this man in question were to be found. But on September 12, the Lucknow ATS arrested a suspicious person from Kanpur. Later, it was revealed that he is none other than Qamer Uz Zaman, a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, who hails from Assam. However, his arrest brought another challenge to the Assam police. 

During interrogation by the Lucknow ATS, Qamer Uz Zaman made some sensational revelations. One of them was about the Hizbul Mujahideen module that he had established in Assam. Upon receiving the initial inputs from the Uttar ATS, the Assam police immediately swung into action. “But, we never thought that they will have to dig so deep into it,” said a highly placed official. 

Following the arrest of Qamer Uz Zaman in Kanpur, the Assam police on Thursday night detained and later arrested Shahnawaz Alam, a childhood friend of Qamer. Shahnawaz's arrest opened a Pandora's box. Assam police got to know from him that Qamer visited Assam in the month of August, before moving to Kanpur. But, this was just the tip of an iceberg- a Hizbul module has been established in the State and it's active. 

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Meanwhile, a team from Special Branch of the Assam police was sent to Uttar Pradesh to interrogate Qamer Uz Zaman and also to seek his custody. 

Back in Assam, the police prepared a roadmap to carry out an all-out crackdown on the Hizbul Mujahideen module. Suspects were picked up, based on the statements of Qamer Uz Zaman and Shahnawaz and were subsequently arrested. One of the key suspects turned out to be Qamer’s elder brother Saiful Islam. 

During his visit to Assam, Qamer along with his newly radicalized group did the recce of several areas. But their main target was Lumding railway station and the Gita Ashram in Hojai. Lumding is a major railway division in the Northeast and Gita Ashram happens to be the heart of RSS in the region. Qamer also visited Meghalaya in August. 

The crackdown on Hizbul in Assam, for the second time, revealed the nefarious design of the terrorist elements in the state. Earlier, following the Burdwan blast in West Bengal, 55 terrorists associated with the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh were arrested from Assam. It just reflects, the national security threat that is gradually boiling in the eastern corner of India. 

Busting of the Hizbul Mujahideen module still continues. So far, 7 persons have been arrested by the Assam police. Speaking to Republic TV, the DGP of Assam, Kuladhar Saikia, has said that the crackdown will continue till the last man is booked. 

The Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, has also assured that national security remains the top priority of the state. But the question remains, with a porous Indo-Bangla border and over 5 million illegal immigrants residing in the state, how practical is it to stop the radicalization and the growing network of terrorists?

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