Assam police establishes link between PFI and Bangladesh-based ABT

According to Assam police, some PFI activists are working for ABT-- an Al-Qaeda inspired Islamic extremist group based in Bangladesh and have been closely monitoring all activities of PFI in the state

The Assam Police on Saturday successfully established a link between the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Bangladesh based Islamic terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), during an investigation pertaining to the recent crackdown on the ABT module where the police had arrested 16 persons since April. According to the Assam police, some PFI activists are working for ABT-- an Al-Qaeda inspired Islamic extremist group based in Bangladesh and they have been closely monitoring all the activities of PFI in the state. The Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) (Special Branch) of Assam police, Hiren Nath, confirmed that one person among the 16 arrested was the president of PFI's Barpeta district unit. "On April 15, we registered a case in Barpeta district in which some (16) ABT activists were arrested. One of them was Maqibul Hussain," Nath said.

"During the interrogation, Hussain surrendered that he was the president of PFI of Barpeta district. Before joining Ansarullah Bangla Team he was actively working for PFI in the lower Assam, but later resigned to join the said group where he was trained by Mehdi Hasan," he added.

According to the ADGP, so far, the Assam police have registered as many as 18 cases against PFI and CFI. "Out of the 18 cases, 16 are registered against PFI while the other two cases are lodged against the CFI. We have submitted a chargesheet in 12 cases so far and the rest of the cases are being investigated," he said.

Nath in his further conversation revealed the style of working of this group by highlighting that they provoke the people by demonstrating sensitive issues taking place anywhere in the country.

"One of the modus operandi of this group or the workers is that anything happening anywhere in the country which does not even have any connection with Assam--may be some Hijab issue or some temples, mosques-- they will demonstrate it here, especially in the lower Assam region, including Guwahati city, Goalpara, Barpeta, Baksa, Dhubri and some parts of the Barak Valley. They provoking people and it is very dangerous for the country," he asserted. Mentioning that the PFI is currently active in 10 districts of the state, he assured that the police is keeping its sharp eye on their activities.

Recently, the state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also urged the Centre to ban PFI and CFI organisations. "Two cases were registered in Guwahati and one in Dhubri where they (PFI) published some materials and pamphlets with some anti-national and anti-government slangs written over them," he noted.

He further continued by saying that PFI members were doing something very secretly. "We have recovered some printing materials printed in Bengali and Arabic, that contained literature teaching Jihad, how to do Jihad, how to attract people to Jihad, what are the requirements for the Jihadi, and all these things. We are investigating it all," the top cop said. "If anyone tries to disturb the social peace and tranquillity, or take the law into their hands, we will take very strong action against them," Nath assured. Nath also offered to help the Uttar Pradesh police in managing the recent clashes that broke out in Kanpur on Friday.

A violent clash broke out between two groups belonging to different communities allegedly over a matter of market shutdown in Kanpur.

In the aftermath of the clashes, two persons and one policeman were injured.