Act wisely, don?t wait for the volcano to explode

LeT in touch with Muslim youth in Muzaffarnagar relief camps

Surendra Singhal from Deoband

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) conspiracy to recruit Muslim youth in relief camps of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli stunned all sensible people of the country. According to Delhi Police Crime Branch, which with the help of Intelligence Bureau exposed this module, Mohammad Rashid and Shahid, on instructions of their bosses sitting in Pakistan, contacted some youth in the relief camps to join the terrorist outfit.

UP’s ADG Intelligence Jawaharlal Tripathi and Muzaffarnagar Zone IG Ashutosh Pandey wonder why the IB kept the Uttar Pradesh Police in dark on this vital input. Normally, all inputs regarding terrorist activities are sent to the state governments. If this input was hid because of political reasons, it is a serious offence. The state government claims that most of the relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli are over. IG Ashutosh Pandey with the help of senior Ustad of Darul Ulum Deoband’s Hadis Maulana Arshad Madani persuaded majority of the people living in the relief camps to go back to their respective villages. Sources say, most of the people still in the camps are enjoying the patronage of a Jamiat’s faction led by Mahmood Madani.

A senior UP government official told this correspondent that BSP MP from Muzaffarnagar Kadir Rana and BSP candidate from Kairana Kanwar Hasan misguided the people living in relief camps not to return to their respective villages, though majority of them wanted to go back. It is to be noted that Kadir Rana is also an accused in the Muzaffarnagar violence.

Another senior official pointed out that former MP and SP candidate from Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency, Amir Alam, and SP candidate from Kairana Nahid Hasan also patronised these relief camps. Basically, because of the influence of these SP leaders that the officials of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli remained helpless and the terrorists tried to make inroads into the camps. It is widely believed that if any government officer or social worker displayed some maturity and wisdom are IG Ashutosh Pandey and Maulana Arshad Madani who played a key role in normalising the situation there.

On December 24, when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had talked about the ISI link in the relief camps, both the Home Ministry and UP Police refused having any such input. But now Delhi Police special Commissioner SN Srivastava said two youth, Shahid and Rashid, arrested from Mewat revealed during interrogation about this game plan. On this information, the Police arrested Liyaqat and Jamir from Muzaffarnagar. The mastermind of this Mewat Module Sumaan knew Liyaqat (58) well. Sumaan had even visited Deoband in this connection. It is also to be noted that many Maulvis and Jamiat office bearers have been dispatching huge quantity relief material in several installments to the relief camps both in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.

Deoband is believed to be the heaven for terrorists. Even the Taliban enjoy links with Deoband. Azhar Masood who was released during the Kandhar plane hijacking by India had stayed in Deoband for two and a half months. He even stayed in Darul’s guest house for some time. For two months he lived in a rented house in the town. Last year, when the US Army killed Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad of Pakistan, Darul Uloom remained tense for some time. However, Darul Uloom has issued fatwa against terrorism and it has been condemning it in strongest words. Despite that Deoband’s name has been surfacing in Pak sponsored terrorism.

It has also come to the notice that a conspiracy was hatched to take the revenge of the riots taken place in Gopalgarh town of Rajasthan in 2011. The members of that module were in the contact of the people in Pakistan. They had planned to strike in Delhi and Mumbai then.

This latest revelation has made several points very clear. One, large security arrangements are required for Narendra Modi’s rally to be organised in Meerut shortly. Second, the Election Commission would require extra precautions during the general elections in Western Uttar Pradesh. Now it is time for the political parties to think of the unity and integrity of the nation and not the petty political gains. The intelligence department and the police also need to be given free hand to expose the entire conspiracy. The political parties also must stop using the relief camps for the trivial political gains.