Assam Police Establishes Link Between PFI and Bangladesh Based Terror Group

Assam Police have successfully established a link between the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Bangladesh based Islamic terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) amid recent crackdowns on the module which led to the arrest of 16 persons since April.

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, police officials said.

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.

So far, Assam police have registered as many as 18 cases against PFI and CFI, the ADGP further said.

"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 also revealed that the style of working of this group is primarily by provoking 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.

Nath also mentioned that the PFI is currently active in 10 districts of the state and assured that police is vigilant.

Recently, the state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also urged the Centre to ban PFI and CFI organisations.

The top cop 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," Nath 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.