GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who also holds the home portfolio, has directed Assam police to set up surveillance mechanism in place in all the yet to be policed sandbar isles (char areas) in the bosom of the Brahmaputra.
This call was made by the Chief Minister to prevent jihadi elements from across the international border with Bangladeshi from striking roots in those unguarded, open areas vastly inhabited by vulnerable and illiterate migrant population.
These sandbar isles are hardly in the network of the Assam police in the absence of any form of permanent police.
These are cut off from the mainland of Assam and boat is the only mode on communication to and from those isles.
The government’s departments like health, education, social welfare etc. have no presence in those areas that are perennially prone to heavy flood every summer.
People in some of those inhabited char areas construct a large raised platform so as to take shelter during the flood.
There are about 2300 such char areas in Assam where fundamentalist elements are suspected to have exploited the remoteness of these areas and radicalised the vulnerable minority population.
Sonowal’s directive to bring these char areas under police radar came following the arrest of more than 40 members of Jamat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) in the state on various occasions in the recent past.
Sahanur Alam, one of the prime accused of 2014 Burdwan blast in West Bengal, was also arrested from Mukalmua in Nalbari district of Assam.
Following the instruction from the Chief Minister, the Director General of Assam Police Mukesh Sahay made a visit to Azam Ali char about 50 kilometers away from Guwahati on Tuesday.
The Director General spent the night there to keep tabs on the police and their action plan in the ground to counter the growing threat from fundamentalists in the state.
Sahay interacted with locals there to gauge the security scenario in the area and to inquire about any unusual incidents taking place anywhere in the adjoining areas.
The Director General Police in the state stated that the international border areas along the Brahmaputra river in the state is being guarded with proper security and is being kept as an area of high aleart by security forces.
Sahay further added that the police was on high alert and was keeping tabs on fundamentalist activities of any kind in remote char areas while also collecting information and reports about the people of char areas working outside.
