Who is Muzzafal Haq, 'West Bengal's Bin Laden'?

He is known as the Bin Laden of West Bengal. His interrogation in connection with the Budhwan blast has once again brought to the forefront how terror groups had set up Madrasas without the approval of the state government and used it to facilitate acts of terror.

Two days back Muzzafil Haq was arrested by the National Investigating Agency in connection with the Burdhwan blast. The questioning of Haq who is referred to as Bin Laden by his troop has given the National Investigating Agency plenty of material to proceed further in the case.

Who is Muzzafal Haq?

Haq is aged 52 and a resident of Mukimnagar, Murshidabad in West Bengal. He is alleged to be closely associated with the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh and ran an unregistered Madrasa in Mukimnagar.

His close association with the JMB brought him close to Sheikh Rahmatullah a resident of Bangladesh. Over a period of time Rahamatullah started to use the Madrasa to further the activities of the JMB.

The NIA says that both Haq and Rahamatullah had enterd into a criminal conspiracy and carried out both recruitment and training in this Madrasa.

Why is he called Bin Laden?

Not just his followers, but the entire village referred to him as Bin Laden. Right from his thought process and also the dressing style resembled Bin Laden. He tells the NIA that he is a fan of Laden and hence decided to ape him.

He says that he is extremely dedicated to jihad and when there is a threat to the religion, he would always stand up and fight. A thorough believer of implanting the Sharia law, he decided to help the JMB as they were attempting something similar in Bangladesh as well.

He sported a long beard and dressed exactly like Laden. He ensured that women followed a strict purdah system and also insisted that everyone must follow and implement the Sharia law.

Mushrooming illegal Madrasas:

There has been a misconception about Madrasas. There are registered ones which are monitored by the government and these are not the ones which cause the problem. However the madrasas at Simulia and Mokimnagar which are unregistered which are the real issue for investigating and intelligence agencies.

Laden set up the Mokimnagar madrasa in 2011. He set it up without the consent of the state government. This ideally meant he was not getting funds from the government and neither was the madrasa being monitored.

The NIA says that the state government has been lethargic in stemming the growth of illegal madrasas in West Bengal. There have been many cases where in madrasas such as these have come up on government land in connivance with local government officials.

These madrasas acted as a landing point for the JMB who set up shop in West Bengal. Through these madrasas they set up several modules across the state right from Beldanga, Mukimnagar, Birbhum, Khagraghar and Simulia.