Bihar & Kerala: Where terror groups find ample loopholes to plan, plot & execute

The connection between Bihar and Kerala can be seen in the fact that the Indian Mujahideen being formed in Kerala and then it went on to form its strongest module in Bihar.

New Delhi, July 23: The Bihar police recently busted a major module following which it was learnt that the accused persons had plotted the assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also planned on setting up an Islamic nation by 2047.

The National Investigation Agency is also investigating a case relating to a Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) module and has made seven arrests so far. The latest person to be arrested is Ali Asgar a resident of Siswaniya village of Bihar.

Incidents of radical Islamic modules being busted in Bihar is nothing new. It dates back to the late 2000s when the Indian Mujahideen and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) had a free run in the state.

The agencies had complained back then that it was the politics of appeasement which had made it very hard for modules to be busted in the state. Yasin Bhatkal who headed the Indian Mujahideen (IM) had said in his interrogation that the Darbhanga module had been set up in 2009 and they chose the area as the atmosphere in the state was conducive for them to set up such a module.

This module was never used for any terror strikes within the state as they feared that the trail would lead to them.

An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that like in the case of Kerala, certain places in Bihar are extremely difficult to deal with. In certain places in northern Kerala and areas such as Darbhanga a lot depends on human intelligence and this is very hard to come by because a large number of the local politicians and locals back such modules.

Another official says that these areas have been a free-for-all. While on one hand illegal immigrants keep infiltrating into such areas in Bihar, in Kerala it has been the problem of Wahhabism and its radical preachers from the Gulf.

The connection between Bihar and Kerala can be seen in the fact that the Indian Mujahideen being formed in Kerala and then it went on to form its strongest module in Bihar.

In August 2013, an operative of the Students Islamic Movement of India, Abdul Sattar was deported from the United Arab Emirates. He was charged in a case relating to the Wagamon Camp. This camp was held in 2007 during his interrogation, Sattar told the agencies that the IM was formed in 2007. He also said that 40 persons had attended that camp and later they decided to break up into different groups and arrange terror strikes.

It was also decided that Kerala would remain the base camp and all plans would be executed from Bihar and both these states would not be targeted as the agencies would lead up to their main modules.

Senior officials say that for long they have had a hostile feedback from the local agencies of both the states. In Kerala the officials say that the political backing for such local modules was so strong that if they did try busting it there was a better chance of them being tripped over rather than the problem being solved.

For long the problem was faced in Bihar too. In this context one much recall that when Yasin Bhatkal was arrested in 2013, the agencies wanted the Bihar police to probe him first for setting up the module in Darbhanga. The result: They refused.