• Police verification, registration to be must for imams from outside: Assam CM

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    Police verification, registration to be must for imams from outside: Assam CM




     



    Digital Desk: According
    to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam government will soon require
    police verification and online registration for madrasa teachers and imams who
    are not residents of the state.



     



    The action follows the
    arrest of 25 people, including Bangladeshi nationals, with ties to the Al Qaida
    affiliate Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a terrorist organisation with a
    stronghold in Bangladesh (AQIS).



     



    Abdus Subhan (43) and
    Jalaluddin Sheikh (49), two imams affiliated with two distinct mosques in the
    Goalpara district, were detained by police on Saturday. Police also found
    damning paperwork, their phones, and SIM cards, which connected them to
    terrorist groups like ABT and AQIS.



     



    "Two people with
    extremist connections have been detained. One of them has been identified as a
    kingpin who, in addition to serving as an imam, was active in a terror network,
    Sarma told reporters on Monday.



     



    In order for police to
    investigate new imams' antecedents before they start work, he continued,
    "We have prepared some standard operating procedures (SOPs) through which
    residents will have to notify local police about new imams who are from outside
    the area."



     



    According to Sarma,
    the state government will also launch a website where imams and private madrasa
    teachers from outside Assam can register for employment. The SOPs or the
    portal's operational launch date were not mentioned by the chief minister.