Deoband in Uttar Pradesh can be considered as the hotbed of radicalisation. However, Yogi Government has left no stone unturned to cleanse the home of Taliban ideology and he has succeeded in doing so. Yogi Adityanath has stormed back to power as CM in the state after the recently concluded assembly elections. He is back in action even before taking the oath of CM as ATS has begun crackdown on anti-India elements.
ATS’ crackdown on anti-India elements
On Sunday, ATS began its crackdown and picked up two youths from a hostel in Deoband. The suspects are believed to be natives of Bangladesh and Myanmar and are students of a madrasa in Deoband. Their links with Pakistan have also come in the fore as was revealed in the CDR of the mobile numbers of the suspects. However, IG ATS GK Goswami issued a statement informing that they have been released after questioning. The investigation, however, is still in the process.
Reportedly, the ATS team picked up the suspects from a hostel named Najmi Manzil located on Darul Uloom Road in Mohalla Khankah of Deoband Kotwali area. Goswami further noted that “Both the youths were raised on suspicion of anti-national activities.”
Yogi Government on its way to clean Deoband
Given the increasing radical movements and Taliban capture of Afghanistan, Yogi Government stepped in with the decision to set up Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) Centre in Deoband. Zee News has then reported that “The ATS commando centre is being set up given the catastrophic situation in Afghanistan. The Yogi government is already getting alert to rein in Taliban sympathisers.”
Read more: Deoband in India is the home of Taliban’s ideology and Yogi is all set to clean it
There’s a reason behind why Deoband was chosen. The Yogi government wants to protect sensitive areas from any kind of radicalisation. In 2009, the Combating Terrorism Center of the US Military Academy at West Point published a report that stated, “Deobandi Islam is the most popular form of pedagogy in the Pashtun belt on both sides of the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, prominent Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders have studied in Deobandi seminaries.”
Read more: Saharanpur DM and NCPCR shuts down the Darul Uloom Deoband website until further notice
Umar, a resident of UP’s Sambhal, had studied at Deoband’s Darul-Uloom and had left India in 1995 to join Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a Pakistan-based terror outfit. He had then remained in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials alleged that through online videos, Umar instigated many Indian youths. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) too seized videos of radical sermons from search in Amroha. Yes, it is a hard pill to swallow for any Indian and thus, Yogi Government is adamant on cleaning Deoband.