The Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh has ordered a survey of all unrecognized madrassas in UP. Politics has also started on this order of the government. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has even called it mini NRC and called it a direct violation of the Constitution. At the same time, reactions are also coming from Ulema’s side. By the way, in recent times, the UP government has taken many steps to improve the system of madrasas in the state. Whether it is to coordinate modern education with Dini Taleem, to make TET mandatory for recruitment of teachers to improve the standard of education, maternity leave of women teachers etc. But the other side of the picture is that terror connections to madrassas have always been a cause of concern for governments. Inputs from intelligence agencies keep troubling the government that terrorist organizations Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Indian Mujahideen make constant efforts to mislead children studying in madrassas. Most such cases keep coming up in madrasas of Uttar Pradesh. From Deoband of Saharanpur to Azamgarh, Mau, Bahraich, youths associated with all madrasas have been arrested, many of them had gone on the path of terror or were on the way to progress.

A look at the arrests of the recent few years….

Deoband of Saharanpur is world famous for Dini Talim. By studying from here, people have been spreading the light of education all over the world. But for many years a new trend has been seen. Many youths also took the path of terror from here. In the last eight years, more than 10 terrorists were caught, who got their education from Deoband. For this reason, the eyes of all the intelligence agencies including ATS to NIA are kept on Deoband all the time.

December-2018 – The National Security Agency (NIA) arrested 13 suspected terrorists while busting the new IS module Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam in Amroha. Most of the suspected terrorists had taken education while staying in Deoband.

March 3, 2019 – Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad (UP ATS) arrested Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists Shahnawaz Teli and Aaqib Ahmed Malik from Deoband, UP. Both had prior knowledge of the attack on the CRPF squad in Pulwama. It was learned that both were studying in a hostel in Deoband for several months.

5 December 2020- Abdullah Danish, a member of the banned organization Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was arrested by Delhi Police and UP ATS in Aligarh. He was accused of being involved in the conspiracy of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts. His link with Jamia-tul-Falah Madrasa in Azamgarh came to the fore. From here he learned Quran and Urdu. In fact, Danish, originally from Mau in UP, did his BA from Shivli College in Azamgarh after his schooling. During this time his parents left Hinduism and converted to Islam. From then on Abdullah started taking interest in Islamic literature. She did her MA in Arabic from Aligarh Muslim University in 1985.

March, 2022- UP ATS arrested Inamul Haque, a 19-year-old youth from Deoband in Saharanpur. Originally from Jharkhand, this youth was living in a hostel in Deoband. It was alleged that he was planning to join the terrorist organization. According to the police, Inamul Haq was allegedly in touch with a Lashkar-e-Taiba member. He was preparing to go to Pakistan for arms training. He also uploaded and broadcast videos on Jihad.

August, 2022- Before Independence Day, Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Habibul Islam alias Saifullah from Kanpur. A few days ago, a terrorist Nadeem was arrested from Saharanpur, on whose spot Saifullah came. According to the police Saifullah was planning a big conspiracy at the behest of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Terrorist Saifullah was preparing a new module at the behest of ISI, UP-Uttarakhand. In the investigation, Saifullah’s link was found with Arabiya Qurania, a madrasa in Etawah. It was learned that from June 2019 to March 2020, he had studied Hifz here. Later he left the madrasa during the Corona period. After this information, the police and administration are counseling the children in the madrasa. At the same time, the madrasa operator has instructed the children not to make friends with any outside stranger, do not reconcile, stay away from mobile.

Indian Mujahideen terrorist Ejaz Shaikh, who was apprehended by the Delhi Police several years ago, had revealed that three of his terrorist accomplices were living as students in Deoband, who were killed in an air strike in Afghanistan. Not only this, the matter of reading Al Qaeda leader Asim Umar from Deoband also came to the fore. Actually there are more than 100 small and big madrasas in Deoband of UP. Intelligence agencies are scrutinizing their records. According to IB inputs, terrorist organizations Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Indian Mujahideen have deep penetration in West UP. Many of their sleeping modules are active in Meerut, Deoband, Shamli, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Amroha, Sambhal and Rampur. So far many ISI agents and terrorists have been arrested from these districts.

SIMI started ‘recruitment’ from madrasas

Student Islamic Movement of India i.e. SIMI was started on 25 April 1977 from Aligarh, UP. Shortly after its establishment under the guise of increasing Islamic activities, SIMI began to weaken the roots of the country’s government. Experts believe that the members of this organization targeted madrasas the most to increase their strength. He made inroads in madrasas across the country and started teaching lessons of terror under the guise of dini education. Gradually, in a way, the role of madrasas for SIMI became like a recruitment cell.

After its anti-national activities and involvement in many terrorist incidents came to the fore, the central government banned this organization in the early 2000s, taking intelligence information as the basis. After the initial ban, the ban on this organization was also lifted for some time but on 6 August 2008, the Supreme Court reinstated the ban.

What will happen in the survey?

Recently, the National Child Protection Commission had requested for a survey of madrassas of UP. For this, a letter was sent to the government on behalf of the Registrar of the UP Madrasa Education Council. Taking this seriously, the government has written a letter to all the district magistrates and ordered a survey of all the unrecognized madrassas of the state. It has been said that the team under the leadership of SDM will survey the number, facilities and condition of students of unrecognized madrassas. The survey report from the district magistrates in the prescribed format will have to be provided to the government by October 25.

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