Jihadi Terror Paradise in Bihar, Muck sticks to P-Sec CM Nitish. Maniarpur is another nondescript village that dots India’s ruralscape. It is also another nondescript village that is becoming a nursery of India’s newage scourge — homegrown Jihadi terror. Located along Samastipur-Darbhanga stretch, 160km NE of Patna, Maniarpur is home to Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, a gangly youth of 24 who, according to NIA, is “key link” to arrested Indian Mujahideen mastermind, Ahmed Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal. Billage has been a peaceful abode for its inhabitants — Hindus and Muslims have lived in harmony here for centuries. For them, therefore, it came as a rude shock when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) pasted a poster on the walls of the local Kalyanpur police station declaring a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone who can furnish information about Monu, wanted in several terror attacks across the country, including Oct 27 serial explosions in Patna. Thanks to Monu, terror has struck at Bihar’s heart. And the hitherto nondescript village has found a place on India’s terror map of infamy. “It is simply hard to believe he is same Monu who studied with me in Maniarpur middle school. Like us, he was a simple boy playing with marbles and sharing the usual schoolboy jokes with us,” says Sanjay Baitha (33), the mukhiya of Maniarpur, echoing the shock and surprise that has gripped his co-villagers. Monu is eldest of 60-year-old Wasim Akhtar’s three children — he has a brother Tehrin (22) and sister Tazein (20). Baitha described family as “relatively well-off and affable”. 400 Muslims, including Monu’s family members, settled in the western corner of the village have disowned the youth, who was born, brought up and lived among them for well over 20 years. “Don’t ask anything about him. He is cut off from the village and the family for the last two years. We don’t know anything about him,” says a family member, who requested his name not be published. Maniarpur is part of a cluster of villages in Mithila’s Samastipur and Darbhanga districts that has turned into a happy hunting ground for terror outfits. Once known for maachh, makhan and paan (fish, makhana and betel leaves) and indulging in creative passions like Madhubani paintings, the region is now infamous for having given rise to the Darbhanga module of IM. NIA operatives regularly scout the area and have already arrested over a dozen suspects in connection with various terror attacks across the country. Monu’s mentor Yasin Bhatkal lived in Darbhanga and Samastipur regions in the garb of a hakeem (unani practitioner), shawl-seller and philanthropist helping Muslim youths in their studies. He is said to have identified youths, brainwashed them and assiduously built his terror network, between 2009 and 2013. He was finally arrested from Raxaul on the India-Nepal border on August 29. For the majority of people in these villages, the unwelcome terror tag has meant that their lives have changed, for worse. “Kahin aag hai, tabhi to dhuan uth raha hai, There is fire somewhere, that’s why you see smoke is coming out,” Shayeed Shamim Ahmad Barwi (65), Ex professor of botany in CM Science College, Darbhanga, who is also a social and academic activist and a noted cleric. “The problem is the NIA, instead of looking for the culprits, has thrice come calling to my office and home. I am shocked that these NIA men, and even a journalist like you, are asking questions of me,” Barwi. He lives at Darbhanga’s Chak Rahmat locality, which has a minority students’ hostel where Yasin Bhatkal was said to have lived for a few months in 2011. Javed Iqbal, professor of botany at CM Science College & Ex deputy mayor of the Darbhanga Municipal Corporation, was more candid. “Such elements (Bhatkal and Monu) have brought disrepute to our community. We did not know there was a satanic mind behind their simple exteriors. We hate them. But why is the NIA, and even our Hindu neighbours, who have lived with us for generations, doubting us,” he asks. Both Barwi and Iqbal - respected teachers, social activists and philanthropists - have faced queries from NIA sleuths regarding the activities of certain youths. “I was shocked to find an NIA sleuth talking to me in an abusive language. I could not do anything. But I felt hurt - is this the reward I have got for spending my whole life teaching students,” asks Barwi. While Community members have disowned the alleged “subversives”, the Nitish Kumar government, clueless about how to tackle the terror home truth, has been in denial mode. The chief minister had burst into indignation when the investigating agencies used the word “Darbhanga module” in their records. He also wrote letters to the Centre registering his protest on the “Darbhanga module” description on the plea that it was “offensive and derogatory” to Muslims. That gov continues to be in denial became evident when officials at Kalyanpur police stn said they had no role to play in investigation of terror-related cases. “We simply cooperate with the NIA when we are asked to locate a specific person and help in his arrest. We have no instructions from our top bosses to either investigate the terror cases or look at the possible operatives involved in terror operations. It is the job of the NIA and other central agencies,” says an official at the Kalyanpur police station, who spoke under cover of anonymity. Attitude of govt, people say, has not helped ease vicious atmosphere of suspicion that has enveloped region. “What is required as of now is political intervention to rebuild the trust among the people. It is time for the political leadership from both the communities to intervene and work together to rebuild the trust,” Husham Tariq, resident of a village near Maniarpur. Many residents recalled how Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan had camped at Musahari - birthplace of Naxalism in Bihar which falls in same region in Muzaffarpur district - for months during emergence of the Naxalite upsurge in the 1960s and 70s to bring peace between the landed gentry and the landless. Another socialist icon, Karpoori Thakur, too belonged to Samastipur. Many recalled how Thakur, Ex CM & mentor of Lalu, Nitish lived & operated with the communities and castes and controlled the tense moments during the hours of strife in the past. “We are feeling orphaned now. We no longer have leaders like JP, who never came to ask for votes but commanded the trust and respect of both communities. Now we have a CM in office, but he and his ministers queue up only for votes. There is no one to act as a true conscience keeper and guardian of society,” says a local JD(U) activist, who didn’t wish to be named for obvious reasons. They pointed out how Kalyanpur MLA Manju Kumari, who won the seat in a byelection last year, had not visited the affected localities so far. The region with a sizeable population of Muslims on the India-Nepal border has become a haven for IM terror operations. It shares porous borders with Nepal, providing routes to the terror operatives to cross over to Nepal and vice-versa to escape the police. The likes of Barwi, Iqbal and Husham also describe the “growing lure of money and materialism” as the reason for the youths to get trapped in such activities. “But it is not a part of how we have lived for centuries here. Its name may be Indian Mujahideen…but it is neither Indian nor Bihari. Some enemies of India (read ISI) have clandestinely exported the likes of Yasin Bhatkal in our midst. We have to fight them and knock them out. We need the cooperation of the police system and appeal to our Hindu brethren not to doubt us. We should work in cooperation to end the malaise ailing our pluralistic society,” says school teacher Husham Tariq. If Nitish Kumar, who is entering his ninth year in power, is looking for an answer on how to begin tackling the problem, Husham has just given him one.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 11:13:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015