The enemy isnt merely across the border-hes also within. The ISI has many faces and its not just RDX all the way. All along the eastern Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border and adjoining areas, its operations are low-key but infinitely more dangerous.
Of late, there has been a spurt in madrasa-building in the area from Jaunpur via Azamgarh, Mau Nath Bhanjan to Ghazipur, Deoria and Siddharthnagar. The potential danger becomes more pronounced with money coming to these madrasas through hawala channels operated by Dawood Ibrahim and the ISI.
It was prompted by this bogey that the bjp-led government in UP passed the controversial UP Regulation of Public Religious Buildings and Places Bill, 2000, last week. UP parliamentary affairs minister Hukum Singh insists ISI agents operate from the mushrooming places of worship.
But the passage of this Bill is only a temporary solution because the long-term source of the problem lies in the poverty of the region. Says an IB official, "The Aalims, Fazils and Maulanas graduating out of these madrasas have no vocational training. Consequently, they end up serving the cause of fundamentalist Islam."
According to the official, "A former All India Amir of the Jamat-e-Islami Hind, Abu Layas Islahi, is an alumnus of Madrasa Islaha, Azamgarh." This school is affiliated to Deobands famous Darul Uloom. Another local intelligence source reveals that the present All India Amir of the Ahl-e-Hadis, an ultra-orthodox Sunni Muslim sect, is from a madrasa in Mubarakpur, Azamgarh. Indian intelligence agents in eastern UP and Bihar claim that Jamat-ul-Falah, another Islamic seminary in Bilriaganj, Azamgarh, is funded by the Islamic Development Bank. An intelligence officer told Outlook, "Of the 150 madrasas in Azamgarh, only 49 are government-aided. Others get funds from pan-Islamist bodies."
Kaleemuddin, the hawala kingpin of eastern UP, works for Anees Trading Company, a Sharjah-based front for the D-Company. Dawood is also related to another family from Azamgarh. His brother Mustaqeem is married to Seema, daughter of a hotel proprietor from Azamgarh. The money pumped in by the ISI and the gangster to woo the local Muslims also explains the growth of madrasas.
Theres another connection. Says Mirza Abul Hasnat, a clerk in the Madrasa Islaha, "Most of our students are from UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Nepal." Local intelligence, however, claims there are many pupils from Kashmir having links with pro-Pakistan outfits. What Mazahar Hasan Ansari, head clerk of a madrasa in Mau, says eliminates all doubts about the hold pan-Islamism exercises in the area: "Secular education is of no value for us. Were children of Allah and are essentially here to follow his commands." Manager Mumtaz Ahmed Nikhtai adds, "Our theological education helps us to accomplish that. The will of Allah, for us, is priority number one. The rest, and that includes a professional career, is secondary."
