The Odisha government will probe the reported visit of suspected al-Qaeda terrorist Abdur Rahman to the State Secretariat on October 7, as the Opposition Congress and BJP demanded a high level inquiry into the matter.
“The department will probe the alleged visit of Rahman to the State Secretariat on October 7. I have never met any person in the name of Abdur Rahman,” School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said.
Mr. Mishra was reacting to media reports on Rahman’s visit to the State Secretariat and his School and Mass Education Department on October 7 at around 11.30 am.
Rahman, who has been arrested on the charge of having links with the AQIS on December 16, had allegedly visited the administrative office with a pass issued by the secretariat reception. Rahman’s pass allegedly mentioned that he got permission to enter the Secretariat with the purpose of visiting School and Mass Education and Health Department.
Commissioner of Police R. P. Sharma, however, said the police have no such information regarding Rahman’s visit to the State Secretariat.
‘Cooperate with govt.’
Meanwhile, Jamiat-Ulama-i-Odisha has asked all madrasas in the State to cooperate with the administration in the wake of Rahman’s arrest.
“If the charges against Abdur Rahman are true, let him be punished. We condemn any kind of terror activities. But the innocent people from the community should not be harassed,” JUIO general secretary Mufti Md Ashraf Ali Qasmi told reporters here.
The Odisha and Delhi police had on December 16 arrested 37-year-old cleric Abdur Rahman from his house in Cuttack district on the charge of having links with al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
Expressing surprise over alleged activities of Rahman, the JUIO condemned any form of terrorism in a peace-loving State like Odisha. “We are deeply hurt and pained over the recent developments relating to arrest of a suspected terrorist in Odisha,” JUIO president Maulana Md Jabir Qasim said.
“The government should not blame all the madrasas on the plea of misdeeds by one cleric Abdur Rahman,” Qasmi said, claiming the community is facing difficulties as a section considers all madrasas as the same.
“Madrasas do not preach the language of terror. There is a mis-campaign against madrasas after Rahman’s arrest,” they said.
Asked whether the community would impose any ‘fatwa’ on Rahman’s family as his elder brother was an accused in the US Embassy attack in Kolkata in 2002, Qasim said: “Let the law take its own course. If he (Rahman) is guilty, the law will punish him.”
The authorities of different madrasas should cooperate with the administration and police in the investigation, they said.
Official sources said there is only one madrasa run by the State government but 78 other such institutions get full government funding and 138 others get part grant-in-aid. - PTI
