Guwahati:
Assam police said on Sunday that Bangladeshi clerics are violating tourist visa standards by organizing religious gatherings in remote parts of the state.
A day after 17 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Assam’s Biswanath district, police said clerics from the neighboring country are radicalizing young men of the state. The Assam government had written about such incidents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA), which deals with issuing visas, and many Bangladeshi clerics have been banned from the state for repeatedly violating visa standards.
“There is a tendency, especially in Lower Assam and Barak Valley, to invite Bangladeshi clerics with a tourist visa for religious preaching. These clerics are violating the rules of the tourist visas issued to them by radicalizing young men of the state, Assam senior police officer Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said.
Led by a man named Syed Ashraful Alam, a group of 17 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from the remote Baghmari area of the Gingia region of Biswanath district for alleged religious preaching.
“We have told them that the Assam police will be strict. The 17 detainees had come to Assam with tourist visas but did not visit any of the main attractions in Assam. All they did was preach their religion,” added Mr Mahanta ready. “Religious preaching violated the standards of the visas issued to them.”
While in custody, the group’s leader, Syed Ashraful Alam, told reporters: “We have relatives here and we visit their places.”
The 17 foreigners arrested had visited Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan and also places in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal before coming to Assam.
“Many Bangladeshi clerics are not allowed to come to Assam because they have repeatedly violated tourist visa standards. Radicalization from these preachings is not good for Assam and India,” said Mr Mahanta.
The police officer said the Assam government will write to the MEA again about such incidents.
“In this case it is still too early. But we will write,” Mahanta said.