One of the most prestigious and important Islamic academic institutions of the world Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh , which often, came under criticism for being a hub of ‘suspicious elements’, for the first time in its 156 years history, introduced strict admission procedures.
The new guidelines and norms came at a time when Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) in a major crackdown arrested a Bangladeshi, identified as Talha Talukdar bin Farooq having links with al Qaeda recently. Following relentless interrogation ultimately Talha revealed that he happened to be a resident of Barguali village Comilla, Bangladesh adjoining Tripura. Later some Bangladesh papers were also recovered from him. The arrest was made following Intelligence Bureau reports.
Talha was found to be having fake documents- Aadhar card, PAN card, ID card of Darul Uloom Deoband, life time membership card etc- to certify him as an Indian citizen.
The ATS was presently trying to ascertain through which route he entered India and as to how managed the fake Indian papers.
Though till now the ATS did not come out with the name of Tripura it was widely suspected that Talha might have entered India and went to Deobandh via Tripura and he had also arranged his papers from Tripura.
He had confirmed links with Al Qaeda and he was staying in seminary’s room no 61 for quite some time as an Arbi Alim student. He was found to be an accomplice of Jainal Abedin, a Bangladeshi national and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) cadre arrested from Bhopal along with five others on March 14 on the basis of IB inputs. His phone contents showed ‘Jihadi’ contents related to ABT, al Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan. His case was being now handled apart from ATS also central agencies like Intelligence Bureau, RAW and others.
Coinciding the arrest of Bangladesh national and al Qaeda accomplice, the new guidelines that the Dar-ul-Uloom came up with indicated that the students from Tripura, Assam, West Bengal- the states incidentally having borders with Bangladesh- Manipur and J&K etc would have to undergo tougher scrutiny during admission which would among others involve in depth police verifications and documents scrutinies.
Students of these states, including Tripura seeking admission in Dar-ul-Uloom would have take along them original residence certificates and affidavits. The other documents would include their previous madrasa certificates, the marksheets obtained from there and the Aadhaar cards of the applicants and their father including their mobile numbers.
Darul Uloom happened to be the leading Islamic seminary in India set up by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, Sayyid Muhammad Abid and others in 1866 from where the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement had actually once begun.
“Students seeking admission this year will have to submit their documents, including their Aadhaar cards, original residence certificates and an affidavit, which would be checked and verified by government agencies, including the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) of the police,” Darul Uloom’s Naib Mohtamim (Deputy Vice Chancellor) Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi said in a statement.
If these were not enough, Dar-ul-Uloom made it clear that if the documents including the IDs were incorrect then the students would also face legal actions.
Simiar rules and norms would be applied for the students fron other parts of the world too.
Talking about the outstation students, Madrasi said, “No one is exempted in this regard.”
“Those who cannot submit the required documents should not come for admission because such students will not be enrolled”, Madrasi said.
“People blame the seminary for the misdeeds of the students, even though the institution’s work is restricted to academic activities. To preserve the reputation of the institution, we have decided to get police verification of all new entrants done,” Madrasi said.
It was learnt that the stringent norms were being introduced to ensure that the institution does not get a bad name if some students were found to be indulging in any anti-national activities
The UP ATS in relation to the arrest of the Bangladeshi national from Dar ul Uloom in a statement said the accused was called to the agency’s office in Saharanpur for questioning and was subsequently arrested on Friday.
On being quizzed about his nationality, he produced an Aadhar and a PAN card and the life membership card of Darul Uloom in support of his claim of being an Indian national but failed to give a satisfactory reply to questioning, the release said.
