Hizb-ut-Tahrir’s rise discussed at anti-terror meet

NIA discussed “growth of Hizb-ut-Tahrir” in India at the two day anti-terrorism conference last week, officials said. Counterterrorism experts from Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Guwahati Police, Narcotics Control Bureau and BSF were also part of the deliberations, they said.

Lebanon-based fundamentalist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir has a presence in Western countries, including the UK, and was banned following a pro-Palestine street protest in October last year, praising Hamas for its action in Israel. India recently placed the group under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, after its sleeper cells emerged in MP, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The case studies presented during the two-day conference included the module of HuT busted by the Madhya Pradesh anti-terrorist squad early this year. According to officials, the case was subsequently transferred to NIA by the Union home ministry, which later filed a chargesheet against 17 Hizb-ut-Tahrir members. They said the NIA probe revealed that HuT members were distributed across the country and were clandestinely recruiting and strengthening their cadre in Madhya Pradesh.

As per the agency, the accused were inspired by HuT’s extremist ideology, which intended to build a Sharia-based Islamic nation in India through violent activities. An HuT sleeper cell has been found to be operational in TN, Andhra and Telangana. NIA arrested Faizul Rahman, the state amir of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir movement in TN and Puducherry in October. Rahman, along with six others, was charged with inciting secession and requesting military assistance from Pakistan to liberate J&K.

“HuT is promoting terrorism by using various social media platforms and secure apps, and by conducting ‘Dawah’ meetings to encourage gullible youth to indulge in acts of terrorism,” said an official.HuT was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 and its Palestinian branch has hundreds of members who have been repressed by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.