Even as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at seven locations in Coimbatore and arrested Mohammed Azarudeen, the alleged mastermind of Islamic State Tamilnadu module who was a Facebook friend of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim, a former Governor and prominent Muslim politician in Sri Lanka has accused the erstwhile Rajapaksa government of being complacent while its military intelligence unit ‘worked closely’ with the National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), the radical Islamist organisation behind the Easter bombings.
Azath Salley was one of the two Muslim Governors who stepped down from office earlier this month, following a fasting Buddhist monk’s demand that they resign over alleged links with Easter suspects.
They have denied the accusation. Salley, while testifying before a Parliament Select Committee (PSC) probing the terror attacks, said that he had informed top authorities in government about the activities of extremist elements several times. Further, he claimed that the Defence Ministry of the previous Rajapaksa administration had been funding the NTJ for some years now.
Meanwhile in Coimbatore, NIA alleged that the prime suspect Mohammed Azharudheen, 32, and his associates were “propagating the ideology of proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State on social media with the intention of recruiting vulnerable youth for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India especially in Kerala and Tamilnadu.”
The agency claimed Azharudheen was highly radicalised and was running a Facebook page called ‘Khilafah GFX’. An official was quoted as saying, “We do not know if Azharudheen’s acquaintance with Hashim was only limited to interactions on Facebook or went beyond it. We are questioning him but have named him and five others in the FIR. His online activities were under watch for few months now.”
With details about links of terrorists sending shock waves, it is time to break the terror chain which is propagating hate.