By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) intensifying recruitment drives in minority dominated districts of Assam.As the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 becomes the most discussed issues in the state, now Jihadi militant organizations have started to recruit youth from Assam with an aim to disrupt the law and order situation in the state. According to reports, organizations such as the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have become very active in the recent days. Youth from the backward minority-dominated areas have become their main target. And what is more shocking are reports that the JMB is using the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to target youths from the minority community. According to the sources, there are intelligence inputs that JMB militants are using various tactics to recruit new people for their organizations. Not only the JMB, there are reports of Hizbul Mujahideen being involved in the recruitment drive as well. The main target of these organizations are the youth belonging to the backward classes. These organizations might use their new recruits to disrupt the law and order situation in the state or they might use them in other places such as Kashmir or also at places in Bangladesh. As per sources, the main locations of these recruitment drives are Dhubri, Dalgaon, Kharupetia and parts of Hojai. They are mainly targeting the youngsters that belong to financially backward families in these areas. Although there were many reports of Jihadi or Islamic militant organizations being active in the state earlier, the Police became more alert only after a youth from Jamunamukh was found to have joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir. The home ministry following these reports has now asked the security forces and police in Assam to stay on high alert and keep track of every suspected movement in the state.