Amidst the spectre of violence witnessed in Afghanistan, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided to tackle the menace of jihad and terror activities back home. An ATS commando centre will be established with immediate effect in the UP town of Deoband, the place that serves as an ideological fountainhead for many extremist organisations, including the Taliban.
तालीबान की बर्बरता के बीच यूपी की खबर भी सुनिए,योगीजी ने तत्काल प्रभाव से ‘देवबंद’ में ATS कमांडो सेंटर खोलने का निर्णय लिया है,युद्धस्तर पर काम शुरू भी हो गया है,प्रदेश भर से चुने हुए करीब डेढ दर्जन तेज तर्रार एटीएस अफसरों की यहां तैनाती होगी। pic.twitter.com/cBcFqwEtYK
— Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) August 17, 2021
Shalabh Mani Tripathi, the communications advisor to CM Yogi Adityanath, took to Twitter to inform about the decision made by the UP government. He said work on setting up an ATS commando centre in Deoband had already commenced on a war footing, adding that about half a dozen bright ATS officers from across the state will be posted in the newly developed centre.
Taliban’s connection with the UP town of Deoband
It is worth noting that the Taliban, which has recently risen in prominence in Afghanistan and effectively controls the country, draws its inspiration from the Deobandi movement. The current article on Wikipedia refers to the Taliban as a Deobandi Islamist movement and a military organization in Afghanistan, engaged in waging a jihad within the country.
Not just Wikipedia, but the Taliban’s association with the UP town of Deoband was also highlighted in an article published in the New York Times in 2002. The article titled “Indian town’s seed grew into the Taliban code” discussed how the ideology of radical Islamism that germinated in a town in Uttar Pradesh went on to influence the jihadist movement on the other side of the Durand Line, the line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A recent article in the Guardian also characterised the Taliban as “employing a narrow interpretation of Islamic sharia law inspired by the Deobandi fundamentalist school”.
According to Wikipedia, Deobandi is an Islamic revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that formed around the Darul Uloom Islamic seminary in the town of Deoband. The seminary was founded in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and several other figures. The Deobandi movement’s political wing, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was founded in 1919.
It is alleged that Deobandi Islam is the most popular form of pedagogy in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and several prominent Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders have studied in Deobandi seminaries. By some accounts, about 15 to 25 per cent of Pakistani Sunni identify themselves as Deobandi. Similarly, terror organisations such as TTP, SSP, LeJ etc., which are quite active in Pakistan draw their inspiration from Deobandi ideology. Furthermore, even a majority of Bangladeshi Sunni Muslims swear their allegiance to the Deobandi Islamic movement.
