Law enforcing and intelligence agencies in Barisal are keeping a close watch on the qoumi and the aliya madrassahs and people suspected to have participated in Afghan war.
Besides, they are collecting information regarding the founders of these madrassahs, teachers, students, their sources of fund, syllabus and curricula.
The move came in the wake of the recent incident in Bhola in which a huge amount of explosives, arms and documents on militancy were recovered from a madrassah.
Hayatul Islam, assistant commissioner of the Barisal Metropolitan Police, acknowledged the move.
Sources said there are at least 44 qoumi madrassahs in Barisal and 37 of them have been traced yet.
Besides, there are 37 aliya madrassahs in the district and of them 28 receive monthly pay order from the education ministry.
In 2007, it was revealed that at least seven teachers and students of these madrassahs visited Afghanistan to take part in the war there, the police sources said.
Among the seven, the police could trace the names and addresses of Maulana Rafiqul Islam of Mahmudia Madrasha of the city and one of the largest qoumi madrassahs of the country, Maulana Waliullah of Rupatali of the city, Maulana Qamrul Islam, executive director of The Servant of Suffering Humanity International, an Islamic NGO of the district, Faruk Hossain, owner of a shop at Jewellery Market of Patarhut Bandar under Mehendiganj upazila headquarters.
The police said they are yet to trace out addresses of the rest three suspected Afghan war veterans — Maulana Nesaruddin, Maulana Aminul Islam and Maulana Shahidul Islam.
Meanwhile, Mufti Muhammad Nurullah, Barisal district president of the Qoumi Madrassah Oikya Parishad, Maulana Abdul Majid Talukdar, principal of the madrasa, Maulana Abdul Khaleq, Pir Saheb of Harinafulia, and other leaders of the organisation expressed their resentment over marking the all qoumi madrassahs as dens of Islamic militants.
They expressing vented their anger saying Green Crescent was not a madrassah but an NGO registered during the past AL regime after verification and following rules regulations of the government for charitable works.
If Green Crescent was found liable for any mischievous act, why all of the qoumi madrassahs would be blamed for that, they asked.
Some of the qoumi madrassah teachers, preferring anonymity, said different controversial reports were published and broadcasted in the media in connection with the Green Crescent and qoumi madrassahs.
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