Assam: 3 associated with opening of controversial 'Miya Museum' detained

Three persons, including the president and general secretary of the Assam Miya Parishad, have been detained for their alleged association with terror outfits, police said on Wednesday.

The development comes after the controversial ‘Miya Museum’, set up in a house allotted under PMAY in Assam’s Goalpara district, was sealed on Tuesday. The president of the Miya Parishad M Mohar Ali was picked up from the museum at Dapkabhita in Goalpara district when he was sitting on a dharna, while its general secretary Abdul Baten Sheikh was taken into custody from his residence in Alamganj of Dhubri district on Tuesday night, police said.

Tanu Dhadumia, who had inaugurated the museum on Sunday, was detained from his residence in Kawamari village in Dibrugarh, they said.

The trio have been brought to Nalbari in connection with a case registered at the Ghograpar police station under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for investigation and interrogation for their alleged association with the Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT), a senior police officer said.

A team of government officers had on Tuesday sealed the ‘Miya Museum’ at Dapkabhita, and put up a notice that it was done on the orders of the deputy commissioner.

The word ‘Miya’ in Assam refers to Bengali-speaking migrants whose origin can be traced to Bangladesh.

Following the inauguration on Sunday, senior BJP leaders demanded its immediate closure, and the party’s Minority Morcha member Abdur Rahim Gibran filed a complaint at the Lakhipur police station against the setting up of the museum in a PMAY-allotted house.