14 held in Assam for pro-Taliban social media posts

Amid talks of the presence of Taliban sympathisers in India after the insurgent group recently took control of Afghanistan, Assam Police have arrested at least 14 persons for putting up Taliban related social media posts, officials said on Saturday.

Assam's Special Director General of Police, G.P. Singh, tweeted: "Police have arrested 14 persons for social media posts regarding Taliban activities that have attracted provisions of law of the land. People are advised to be careful in posts/likes etc. on social media platforms to avoid penal action."

A senior police officer in Guwahati said that 14 people belonging to 10 districts were arrested after they were tracked by the cyber cell of Assam Police, which keeps constant vigil on social media networks.

"At least 17 social media profiles were noticed making various posts related to the Taliban. These posts made comments supporting the coup in Afghanistan or the activities of the Islamist militant group. The posts were put up during the past two weeks," the official told the media, requesting not to be named.

The police said the posts were put up by 14 people from 10 districts of Assam, while three other profiles belonged to residents of Assam who are presently settled in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Mumbai.

The 14 people, aged between 23 and 65 years, were arrested from Darrang, Kamrup (Rural), Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimganj, Barpeta, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara and Hojai districts.

According to the officer, the arrested persons include one MBBS student from Hailakandi studying in the Tezpur Medical College, and two Muslim religious leaders.

The police also said that they are trying to gather more inputs about the three persons who are settled outside Assam, and would forward their details to the Intelligence Bureau once they have them.

While the state had earlier seen people sympathising with Pakistan, it did not see much support for the Taliban till now, at least not publicly.