The Assam Cabinet on Sunday (February 16, 2025) resolved to let the State police register a case against Pakistan-based climate expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, and probe his alleged anti-India activities with his Indian collaborators, including the wife of a Congress MP.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the State’s Director General of Police Harmeet Singh has been directed to register a case against Mr. Sheikh under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and other relevant laws. The police have been advised to investigate the length and depth of Mr. Sheikh’s network in India, he told journalists after the Cabinet meeting.
“The police have been asked to examine individuals, organisations, and accomplices based in Assam and the rest of India, who have aided and abetted Mr. Sheikh’s actions against India,” he said.
Mr. Sarma said the Cabinet took the attempts of Mr. Sheikh, who has deep connections in the Pakistan government and diplomatic circles, to interfere in the domestic matters of Assam and the rest of India with utmost seriousness, given the “historical attempts” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and other state and non-state actors to destabilise the country.
He said the government had noted with concern the contact maintained by Mr. Sheikh with Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, a British citizen and wife of MP Gaurav Gogoi. The MP’s wife was an integral part of Mr. Sheikh’s non-profit organisation called LEAD Pakistan, and both have been associated with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, a global climate change action group.
“National security agencies will collaborate in the probe to assess the extent of foreign influence on India’s internal matters,” Mr. Sarma said, insisting that national security concerns were behind the Cabinet decision. He added that the case could be escalated to a central investigative agency, given the seriousness of the allegations.
Alleging that the MP tried to collect information on sensitive issues related to national security, and involved his wife in elections in Assam despite her nationality, the Chief Minister hoped Ms. Gogoi would cooperate with the investigation.
He said the government would formally notify Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah regarding the case.
‘Malicious campaign’
Mr. Gogoi refuted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) allegations against him and his wife, which he said were part of a “mischievous, baseless, and malicious campaign” aimed at diverting public attention from the ruling party’s failures.
He cited a statement by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who suggested that these accusations were politically motivated with the Assam Assembly election just a year away. “The BJP government has failed to fulfil its promises and is resorting to unfounded attacks to mask its shortcomings,” Mr. Gogoi said.
“We will take appropriate action against this defamation. However, I have full faith in the people of Assam, who can recognise this slander for what it is. Just as the people of Jharkhand rejected Himanta Biswa Sarma’s rhetoric in the Vidhan Sabha elections, I believe the same wisdom will guide Assamese voters,” Mr. Gogoi said.
