Bangladesh: Islamist Vestiges
The Sheikh Hasina regime has done extraordinarily well in stabilizing a country which, only a few years ago, had come to be regarded as an economic and political basket case and a centre of Islamist extremism and terrorism. However, radical Islamist groupings in the country, despite the body blows they have received in the recent past, retain a significant cadre base and residual capacities to create havoc in the country. -- Anshuman Behera
By Anshuman Behera
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
The arrests of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Chief Maulana Saidur Rahman alias Zafar and three other top leaders of the outfit on May 25, 2010, from Dhaka and Narayanganj Districts certainly constitute a major breakthrough for the Sheikh Hasina Government in its drive against terrorism and Islamist violence in Bangladesh. The other three top leaders who were arrested along with Saidur Rahman were JMB’s military coordinator Amir Hossain alias Sharif, and ehsars (full time members) Nur Hossain alias Sabuj and Abdullah Hel Kafi.
The Security Forces (SFs) subsequently arrested Shahed bin Hafiz, a member of the JMB’s first ever Majlish-e-Shura (highest decision-making body of JMB), on June 5. The acting chief of the JMB, Nazmul Anwar Alam alias Bhagina Shahid, was then arrested on July 12.
The arrest of the top JMB leaders has demonstrated Dhaka’s willingness to take the Islamist terrorists head on. It is significant, however, that Islamist militant groups like the JMB and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), as well as subversive political formations such as the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), remain active in Bangladesh and constitute an abiding threat, both to the regime and to the security of the country.
Unsurprisingly, radical Islamist forces like JMB and JeI have been relatively less visible since the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League (AL) assumed power on January 6, 2009. Notably, under former Premier Begum Khaleda Zia’s regime (October 1, 2001- October 27, 2006) the Islamists had created havoc in the country and even beyond its borders, in numerous terrorist attacks in India. Within Bangladesh, this culminated in the serial bomb blasts of August 17, 2005, in which some 459 explosions hit 63 of the country’s 64 Districts.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that the JMB has been working covertly to attract new recruits by signaling its re-emergence through a planned series of explosions in capital Dhaka. During interrogation, Saidur Rahman gave details of the organisation’s plans and targets. According to Rahman’s confessional report, the JMB had around 400 full time cadres across the country and a ‘military wing’ capable of launching major attacks. He also claimed that hardliners who had taken control of the JMB would be more destructive as a result of his absence as chief. Further, he disclosed that Sohel Mahfuz had become JMB’s acting chief and Nazmul Anwar Alam alias Bhagina Shahid was its ‘military wing commander’. [Police, however, claim that Nazmul was the acting chief of the JMB]. Rahman also disclosed that, apart from the fake currency trade, JMB received funds from several sources at home and abroad. Saidur Rahman also admitted that the JMB has several hundred explosive devices, handmade bombs and grenades stashed at different locations.
Further, the acting chief of the JMB, Nazmul Anwar Alam, revealed that the JMB had a hit list of 12 top political figures, mostly ruling party leaders. He, however, claimed that the JMB had destroyed all the explosives it had in the northern region. Interestingly, Saidur Rahman contradicted this claim, suggesting that Alam could have shifted the arms and explosives to new caches.
Another senior leader of the JMB, Abu Bakkr Siddique alias Shiblu, who was arrested in Thakurgaon District on May 25, told the SFs that JMB had trained some of its female operatives in using grenades and they have been making preparations to carry out a series of grenade attacks in Dhaka on a limited scale. Shiblu confirmed Rahman’s claim that the aim of the planned attacks was to signal the JMB’s re-emergence and to attract prospective recruits.
The Inspector General of Police [Dhaka Range], Nur Mohammad, however, claimed on May 26, that, "Due to the arrest of the groups’ current chief Saidur Rahman, their reorganizing efforts will fail."
Danger, however, continues to linger, since the various Islamist extremist groupings are well connected, and have deep linkages with radical political formations like the JeI. Rahman, for instance, admitted his past affiliation with the JeI, as a former Ameer (chief) of the Habiganj District JeI unit. Rahman was made Ameer of Habiganj JeI unit in 1983. He also indicated that at least 25 JeI rokans (high-ranking field operatives) were actively involved with the JMB, and that JeI provided physical and small arms training to its members. SAIR has repeatedly emphasized the strong connections between JMB and JeI. Similarly, Alam disclosed that he had been an active cadre of the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), JeI’s students’ wing, until he joined JMB in 1998.
The links between these two radical Islamist groupings became even clearer in a face to face interrogation of JMB and JeI leaders. Investigators brought together Saidur Rahman and leaders of the JeI, including Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mojahid and Delwar Hossain Saydee, on July 13. [These three top JeI leaders were arrested from Dhaka on June 29]. During the exchange, Nizami threatened Rahman against disclosing anything regarding the links between JeI and JMB, and told him to "pray for his life". During the interrogation, Rahman claimed that the Secretary General of JeI, Ali Ahsan Mojahid, had told him about regretting his failure to kill "all" the pro-liberation intellectuals on the night of December 14, 1971. Reports suggest that Mojahid initially denied the allegation, but remained silent when Rahman stood by his claims. In reaction to the JMB chief’s claim that the Jamaat was providing training in handling small arms and grenades, the Jamaat chief Nizami told investigators that the use of bombs and weapons to kill people were the features of JMB activities, not the Jamaat’s.
Despite widely known linkages with Islamist militant groups, the JeI has managed to retain its status as a political party and is not banned. However, if the links between the JeI and JMB are officially proven, there is a likelihood that the Government may ban it as a political party. The JeI is already under tremendous pressure because of the Awami League’s electoral commitment to bring the 1971 War Crimes offenders to justice, and the Government’s current efforts to fulfil this pledge. The arrests of JeI’s Chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahshan Mojahid ad Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Saydee, in this regard, have become a matter of real concern for the Jamaat. The JeI’s role in the genocide of 1971, and in the killing of intellectuals and freedom fighters during the Liberation War has already been brought under the process of the trial of War Criminals.
While the JeI leadership will certainly work to create some ambiguity around its relations with the JMB, there can be little scope to deny the violence of its student wing, the ICS. Most recently, ICS cadres killed an activist of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and cut the tendons of four other students on February 9, 2010, in Rajshahi University. The JeI was also believed to be involved in this incident, which left at least 100 students injured. Confirming JeI’s involvement in the Rajshahi University incident, one of the ICS leaders, Akram Hossain, confessed to the Police on March 12, 2010: "I took part in the attack with the Shibir group led by the Rajshahi University ICS President Shamsul Alam Golap. Golap made contact several times with central JeI and ICS leaders during the night of violence."
Street violence has also been engineered sporadically by the JeI-ICS combine. On June 13, moreover, Jamaat and ICS cadres clashed with BCL cadres in Dhaka, resulting in injuries to some 35 persons. This was followed by JeI and ICS clashes with the Police on June 30, during demonstrations demanding the release of JeI top three leaders. In another incident, on July 4, cadres of the JeI and ICS rampaged through the streets of Chittagong, destroying 100 vehicles, during the JeI’s two-day protest against the arrest of its leaders. Following the incident, the Police arrested a number of JeI and ICS leaders and cadres. According to Police sources, "JeI now struggles to come up with an effective strategy to face the current crisis arising from the large number of arrests of its party leaders across the country".
The JeI leadership has declared its intention to ‘observe the whole situation’, and to keep in touch with their international contacts and fight the legal battles to free their leaders. ATM Azharul Islam, acting secretary general of the JeI, stated, "We are observing the situation. The legal battle to free our leaders will continue along with a peaceful movement."
The Sheikh Hasina regime has done extraordinarily well in stabilizing a country which, only a few years ago, had come to be regarded as an economic and political basket case and a centre of Islamist extremism and terrorism. However, radical Islamist groupings in the country, despite the body blows they have received in the recent past, retain a significant cadre base and residual capacities to create havoc in the country.
Source: South Asia Intelligence Review [SAIR]
9:40 PM
Sultan Shahin
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