After a lull of seven years, the country is again in the grips of alarm, with a recent series of violent attacks and killings carried out by two militant groups.
Over the past three and a half years, these two groups emerging from two previous organisations, have been involved in 62 attacks in which 94 people were killed. The IS ideologues displayed an outburst of extreme atrocity with the Gulshan attack, putting Bangladesh on the global map of terrorism.
These two militant outfits emerged in 2013. One was Ansarullah Bangla Team, now known as Ansar al Islam, and were followers of al-Qaeda. The other claims to be IS, though the government terms them as neo-JMB. Though their targets have been different so far, both of these outfits are of the Ahle Hadith or salafi school of thought. A large number of the members of these groups are youth from English medium schools as well as from public and private universities and of affluent family backgrounds.
According to Prothom Alo investigations, efforts to radicalise youths from English medium schools as well as public and private universities began about a decade and a half ago. It was the religion-based organisation Hizbut Tahrir, presently banned, that first began targeting youths for this purpose. Then came along another salafi organisation, Jamaatul Muslemin, which gave birth to the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Hizbut Tahrir at the outset:
Hizbut Tahrir, the international organisation active in various countries to establish khilafat, was set up in Bangladesh in 2001. The organisation introduced its ideology in this country through persons returning from the United Kingdom after completing higher studies there.
Completely urban-based, this organisation began influencing college and university students from well-to-do families. Hizbut Tahrir activities became visible in 2003, mostly restricted to seminars and discussions in air-conditioned halls of the capital city. Then in 2007 the organisation caught media attention when it staged processions and rallies, violating the state of emergency.
Hizbut Tahrir began in Bangladesh under the leadership of a few teachers from Dhaka University’s Institute of Business Administration (IBA). Later it spread to various private universities, among which North South University was prominent.
According to literature distributed by Hizbut Tahrir, democracy is an ideology of non-believers and should be shunned.
This correspondent spoke to several Hizbut Tahrir leaders before the organisation was banned. They maintained that, unlike the militant outfits, they did not believe in violence or armed struggle to reach their objectives. They believed that the government forces in Muslim countries could be used to usher in khilafat and so they focussed influencing children of persons with important positions in the establishment.
In 2008 a top leader of the organisation said they had over 10 thousand members at the time. They were mostly based in the capital city. There were members in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Comilla too, but not significant in number.
On 22 October 2009, the government banned Hizbut Tahrir “in interests of public security”. Many of its members were arrested but its activities continued. Many of its early members, upon completing their education, took up teaching in English medium schools and private universities. It is said they play an important role in gathering members.
Jamaatul Muslemin:
Around the same time as Hizbut Tahrir, another extremist organisation was secretly functioning under the name of Jamaatul Muslemin, though it did not come to the light. The organisation followed the Yemeni al Qaeda leader Anwar Awlaki. This organisation also aimed at gathering members from among students of English medium schools and public and private universities. But the members also included poor students of madrasas up in the northern districts.
Jamaatul Muslemin had a centre called Research Centre for Unity Development (RCUD) in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, but that has now been closed down. It reportedly liaised between local and international militant organisations. Prothom Alo ran a report on this on 2 March 2011. Before that, on 15 February the organisation’s chairman Mohammed Abdur Rashid Chowdhury told this correspondent that the main founder of RCUD was Rezaul Razzak, son of founding chairman of Islami Bank Abdur Razzak Lashkar.
In a report of the home ministry’s committee on militancy resistance and prevention on June 2013, Rezaul Razzak was named as the amir of Jamaatul Muslemin. There was no other information about the organisation in the report.
Rezaul Razzak, according to Prothom Alo investigations, joined the faculty of a private university in Banani after completing higher studies in the US. In 2014 the university informed Prothom Alo, he was no longer with them since 2010. Police sources say he is presently in Malaysia.
Intelligent agencies maintain that members of RCUD and Jamaatul Muslemin met al-Qaeda leader Anwar Awlaki (later killed) in Yemen. Before Jamaatul Muslemin was disbanded, its last amir was Ejaz Hossain alias Kargil and he lived in Kalabagan. In 2008 he went away to Pakistan.
Ansar al Islam:
Towards the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008, Ansarullah Bangla Team, now Ansar al Islam, emerged from Jamaatul Muslemin. It was of the salafi school of thought and followed Anwar Awlaki. Most of its members have received modern education and many of them are from wealthy families. It has poor madrasa students as well, though very few in numbers. Initially it had considerable internet publicity and campaigning.
Statements and sermons of Ansarullah’s leader Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, released on YouTube, indicate the long term plans of this outfit include armed struggle. However, they first intended to gather members and funds for the purpose. Rahmani has been the khatib of a mosque in Basila, Dhaka.
In 2013 police arrested Ansarullah leader Mufti Jasimuddin and some others of the organisation. After interrogations, detective branch (DB) sources revealed that Jamaatul Muslemin leader Ejaz Hossain was one of the top leaders of Ansarullah. He issues instructions to the members over internet from Pakistan.
The name of this organisation came out into the open in 2013 with the killing of blogger Rajiv. All involved in the incident were from North South University and five of them were arrested. Two of them were sentenced to death and Rahmani and others were given varied prison sentences.
Since the setting up of Ganajagaran Mancha, Mufti Rahmani has been exhorting them to kill atheist bloggers who were demeaning religion. This appeared on their webpage too.
After a long pause since the 2013 killing of Rajiv, Ansarullah began killing again in 2015. Before that, in September 2014 al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri declared the al-Qaeda branch Al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS). Ansarullah then became a part of this AQIS network, according to important officials involved with anti-militancy operations in Dhaka. After that, Ansarullah changed its name to Ansar al Islam and declared itself to be the AQIS Bangladesh branch. This outfit has claimed to have killed 13 so far, including bloggers, publishers, teachers and gay rights activists.
Law enforcement sources say that after the arrest of Jasimuddin Rahmani, Ansarullah leadership was taken over by Ejaz Hossain alias Sajjad alias Kargil, residing in Pakistan. Prior to that he was the organisation’s operational chief. He was later killed in a gunfight last year in Karachi along with other members of al-Qaeda. It was reported that major Ziaul Huq, dismissed from the army and in hiding, was then made military chief of Ansarullah. The police recently declared a two million taka reward to catch Zia.
After Zia had taken over, the killings had increased and while previously machetes had mostly been used, later firearms were also used for the killings.
Police claim to have recovered explosives and bomb manufacturing apparatus from three hideouts of the outfit in the city.
Neo-JMB:
The name of this militant organisation came to the fore in September-October last year following several attacks and claims of responsibility by IS. The government and police, however, chose to call this ‘neo-JMB’, emerging from the original JMB.
This ‘neo-JMB’ claims to be IS. It has a lot of differences with JMB. A large section of its members are college and university students of wealthy, modern families. IS’ enemies are their enemies. They are the first to launch an attack on members of the Shia sect in this country. They have killed Hindu priests, Buddhist monks, Christian priests and foreign nationals too, all in the name of IS.
Then there was a halt in the killings by this group till the Ashulia bank robbery on 21 April last year. It is assumed they were going through preparatory stages at the time. The fact that urban and well-to-do youth including English medium students were involved in this organisation was highlighted with the arrest of the IT head of a multinational Aminul Baig, sons of senior civil and military officers, and Bangladeshi residents of London.
The families of those killed in the Gulshan incident and later during the Kalyanpur raid, said they had noticed behavioural changes in this about three and a half years ago.
The government vehemently rejected claims of responsibility by the IS for the killing of Italian national Cesare Tavella in September of 2015 in Dhaka and then the Japanese national Kunio Hoshi on 3 October 2015 in Rangpur. The debate over the existence of IS in Bangladesh did not prevent the continued spree of killings. In a matter of 10 months, this outfit carried out 42 attacks and IS claimed responsibility for 28. The last IS claim was made for the 1 July siege of Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, Dhaka. Not only that, during the 12-hour carnage within the restaurant, pictures of the killings and of those involved were uploaded and updated on their website.
According to a 3 August report of Reuters, the head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), Rohan Gunaratna, said his research reveals that the militants in Bangladesh received funds, directives and other assistance from the IS.
Analysts believe that the law enforcement agencies lack the skills required to thwart these hi-tech militants. The government forces failed to discern the seriousness of the militant operations over the past few years. After the Gulshan attack the government took up initiatives to tackle the militancy. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said the 26 July raid in Kalyanpur in which nine suspected militants were killed had prevented another Gulshan-type carnage.
In the meantime, panic prevails among the public. An anti-militancy consensus has also emerged.
Some go to Syria:
Before the killing of foreign nationals in September-October last year, the police had claimed to have arrested ‘coordinators’, ‘recruiters’ and persons attempting to go to Syria. This included 17 arrested in the first six months of 2015 on suspicion of spreading IS ideology in the country and preparing to go to Syria.
On 24 May 2015, after arresting Aminul Baig and Sakib bin Kamal, DB officials said that certain youths were trying to go to Syria or Iraq to fight on behalf of the IS. Aminul Baig was the leader of such a group. Some had joined IS and gone to Syria. Another 20 to 22 were trying to go. Some have been arrested, claim police. Aminul Baig and Sakib are in jail.
The government till now has not officially stated that anyone from Bangladesh has gone to Syria top join the IS. But the media at home and abroad has reported about 15 Bangladeshis going to Syria to join the IS there. Two of them even died there. One is Ashiqur Rahman, the son of an army officer killed in the BDR massacre, and Saiful Huq who went to Syria with his expectant wife and two children in August 2014. Saiful was killed on 10 December last year in an air raid on Raqqa, the so-called capital of IS in Syria. Saiful, according to the US state department, was one of the top ten in IS and was in charge of planning external operations, hacking and anti-surveillance technology.
According to US’ Financial Times, the IS is rapidly losing ground in Syria and Iraq, but US officials feel this gives rise to fresh concern. Commander of the US Pacific Command Admiral, Harry Harris, recently said he firmly believed that IS is attempting to gather strength in the India-Asia-Pacific Ocean region.
Financial Times commented that the admiral made the remark at a time when terrorist attacks were being carried out one after the other in Asian countries like Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Professor of government and politics at Illinois State University and researcher on terrorism Ali Reaz has said that the time to debate over whether it is al-Qaeda or Ansarullah, JMB or IS, has passed.
Ali Riaz told Prothom Alo that an environment has been prepared for militancy to rise globally. If such an environment conducive to militancy prevails in this country too, it has to be addressed immediately. Military action alone or simply killing the militants is not the answer. A political strategy must be put in place to create a consensus and involve people from all strata of society to combat the militancy.
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