JMB and neo-JMB no longer exist, only latent seeds remain: DMP commissioner
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq has said that Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and neo-JMB no longer exist. However, some latent seeds remain.
He was speaking to newspersons today, Saturday, after laying wreaths before the mural of the two police officers killed in the Holey Artisan militant attack in Gulshan.
The police commissioner commented that a few new militant organisations are now trying to get organised. He said they were trying to gather youth from all over the country, take them to the hills and organise them there. However, he added, their efforts were thwarted by continued operations of the police and RAB.
The DMP commissioner went on to say, "Seven years ago, on 1 July 2016, militants suddenly held foreign nationals hostage at Holey Artisan. They were killed. Two senior members of our police force were martyred while tackling the situation. This still remains a throbbing wound in our hearts."
The DMP commissioner went on to say that various militant attacks took place in 2015-16 as part of local and international conspiracies to bring Bangladesh development and advancement to a halt. He said that after the Holey Artisan attack, the development parties began leaving the country in fear.
The DMP commissioner said that then, under the leadership of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the police and the people stood up against the militants. The development partners were given the message, 'we come back, will root out militants from Bangladesh." Since then, the militants were brought under control, arrested and placed on trial, the DMP commissioner said. This has brought militants under control, he said, adding, "Militancy hasn't disappeared, but I would say it was under control."
The DMP commissioner said, a total of 22 persons, local and foreign nationals, were killed in in the Holey Artisan attack. One was a 19-year-old student of California University. CTTC investigated the incident and submitted chargesheets against the accused. Many of the accused were killed in gunfights with the police during attempted militant attacks. The rest have been sentenced.
The DMP commissioner said, "We have managed to keep militancy under control. We hope that we will be able to keep Bangladesh free of militancy in the future." He said that the police's anti-terrorism unit DMP CTTC unit and RAB intelligence were working to keep the new militant outfits under control.