BD
police guards a diplomatic zone in the capital Dhaka after a bomb
blast
Al
Qaeda-Taliban Combine Spreading in Bangladesh
By Saji Cherian
DHAKA:
Since April 2004, the districts of Rajshahi, Naogaon, Natore,
Joypurhat, Rangpur and Bogra have witnessed increasing activities
of the Islamist vigilante group, the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh
(JMJB), espousing the ideal of a 'Talibanized' Bangladesh and
vowing to ensure that the region is 'swept clean' of the activities
of Left Wing groups, primarily the Purbo Banglar Communist Party
(PBCP).
The
rise of the vigilante group raises serious questions regarding
its motives. Far from providing a semblance of security and order
in the area - its proclaimed objective - the JMJB's activities
have seriously undermined public security. The reaction of the
Government to the JMJB, moreover, remains baffling.
On
August 15, 2003 cadres belonging to an outlawed Islamist group,
Jama'atul Mujahidin (JuM), clashed with a police team that had
gone to inquire about the presence of JuM cadres at the house
of a local Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader, Montezar Rahman in Joypurhat.
Among the cadres who fled after the encounter was Maulana Abdur
Rahman, now the 'Emir' of the JMJB.
The
documents seized from the encounter site revealed the scope of
the strategy being prepared by the Islamists; a strategy that
has alarmed the left leaning 11-party alliance who allege that
the JeI and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) were developing an 'Islamic
militant network' across the country by taking advantage of being
partners in the alliance Government at Dhaka. With the crackdown
on the JuM increasing, the JMJB has emerged as the Islamic militant
nexus the left parties refer to.
JMJB's
activities started in certain upazilas (sub-districts)
of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Natore after Left Wing extremists, popularly
known as sarbahara (Left Wing cadres), killed four relatives and
friends of Deputy Minister for Land, Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu.
Back in November 9, 2003, operatives with ties to the PBCP killed
the ruling Bangladesh National Party's (BNP) Bagmara upazila
president Abdul Hamid in Rajshahi city and also killed Sabbir
Ahmed Gamma, nephew of Ruhul Kuddus, in Natore's Naldanga upazila
in February 2004.
Within
a couple of weeks of Gamma's death, the Sarbahara's also killed
Wahidul Haq Pakhi, an aide to Gamma, at Puthia in the Rajshahi
district and then murdered Durgapur's Municipality Commissioner,
Anwar Hossain, a political aide to parliamentarian Nadim Mostafa
on March 7, 2004. With the police unable to stop the extremists
from targeting the politicians, the latter allegedly turned towards
the JMJB to retaliate against the PBCP.
In
an apparent bid to occupy the space vacated by an ineffective
police force, the JMJB attempted to establish a link with the
slain relatives of the deputy minister by introducing itself as
"Gamma Bahini" in some places and "Pakhi
Bahini" in others; an obvious reference to the politicians
who were killed by the extremists. However, in areas where they
were eventually accepted, the JMJB leaders and activists did not
attempt to hide their uniquely Islamist cause and variously claimed
to be Al Qaeda, Taliban and Mujahidin members.
The
JMJB's retaliation is primarily led by Siddiqul Islam, also known
as Bangla Bhai, who was earlier involved in the politics of the
ruling alliance partner, the Jamaat-e-Islami. Bangla Bhai has
personally led operations of the JMJB, killing three cadres of
the PBCP at Atrai in the Naogaon district on May 6, 2004, and
another three PBCP cadres at the Bamongram village in Nandigram
Upazila of Bogra District on May 20. The PBCP has also
reacted violently to the attack against its cadres, killing two
JMJB cadres and injuring six others in Naogaon on May 17, 2004.
Astonishingly,
instead of stopping this vigilante action, the police appear to
be supporting it. Noor Mohammad, Divisional Inspector General
(DIG) of police, Rajshahi, reportedly stated that his men were
assisting the vigilante 'law enforcers' in tracking down the extremists.
Armed with the assurances of the local police and politicians,
Bangla Bhai and his supporters escalated their activities and
spread into neighboring districts, preparing hit-lists and moving
brazenly to enforce their own 'laws'.
On
May 22, 2004, several thousand JMJB activists armed with bamboo
and hockey sticks staged a showdown under police escort in Rajshahi
city, threatening journalists with death for reporting against
them. The demonstration was held after a half-day hartal
(strike) called by the main Opposition, the Awami League (AL)
and the 11-party alliance demanding the arrest of Bangla Bhai.
The first rally of the JMJB was addressed by Bagmara's BNP Joint
Secretary, Besharat Ullah, indicating the degree of support that
the vigilante outfit enjoys within the ruling party.
Although
the media portrayed him as the main leader of the vigilante group,
Bangla Bhai is one of the seven members of JMJB's highest decision-making
body, the Majlis-e-Shura. His party has, however, designated him
as the 'commander' of the anti-Sarbahara venture. The first tier
of the organization has activists called Ehsar who are recruited
on a full-time basis and act at the directive of higher echelons.
The
second tier, Gayeri Ehsar, has over 100,000 part-time activists.
The third tier involves those who indirectly cooperate with the
JMJB. According to JMJB officials, the whole country has been
divided into nine organisational divisions. Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet
and Chittagong have an organisational divisional office each,
while Dhaka has two divisional offices and Rajshahi three.
Significantly,
a closer look into the moorings of JMJB leaders reveal a more
disturbing aspect: first, they are primarily Jama'atul Mujahidin
cadres metamorphosed into this new identity; and second, they
have apparent and openly proclaimed links to the Taliban and the
Al Qaeda. The 'Emir' of the group, Maulana Abdur Rahman began
his political career by joining the Islami Chhatra Shibir and
later its patron organization, the Jamaat-e-Islami.
In
the early 1980s, he studied at Madina Islami University in Saudi
Arabia and later worked at the Saudi Embassy in Dhaka for five
years between 1985 and 1990. Thereafter, Rahman set up a mosque
and a madrassa with financial help from two Islamic non-governmental
organizations, the Rabeta-e-Islam and the Islami Oytijjho Sangstha.
The Maulana has been quoted as stating that "our model includes
many leaders and scholars of Islam. But we will take as much (ideology)
from the Taliban as we need."
The
sweep of the organization's strategy is revealed by the number
of camps which have been established by it across the north-western
districts of the country; at least 10 camps have been set up in
Atrai and Raninagar in Naogaon district, Bagmara in Rajshahi district,
and Naldanga and Singra in Natore district. There have been reports
that JMJB's training of recruits includes recorded speeches of
Osama bin Laden and video footage of warfare training at Al Qaeda's
(now defunct) Farooque camp in Afghanistan. The JMJB cadres have
also been accused of extorting protection money from traders,
forcing men to wear beards and women to put on the burqa
(veil), reminiscent of the Taliban's practices.
With
increasing reports of excesses committed by the JMJB cadres, the
Government, at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on law and
order held at the Home Ministry on May 22, 2004, instructed the
police to arrest Bangla Bhai. However, the local police denied
that they had received any such orders.
This
apparent 'confusion' threw light on the sharp divide within the
Government over the handling of the situation. Some senior ministers
and ruling BNP policymakers strongly favored Bangla Bhai's arrest
on the grounds that there cannot be a private force parallel to
the state's law-enforcement agencies to carry out an 'anti-extremist'
drive. By contrast, local politicians in the affected districts
have publicly supported the actions of the JMJB, as they find
that the latter has created an effective resistance against Left
Wing extremists.
The
emergence of the JMJB is not an overnight phenomena, but is the
result of a systematic strategy, compounded by the steady erosion
of governance in the North-Western districts, the emergence of
a large number of radical madrassas and extremist Islamist leaders
and the apparent collusion between local politicians and Islamist
groups.
Apart
from the JMJB, reports emanating from different parts of the country
portray a disturbing trend. On May 21, 2004, a bomb blast at the
Hazrat Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet killed two people and injured
the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Anwar Choudhury,
who was the intended target. The bomb blast was the second in
five months at the same site and the explosives used were similar
to those used in the January 12, 2004, blast during the Urs, the
annual religious congregation at the shrine.
The
prime suspect in the blast has been identified as Maulana M. Habibur
Rahman, who runs the Jameya Madania Madrassa at Kazirpar in the
Sylhet district, and is believed to have close ties with the Taliban.
Al Qaeda links to Bangladeshi nationals have also cropped up in
faraway Japan, where, on May 26, 2004, the Police arrested three
Bangladeshis along with two other foreign nationals suspected
of Al Qaeda activities.
The
intricate patterns of collusion and dependency that are illustrated
by the increasing activities of Islamist extremist groups like
the JMJB in Bangladesh, with their systematic and rapid spread
from one district to another, their assumption of the role of
'protector' in areas of widespread mis-governance, the explicit
support of local politicians and police forces, as well as the
linkages and claims of contact with the Al Qaeda-Taliban combine,
are all matters of acute concern, and cannot easily be dismissed
as just another 'local disturbance'.
