Author: Yaniv Berman
Publication: The Media Line
Date: October 20, 2005
URL: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=11585
August 17, 2005 will be remembered in Bangladesh as a dreadful day in history. During that day, more than four hundred small bombs exploded across the country. Although the minimal loss of life was considered to be fortunate - only two people died -- the Islamist group behind the attacks fully achieved what most analysts believe was its goal: to attract the attention of the government and the people while sending an unequivocal message.
Bangladesh is a large country (144,000 square km / 56,000 square miles) situated northeast of India. Eighty-three percent of the country's 144,000,000 citizens are Muslims, making it one of the largest Islamic countries in the world. Although considered to be a secular Muslim country, Muslim extremism as exhibited by "Islamists" is increasing rapidly.
Three major radical Islamic movements are known to be active in Bangladesh: Jama'at Ul-Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat Ul-Jihad Ul-Islami (HUJI), and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB). The common goal shared by these groups is the imposition of a theocratic government ruled by Islamic law (Sharia).
The attacks continue
Only a few weeks after the August 17th bombings, another coordinated series of attacks struck Bangladesh, this time specifically targeting the judicial system. Three people died when bombs exploded inside of three court rooms across the country. These attacks were followed in early October by a powerful blast that exploded near a hospital in the eastern Brahmanbaria district. Although no one died in the latter attack, the cumulative effect was unmistakably achieved.
After each of these incidents, leaflets were found nearby threatening more bombs attacks if the Sharia law is not implemented. In Brahmanbaria, the attackers added a written postscript, warning that residents of the region could expect further violence if hotels remain open during the holy month of Ramadan.
Why now?
With a per capita GNP of less than $400, Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. "The problems of governing in Bangladesh, and the absolute failure of the mainstream political parties, gave a lot of room for these radical Islamist groups to emerge," explained Dr. Suba Chandran of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi, India. Dr. Chandran told The Media Line that, "The hundreds of bombs which exploded in August all over the country are a warning. They are trying to prove a point - we are here, and we cannot be totally discounted. However, I am not sure yet that the mainstream parties, and the mainstream society realizes this. It is a matter of time, though. Maybe in one year or two years they will."
The 9/11 terror attacks against the United States encouraged and strengthened radical Islamic movements the world over. Although Osama Bin Laden became a hero to Muslims from Indonesia to Morocco -- Bangladesh included -- the expansion of the Islamist current in Bangladesh had begun even earlier, as far back as the beginning of the 1990s.
As in other Muslim countries, a significant factor indicative of the rise in Islamist fervor was the increasing numbers of madrasas - Muslim religious schools. According to Dr. Chandran, a great many madrasas were built in Bangladesh during the last ten to fifteen years. Reports from various sources indicate that about 64,000 madrasas are currently active in the country, sitting alongside the nation's regular school system. "There is a lot of [international] focus on madrasas in Pakistan, but unfortunately there is not so much focus on madrasas in Bangladesh," Chandran explains. "Most of them are sponsored by the [political party] Jama'at Islami and other Islamist religious groups. I am not convinced how many madrasas Jama'at Islami actually operates, but the fact is that they have links to these madrasas, and their students can easily turn into foot soldiers."
Jama'at Islami - inside the government, but working against it
In October 2001, a coalition was formed between the nation's strongest party - the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) -- and the Islamic party Jama'at Islami. The latter became part of the government. Two of its members became popular ministers who are among the few top officials unscathed by charges of corruption. Despite its denials, experts say that Jama'at Islami fully supports Jama'at Ul-Mujahidin, the radical Islamic group believed to be responsible for the recent wave of violence.
"Maybe Jama'at Islami has realized that the corruption unleashed by the ruling party BNP has made it very unpopular and in the next elections, which are scheduled for 2006, they may want to disengage themselves [from BNP]. On the record, Jama'at Islami has distanced itself from terrorism and bomb blasts, but certainly there are people in Jama'at Islami who have a clear affiliation with the Mujahidin," says Professor Moonis Ahmar of the International Relations Department at the University of Karachi, Pakistan.
The Al-Qa'ida connection
There is little research on the radical Islamic groups in Bangladesh. However, experts indicate that these movements are most probably not working alone, and are receiving outside help. According to the Indian-based South Asian Intelligence Review (SAIR), the JMB has reportedly received funds from individual donors in countries including Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Despite these groups' ostensible obscurity, "there are lots of news reports linking some of the radicals in Bangladesh with Al-Qa'ida. I am not sure how much these relations are true, but the fact remains that this linkage cannot be totally denied as untrue," insists Dr. Changran.
JMB continues to pursue nationalistic aims. The leaflets found after the recent attacks clearly focus on its goal of turning Bangladesh into a state governed by Islamic law. However, an alarming sentence found within these leaflets also revealed the group's linkage to the global Islamic movement. It read: "[The attack] is also to warn Bush and Blair to vacate Muslim countries, or to face Muslim upsurge."
According to SAIR, JMB is known to maintain about 10,000 full-time and 100,000 part-time cadres. And it is rapidly growing. In mid-October 2005, during her speech marking four years in power, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia referred to JMB as "the country's enemies." She said, "their purpose is to scare the people of this country, and to disrupt peace and social stability." Fearing its increasing power, the government decided in February 2005 to ban JMB. Following the terror attacks which began in August, the government began a wave of arrests, putting hundreds of radical Islamists behind bars.
During her recent visit to the United States, Zia issued strong public statements supporting American leadership in the war against terror. She also met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who complimented Bangladesh on its shared fight against terrorism and its commitment to democracy.
Do the Bangladeshi Islamists pose a future threat to the West?
According to Professor Ahmar, Bangladeshi Muslims are to a large extent "not fanatic extremist militants, but rather they form a democratic moderate type of Muslims." Ahmar, who served in 2003 as a visiting professor at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, also indicated that unlike Afghanistan, "there are no followers of the type of Taliban or Al-Qa'ida inside the Bangladeshi military. I don't believe there can be a Taliban-type regime in Bangladesh, or that Al-Qai'da could gain the upper hand."
But as in many countries in the world, the poor economic condition has a lot to do with security and political developments. "Thanks to a lot of recent aid from donor states, Bangladesh is relatively less drawn to the kind of anti-American or anti-West feelings that we have seen in other parts of the Muslim world. But if the donors or the aid agencies forget about Bangladesh, the mainstream parties will lose control over the country, and the religious movements will take over. In that case," warns Dr. Chandran, "the anti-West and anti-American feelings will grow."
But even if financial support from the international community continues to arrive, analysts are cautioning that Bangladesh has to make serious changes in order to keep the Islamic threat under control. The existence of corruption in the country is notorious. Even Prime Minister Zia, in her speech of October 12th, admitted that the government was not able to overcome this problem.
"Perhaps there should be more pressure on the Bangladeshi government," suggests Chandran. "If the donors tell the Bangladesh government it is not going on the right track, perhaps this would convince the rulers." But Chandran's conclusion leaves no doubt about the concern over the direction the government might take. "I do not believe the West should be frightened, but we do need to be worried about the path taken by the Bangladeshi regime."