Author: Correspondent
Publication: The Daily Star
Date: December 28, 2005
URL: http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/12/28/d5122801022.htm
Arrested Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
leader Lutfar Rahman yesterday said some ministers and the state machinery,
including the police and district administration, patronised JMB chief Abdur
Rahman and Bangla Bhai's "anti-outlaw" operations in Rajshahi region.
Lutfar enquired of the police why he alone
was arrested. "I will tell the truth, even if I am killed or hanged to
death," an investigator quoted him as saying after his arrest Monday
afternoon.
"I did not find it wrong to be with the
Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh [JMJB] as I saw several government officials
patronising them. I heard Bangla Bhai talking over the phone with some ministers
and a police super," Lutfar was quoted to be saying.
He told the police that the then superintendent
of police (SP) Masud Mia used to be present near the meetings of Bangla Bhai.
In the middle of 2005, the then deputy inspector
general initiated an investigation into Masud's activities. Later, the home
ministry also started an investigation which is still running.
A magistrate court yesterday sent Lutfar on
a five-day remand after the police produced him before the court seeking 10
days' remand.
The investigators said Lutfar primarily confessed
that he was close to Bangla Bhai and helped the JMJB in their activities against
the Sarbahara outlaws.
Bangla Bhai emerged with more than 20 outsiders,
Lutfar told the police, adding that the JMJB helped the Bagmara dwellers build
a self-defence against the outlaws.
Lutfar denied knowing the whereabouts of Bangla
Bhai, saying he has not seen Bangla Bhai since the JMJB march in Rajshahi
on May 23, 2004, threatening journalists and people.
He also denied his association with the JMB
but admitted to taking part in several JMJB operations against the Sarbaharas
after the then officer-in-charge Shamsul Islam formed committees with the
JMJB men and villagers to resist the outlaws.
However, the JMJB is the same group that fought
with police in Joypurhat in August 2003 under the name of JMB and started
its activities openly in Rajshahi region during March-April of 2004.
Previously well known as a Jamaat-e-Islami
leader, Lutfar said he attended several JMJB meetings in the villages of Bagmara
in Rajshahi and Atrai in Naogaon to address people "in light of the holy
Qur'an and the Hadith" and elicit their support for the JMJB.
He also said Rahman's relatives Abdul Awal
and Ataur Rahman Sunny were known to him under different names during the
anti-outlaw operations.
Lutfar told the investigators that he hates
the current JMB activities of bombing and killing people.
