Author: Dr. Anand Kumar
Publication: South Asia Analysis Group
Date: October 27, 2008
URL: http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers29/paper2898.html
The decision of the Bangladesh caretaker government
to allow the most notorious terror outfit of that country to register as a
political party has brought out a very different dimension of its character.
The Fakharuddin Ahmed led interim government has remained in power for nearly
two years claiming to be working for political reforms. It also launched a
crackdown against corruption. But its latest decision has nullified all that
was done by it and in fact has raised questions about its motives behind such
actions.
Even in the past, reports indicated that the
caretaker government was soft on Islamist groups. Though, it executed six
top leaders of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and controlled extremist
violence in the country, it did not take any serious action which could have
weakened such elements. It was alleged that it hurriedly executed six JMB
leaders because they wanted to reveal the names of patrons and financiers
of the organization.
Earlier, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
of Bangladesh had arrested one of the country's top Islamist militant leaders,
Mufti Abdul Hannan in Dhaka on October 1, 2005. Hannan, who also has links
to international militant groups, is the operation commander of the Bangladesh
chapter of the HUJI. Speaking to media at the RAB office in Dhaka, Hannan
stated that he has been staying in the country after the former home minister
and later the commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Choudhury, assured him of "no
fear" in staying in the country. He also stated that he did not flee
the country because of this assurance. He also told the court that some influential
ministers of the government had assured him that he would be exempted from
the charge of attempting to kill Sheikh Hasina. No action, so far has been
taken against either Mufti Hannan or the minister. The caretaker government
feared that the disclosures of similar kind by the JMB leaders would embarrass
them further and expose their real face.
The caretaker government after taking over
launched a crackdown against corruption. In this crackdown, the major action
was taken against the two mainstream political parties- the BNP and Awami
League. Jamaat-e-Islami, the leading Islamist Party in Bangladesh was largely
left untouched. Top leaders of BNP and Awami League were arrested first, whereas
Matiur Rahman Nizami, the Jamaat Ameer was arrested only due to sustained
media pressure. Nizami was also released quickly.
Recently, when on October 6, 2008 an arrest
warrant was issued against Jamaat General Secretary, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid
for his involvement in Barakpuria coal mine corruption case, the government
claimed that he was absconding. But surprisingly, the same absconding Jamaat
leader was present in talks with the government on October 15, 2008. Mojahid
has also been attending various other programmes in Dhaka. Besides, he attended
meetings in Satkhira on October 10 and 11. This clearly shows the soft approach,
the government has adopted towards the Islamic parties.
The caretaker government was completely unmasked
when it allowed the most notorious Islamist terror group of Bangladesh to
register as a political party. Huji was formed by a group of Afghan war veterans
under the leadership of Sheikh Abdus Salam at a press conference at the National
Press Club, Dhaka on April 30, 1992. Huji built up a network across madrasas.
It organized arms training for madrasa students in hilly forest areas. The
trained youths were subsequently sent to Afghanistan to participate in the
war against the Soviet Union. HuJi operatives were dispatched to Myanmar as
well to fight for Rohingya militants against the Myanmar's army.
Operation of Huji under Different Names
Huji has operated in Bangladesh under different
names. After Huji was listed as a terrorist organization internationally its
leaders formed a political party named Islamic Gono Andolon. During the BNP-led
four-party alliance rule, organizational activities of Gono Andolon were carried
out secretly. It also made deliberate attempt to keep it separate from the
militant campaign of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh of that time.
Gono Andolon was renamed Sacheton Islami Janata
on August 19, 2006 following an understanding with the then government that
allowed the organization to work out in the open. They have been trying to
get permission since the caretaker administration took over in January last
year, and were finally successful in May 2008. Following this the Islamic
Democratic Party (IDP) was floated on May 18, 2008 and according to Kazi Azizul
Huq, advisor to the newborn organization also consists of 200 to 300 Afghan
War veterans.
Attempt of Huji to Disguise its Radical Character
The operations commander of Huji, Muft Hannan
is behind bars after his arrest in 2005. The other top leaders of HUJI who
are now with Islamic Democratic Party are trying to blame Mufti Hannan and
Abdur Rouf for all the terror activities of HUJI. They are trying to present
Mufti Hannan as a leader of a splintered group of HUJI. They say that Hannan
was expelled from the organization in 1998.
HUJI has tried to carefully disguise its radical
character. Azizul Huq says, "Our goal is to run the country as per the
Charter of Medina that gives equal rights to all citizens irrespective of
religion and ethnicity." He also informed that they want to introduce
Shariah (the body of Islamic religious law) only for the Muslims. Other religious
and ethnic minorities may follow the existing law of the land and norms of
their communities.
HUJI claims that the government has given
it permission to register on the condition that it will not use violence for
achieving its objective of implementing Shariah. This also means that the
caretaker government is not against implementing Shariah if it is done peacefully.
This approach is very similar to Jamaat's approach.
Huji, a Radical Extremist and Terrorist Outfit
The leaders of HUJI claim that the government
gave them permission to register after no proof was found against them. But
HUJI has been a banned terror outfit in Bangladesh since October 2005. The
US has declared it as a foreign terrorist organization. Even the Bangladesh
caretaker government is quite aware of the activities of HUJI. In early 2008,
it contemplated taking help of the Indian government to question two HUJI
terrorists, Anisul Mursalin and Mahibbul Muttakin lodged in Tihar jail of
New Delhi. These terrorists hailing from Faridpur in Bangladesh have been
in jail since the Indian police arrested them at the Delhi railway station
on February 26, 2006 with 3 kg of high-powered explosive RDX, two electronic
detonators and two pistols. In the border meeting of BSF-BDR, on October 10,
2008 at the Dawki-Tambil border outpost in eastern Meghalaya BDR chief, Major
General Shakil Ahmed admitted that HUJI was a threat to both Bangladesh and
India.
Seven HUJI cadres were killed by Jat Regiment
troops at Bashbari in lower Assam's Dhubri district on September 26, 2008.
This module was on their way to Guwahati where they were supposed to meet
another module of the same group. Their plan was to carry out serial blasts
in Guwahati.
Though the HUJI's plan to carry out serial
blasts in Guwahati was foiled, it has been successful in a similar operation
in Agartala. Reports have indicated that the Agartala blasts were carried
out by HUJI in collaboration with All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF). The cadres
of ATTF were trained in Moximghat in Chittagong by the Bangladeshi military
intelligence. This was revealed during the interrogation of a recently arrested
Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) leader by the West Bengal intelligence,
who was trained in the same camp.
HUJI has been active in Agartala in the past.
Tripura police records reveal that six Bangladeshi nationals with ISI links
have been arrested in the state since March 2008. Subsequently, three Bangladeshi
nationals were also arrested in connection with serial blasts in Agartala
taking their numbers to nine. One of the arrested HUJI cadres, Mamun Mian
alias Mafizur Rahman was allegedly having links with Shahid Choudhury, a senior
member in the Manik Sarkar Cabinet, who had to resign on April 17, 2008 because
of this.
HUJI cadres are being arrested at regular
intervals from India and Bangladesh. On October 14, 2008 Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB) of Bangladesh arrested four activists of Huji in Khalishpur area. They
are Mizanur Rahman Tushar, Mujahidul Islam, Omar, and Yusuf Al Helal. During
their interrogation it was revealed that Tushar joined the Islamist outfit
in 2003 and took training at Kodala forest in Chittagong. He was arrested
in Chittagong in 2004 and went into hiding after getting bail from the court.
The militants also told RAB during interrogation that they had a plan to snatch
Mufti Abdul Hannan from custody.
It's a complete travesty of truth to say that
HUJI has not been involved in terror activities and there are no proofs against
it. In fact, the decision of the caretaker government only confirms its soft
approach towards the Islamist political parties. Is it that the seems the
caretaker government under the garb of political reform only wants to weaken
the two mainstream political parties so that Islamist parties like Jamaat
and terror groups like HUJI could be presented as viable alternatives?
HUJI in its new incarnation as IDP will form
a full committee through a national convention before the ninth parliamentary
election. Azizul Haque said, "We are preparing for registration on meeting
the conditions specified in the application form. At the same time, we are
working to have organizational structures for district and upazila levels."
Huji plans to have a token participation in forthcoming December 18 election
if possible in alliance with other small parties. The political face of HUJI
will enable it to create structures as sub-district, district and national
level. As a result the organization will have a greater presence in the country
in the days to come.
The military backed caretaker government of Bangladesh brought together people
of different background. Some of them were technocrats, but others like Home
advisor M.A. Matin have an Islamist background. It seems now that the components
made of Islamist background is trying to take the government in a very different
direction, which will only strengthens extremist forces in that country. The
caretaker government seems no better than the BNP-Jamaat alliance in its approach
towards Islamist groups. No wonder, this government failed to bring about
any drastic change in the political culture of Bangladesh. The international
community should increase its pressure on the caretaker government to lift
the emergency and hold free and fair elections as soon as possible.
(The views expressed by the author are his
own. The author can be reached at e-mail: anandkrai@yahoo.com)
