Background and Development of Islamic Terrorism in Bangladesh

Immediately after Bangladesh became independent, a process was set in motion to include the country in the Islamic block. Although mainstream Awami League (AL) leadership tried to establish the freedom struggle on a nationalistic pedestal, culturally there was little transition from the Islamic psyche to the Bengali psyche in post-independence Bangladesh.  After the death of Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, the process of Islamisation completely over-shadowed Bangladesh.  Although religion is an important subject matter for the common people of Bangladesh, there was a great chance of shaping Bangladeshi polity on the basis of the ideals of democracy and secularism, following the success of the liberation war in 1971, which upheld these ideals. A few people persisted in pursuing these ideals, but the dreadful massacre of liberation war leadership, including Sheikh Mujibar Rahman in 1975, drastically changed the fate of the ideal of secularism. Later, even the Awami League, which adhered to the ideals of Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, failed to embrace the principles of secular political practice.

Emergence of Islamic Extremist Groups in Bangladesh

To a large extent, at the fag end of Pakistan rule and the early period of Bangladesh, AL did not use religion as the primary source of its political influence. The use of religion in Bengladeshi politics started after the killing of Sheikh Mujibar Rahman in 1975. Religious influence flooded the society, like tidal waves. Even Sheikh Hasina, leader of a liberal democratic party like AL, performed Hajj a number of times and wore hejab. She had to sign a five point agreement on religiosity with a fundamentalist party,  Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), for the purpose of holding the Muslim vote bank.¹  Moreover, she retained such provisions as “Bisssmillah-er-Rahaman-er-Rahim” in the preamble to the Constitution of Bangladesh, and “Islam as State Religion”,  (15^th Amendment in 2011), in spite of receiving the judgement for abolition of the 5^th and 8^th amendments which contained these provisions, from the highest court of the country. From all such events, we can easily gauge the overall situation of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Mujib and other national leaders were killed due to an army coup. General Ziaur Rahman captured power in connivance with the Islamic and Pakistani Lobby. At the time of General Zia, Islamic fundamentalist and terrorist outfits engulfed Bangladesh polity and society rapidly. The concept of international Islamic solidarity began to gain ground in the society, and the role of political leadership was important in this regard. In the early 1980s, a lot of Madrassa students were recruited as volunteers to fight in Afghanistan and Jammu-Kashmir as a part of international jihad, which is an open secret today. No political parties and social organizations protested against these activities. Actually, most of the people thought that it was an attempt at building Islamic solidarity and unity. Gradually, a large number of students from Bangladeshi quami madrassas joined the international radical Islamic terrorist network, and thus Bangladesh got importance in the Islamic countries. Subsequently, a rapid growth was observed in the sector of Islamic NGOs. During 1982—1990,  Maolana Abdul Mannan, former AL Badr, ²  i.e. collaborator of Pakistan in 1971 liberation war, acted as the Minister of Religious Affairs in General H.M. Ershad’s Cabinet, and also remained the leader of Jamiatul Mudarresin (an umbrella organization of Bangladesh Quami Madrassas). Abdul Mannan played a vital role to organise jihadi cadres (radical Islamic terrorists) from Quami Madrassas for Afghanistan and Jammu-Kashmir wars, while he enjoyed the patronage of General Ershad.

Expansion of Terrorist Networks in Bangladesh with the Connivance of Government

After the defeat of the Soviet Union in Kabul, a large number of radical Islamic terrorists started to return back to Bangladesh from Afghanistan, Jammu-Kashmir and Pakistan. At this juncture, a number of new terrorist outfits emerged in Bangladesh, e.g. Harkatul Jihad, Harkatul Mujahidin, Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, etc. These organizations gained importance all over the country and abroad. Since the mid-1980s, Bangladesh state and society were getting recognised as a safe haven for all kinds of terrorists. A good number of the most wanted Indian terrorists settled in Bangladesh with the help of their friends or former classmates at Deobandh Madrassa of Uttar Pradesh in India. Their Bangladeshi friends played a very important role in providing jobs to them in Madrassas, and food shelter among local sympathizers. A good number of former Bangladeshi students of Deobondh fought in Afghanistan, Jammu-Kashmir and other places in India along with Indian terrorists. From the 1980s, for two-three decades, Bangladeshi governments and administration sponsored several terrorist outfits, including radical Islamic outfits, to carry out sabotage on the Indian soil. This matter is now an open secret. Nevertheless, Bangladeshi governments and administration always denied these facts. During Hasina’s tenure, from 2009 onwards, the hidden truth about the activities of radical Islamic outfits, and a group of Indian terrorist organisations from north-east India came to light.  On the other hand, Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) established foreign branches in Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia in West Bengal and different districts in Assam, which have now been disclosed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after it started investigations into the Khagragarh blast (Burdwan) of 2014.³ It is mentionable that during the tenure of the caretaker government (2006—2008) of Bangladesh, six top leaders of JMB were hanged after a close-door summary trial in 2007. After this incident, a good number of JMB leaders and cadres took shelter in West Bengal and Assam. After the Khagragarh blast, all these facts have gradually come out in the press due to the investigations conducted by the NIA.

Internal and International Pressure that Unmasked Bangladesh  

Leaders of radical Islamic terrorist groups in Bangladesh thought that Bangladesh had a conducive atmosphere for Islamic revolution, and therefore, they launched an offensive with the connivance of BNP—BJI alliance government.  The alliance government played a very minimal role to suppress it. Incidentally, when more than 500 bombs exploded at a time all over Bangladesh on 17 August 2005, international agencies sharply reacted.

Bangladesh apparently worked as a terrorist state in the eyes of international leadership.  Therefore, Non Resident Bangladeshis (NRB), especially those who are living in USA or in Europe, came under international pressure. Representatives of the United Nations (UN) urged Bangladesh authorities to take immediate measures to curb terrorists.  Thus BNP-BJI alliance government came under tremendous internal and international pressures. The alliance government banned the JMB outfit at the fag end of its tenure. Meanwhile, a military-backed caretaker government took over charge.

During the second tenure of Sheikh Hasina (2009-2014), BNP-BJI had launched a massive anti-government agitation.  Most of the radical Islamic outfits helped them to continue this movement for a long time. At this juncture, the Bangladesh government decided to watch and monitor the following Islamic militant organisations aiming in order to control the ongoing movement led by the opposition front, particularly BNP-BJI. The names of the organizations are given below:

Militant Islamic Outfits in Bangladesh ⁴

Outlawed Groups

(Date Banned)

1. Shadat al Higma/Shahjadat-e-al Hagima (SAH) [09 Feb 2003]
2. Jama`atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) [23 Feb 2005]
3. Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB) [23 Feb 2005]
4. Harkatul Jihadi Islami (HUJJI)-Bangladesh [17 Oct 2005]
5. Hizb-ut-Tahir al-Islami Bangladesh [22 Oct 2009]

Blacklisted Groups

6. Alla`r Dal
7. Al Markajul al Islami
8. Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)
9. Hizb-ut-Tawhid/Hizbut Touhid
10. Islami Samaj
11. Islamic Democratic Party
12. Shahadat-e-Nobuwat
13. Tawhid Trust/Touhid Trust
14. Tamir-ud-Deen
15. Ulema Anjuman al Baiyinaat

Groups Under Watch

1. Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh
2. Al-Harat al-Islamia
3. Al-Jihad Bangladesh
4. Al-Khidmat Foundation
5. Al-Sayeed Mujahid Bahini
6. Amanatul Forkan  Al  Khayriya
7. Ahsab Bahini
8. Bangladesh Anjumane Taklamije Islamia
9. Hayatul Igasa
10. Hizbul Mahdi
11. Ibtedatul Al Muslemin
12. Iktadul Tulah Al Muslemin
13. Islami Jihad Group
14. Jamayatul Falaiya
15. Jamiatul Ehhia-ut-Turaj
16. Jummatul-al-Sadat
17. Khidmat E Islami Foundation
18. Tanjeem Bangladesh
19. Tawhidi Janata
20. Muslim Millat Sariyah Council
21. Warat Islamic Front
22. World Islamic Front for Jihad

Other Groups

1. Ansar al Islam (AAI) Bangladesh

In spite of concern about the activities of such a large number of radical Islamic organizations in Bangladesh, the government banned only a few of them. In other words, there is a soft feeling towards these Islamic terrorists all over Bangladesh, which helps them to grow inside the country.

     Now the crucial question that we need to ask is – why is the government unable to control the radical Islamic activities and atrocities on Hindus, which are occurring all over Bangladesh?  Interestingly, it is not a recent phenomenon; rather, it has been happening since its inception (1971).

Society is Unabatedly Moving towards Islamisation

Although the Bangladesh government has adopted a counter-terrorism strategy, such as killing of terrorists in Artisan Bakery, Kalyanpur counter-terrorism incident, etc. the counter-terrorism strategy of the government attracts minimal attention from the international community due to frequent occurrence of torture over the minorities and Islamist violence in the country.  Bangladesh lies at the strategic cross-roads of South and Southeast Asia.  Potential terrorist movements and activities in or through Bangladesh pose a potentially serious threat to India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmer as well as Bangladesh itself.  Consequently, the Bangladesh Government has banned a number of Islamic extremist groups in recent years. The Bangladesh government has also intensified the crackdown on Islamic terrorist groups involved in killing, but all this is not enough. Bangladesh has effectively been transformed into an Islamic state. As a result, Islamist parties and forces have been able to assume a growing role in the country’s politics. A large number of Islamic forces are openly active within the mainstream political parties, including AL, BNP, JP, etc.  It is a correct contention that, the introduction of the 15^th Amendment Bill of the Constitution on June 30, 2011, which retained Islam as the “State Religion”, helped the radical Islamists to increase their influence in the politics of the country. It also legalised religion-based political activities. Thus BJI got the legal political status in the country. Actually as early as 1976, Jamaat got recognition through Political Parties Regulation (PPR) in independent Bangladesh under the banner of Islamic Democratic League (IDL) with Nezam-e-Islam. Jamaat re-emerged formally through an open political convention on 22-27 May 1979.  In 2010, when the Supreme Court declared as void the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, Jamaat automatically lost its right as a political party. But in 2011, the Bangladesh Parliament amended the Constitution without imposing any bar on religion-based political parties. Then a good number of MPs in the parliament raised questions regarding a ban on Jamaat, but Sheikh Hasina herself was against imposing any ban on Jamaat. As a result, Jamaat and other religion-based political parties retained their rights to perform their usual activities in the country. According to the party constitution, it has been working since its inception to build Bangladesh as an Islamic country. In 1988, General Ershad included Islam as state religion in the Constitution. Thus one of the major demands of Jamaat was automatically achieved without any hindrance even when they were not in power. A fresh demand of ban against Jamaat was raised by the student community in February 2013 at Shahbag Square for their collaboration with the Pakistani army and the brutal killing of Bengali people in 1971 during the liberation war. True, AL has been trying to quell Jamaat by hanging a few top leaders on the plea of trial of “war criminals”, but the roots of the radical Islamic groups remained in the country as before.  In recent times, we are witnessing a number of radical Islamic terrorist activities in the capital city of Dhaka and districts, e.g. Artisan Bakery killing (1 July 2016), Solakia- Kishoreganj killing (7 July 2016), killing of 6 bloggers, murder of 6/7 Hindu priests as also of, a few foreigners, etc. 

Religious Minorities Are the Main Victim

It is unfortunate that planned attacks were carried out on minority communities in Brahmanbaria and other districts from 30 October 2016 onwards with the connivance of the ruling party and administration during the season of religious festivals of the Hindu community. Shockingly, only in Brahmanbaria, more than 15 temples were destroyed, and more than a hundred Hindu houses were looted, burnt, and ransacked.⁵

        Here it is indeed important to recall that the carnage, which was orchestrated in Ramu on 29-30 September 2012 during the tenure of AL Government, will always be remembered as a dark episode in the history of Bangladesh. The villages of Ramu, Ukhiya and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar district and Potiya of Chittagong district suffered from massacre and devastation like never before when dozens of Buddhist temples including the 250 year old Maitri (Friendship) Temple and at least 50 homes of Buddhists were set ablaze in the most atrocious manner. The perpetrators then went on a looting rampage.⁶

The local police and administration were astonishingly silent during the wild burning and looting.  Even the local MP and other area representatives were conspicuously absent during the violence. No one was there to stand up for the victims. In this event, Muslim radicals destroyed Hindu temples, too.

From January 2007 to October 2016, 1,714 temples were destroyed and burnt, and 302 members of the minority community were killed, and 392 were raped. Severe attacks on minority settlements were conducted in Chirirbandar of Dinajpur (4 August 2012), Hathazari of Chittagong (9 and 10 February 2012), Kaliganj of Satkhira (31 March and 1 April 2013). Minority properties, temples, and houses were looted, ransacked, and burnt.⁷ According to Human Right Organisation ‘Ain – O – Salish Kendra’, during the previous five years, atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh could be easily gauged from the following facts. The total number of attacks on houses, shops and temples was 2803. All these establishments were looted, ransacked, destroyed and burnt.⁸        

Concluding Observations

A significant observation is, always the younger generation of the Bangladeshi Muslim society was so influenced by the radical Islamic ideology that they attacked on minority religious groups in different places in Bangladesh. Brahmanbaria and other incidents of violence on religious minorities are the latest examples.

The ground realities of the Bangladesh society changed so much during the last four decades that there are so many Islamic organizations in present-day Bangladesh, and the Government of Bangladesh is soft towards them. Even a number of members of the present ruling front have close connections with these Islamic organizations through many religio-cultural activities.

All the above facts and incidents in Bangladesh are nothing but a clear manifestation of the society where a deep rooted radical Islamic perception engulfed the entire polity since independence in 1971. We apprehend that no remedial measure can now be applied by any political party or government.

^a Bimal Pramanik is the Director of Centre for Research in Indo-Bangladesh Relations, Kolkata.

^b Mintu Barua is the Research Associate of Jayanta Kumar Ray, National Research Professor, Government of India, at the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta.

Notes

1. Bimal Pramanik, ‘Religious and Cultural Transformation of Bangladesh’, Eternal India, Vol. 2, No. 2 (November 2009), p.89.
2. Muntassir Mamoon, Bangladesh: Rajniti, Dharma o Moula jangibader Bikash, Dhaka, Shomoy Prakashan, 2016, p.39.
3. Bimal Pramanik and Purnima Naskar, ‘Socio-Political Implications of Khagragarh (Burdwan) Blasts in West Bengal’, Dialogue, Vol. 16, No. 3 (January-March 2015), pp.191-195.
4. Islamic Militant Outfits, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/bangladesh/religion-islam-militant-outfits.htm, accessed 25 October 2016.
5. Edwin Mora, ‘Bangladesh: Muslim Mob Attacks Hindu Temples, Homes over Facebook Post’, com, 1 November 2016, http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/11/01/bangladesh-muslims-loot-attack-hindu-temples-houses-facebook-post/, accessed 2 November 2016; Rashid Riaz, ‘Nasirnagare Golojogkarider Biruddhe Dui Mamla, Asami Barosho’, Amadershomoy.com, 31 October 2016, http://www.amadershomoy.biz/beta/2016/10/31/727986/#.WCl-2tV97IV, accessed 1 November 2016.
6. Israfil Khosru, ‘Ramu: Lessons unlearnt’, com, 21 October 2012,

http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2012/10/21/ramu-lessons-unlearnt/, accessed 24 October 2016.

7. Milton Biswas, ‘Samprodaik Sampritir Bangladeshe Keno Ei Hamla? 2’, com, 9 November 2016,

http://www.amadershomoy.biz/beta/2016/11/09/734338/#.WCl6tdV97IV, accessed 9 November 2016.

8. Arifur Rehman, ‘Bangladeshe Sankhalaghu Nirjataner Bichar hoy na keno?’, com, 11 November 2016,

http://www.amadershomoy.biz/beta/2016/11/11/735925/#.WCl5OtV97IV, acc

(essed 11 November 2016.

(Published in Dialogue, October-December 2016, New Delhi).