Govt. Patronage For Bangladesh Terrorist Group Under New Packaging
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New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Harkat-ul-Jihad elements find new home
By Arif Newaz Farazi
The top leader of an Islami Oikya Jote faction is now in Pakistan to
raise funds for Sachetan Islami Janata (conscious Islamic public), a
new Islamist forum, whose key members are known for running militant
activities across Bangladesh.
Mufti Ezharul Islam is well known to most Islamic organisations in
Pakistan, Maulana Mostafa bin Hossain, vice-president of the IOJ
faction said. 'That's why he went to raise funds ahead of the
upcoming national elections.'
His next destination is Iran, sources in the faction told New Age.
Many leaders and activists of the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami
have joined hands with Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan (caliphate movement)
after the Islami Janata programme near Baitul Mukarram on Friday.
'We took them on board, as different intelligence agencies and the
government have assured the leaders of the banned organisation that
they will not be arrested or harassed if they go by the government's
instructions,' Kazi Azizul Haque, international affairs secretary of
the movement, said.
Maulana Ahmed Ullah Ashraf, son of Hafejji Hujur, who launched the
movement, echoed his views. 'They clearly had the green signal from
the government to stage a rally. Besides, they are no longer members of
the banned organisation.'
He refused to be drawn into a debate over the movement taking on
board people who were involved in militant activities. 'We welcome
anyone who believes in our ideology, which does not have any room for
armed revolution, as Islam does not permit armed revolution.'
The Bangladesh chapter of Harkat-ul-Jihad formally was established
in 1992 with an aim to establish Islamic rule and announced that those
who had fought the then Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan were working
with the organisation.
The organisation drew inspiration from the International Islamic
Front of Osama bin Laden. Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid was given
the charge of the organisation.
However, there was a conflict between Sheikh Farid and Mufti Hannan
in 1997. Nejam-e- Islami Party chief Mufti Ezaharul Islam backed Sheikh
Farid and Maulana Mohiuddin, editor of monthly Medina, backed Mufti
Hannan.
The organisation initially used the office of Jago Mujahid, an
Islamic publication, at Khilgaon in the capital city.
Later, it shifted their office to the top floor of 116/1 Naya Paltan
under the supervision of the Nejam-e-Islami chief Mufti Ezaharul Islam.
Apart from its ties with Afghanistan-based militant groups, it
maintained connections with Harkat-ul-Jihad and some other militant
groups in Pakistan.
It stepped up its activities after the Awami League came to power in
June 1996 and conducted its first open operation, an abortive attempt
to kill poet Shamsur Rahman at his residence in Dhaka on January 18,
1999.
Earlier on February 19, 1996, law enforcers arrested 41 of its
activists with illegal firearms in Cox's Bazar. The arrested were
sentenced to life imprisonment by a court but all of them came out on
bail from the High Court after the four-party alliance assumed power in
October 2001.
Abdur Rouf, who was arrested along with 25 associates by the Rapid
Action Battalion at Bhaluka in Mymensingh on August 2, was one of the
41 militants.
In one of their major operations, the outfit planted a 76-kilogram
bomb at the venue of a public meeting of the then prime minister Sheikh
Hasina at Kotalipara in Gopalganj on July 20, 2000. Intelligence
agencies spotted the bomb before the public meeting was to take place.
The outfit is also suspected to have links to some major blasts,
including the one during Pahela Baishakh celebrations at Ramna Batamul
in Dhaka.
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested the Bangladesh operations
commander of the organisation, Mufti Hannan, in Anandanagar of Madhya
Badda on October 1, 2005.
Hannan told journalists that he did not have to flee the country as
the former home minister, Altaf Hossain Choudhury, had assured him that
there was 'nothing for him to fear'. Altaf, however, denied
Hannan's claim.