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December 20, 2005

Bangladesh: Talks On Islamist Extremism Become Slurred

We reported on December 12 that the Prime Minister, Khaled Zia of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) initiated emergency discussions on Islamic extremism. She had urged all parties to come and give input, but a fourteen party alliance, which included the main opposition party, the Awami League, was boycotting the talks.

The Daily Star reports that these talks are getting rather stale after one week.

So far, the Prime Minister has had talks with seven organisations out of a total of 27 political parties and 15 professional bodies invited to the conference.

There was embarrassment when the sole parliamentary representative of the Krishak Sramik Janata League (Peasants' and Workers' People League), made an allegation at the start of the conference. Kader Siddiqui accused the Jamaat-e-Islami party of harbouring militants. He demanded that Jamaat be expelled from both the talks and the coalition government. Siddiqui is a minority MP in the government, being the only MP from his party who managed to be elected in 2001, but his comments have hit a raw nerve.

Zia is head of a coalition government which won the elections of October 1, 2001, comprising her party (the BNP) in union with three other parties, the Jamaat-i-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote, and Jatiya Party. The Jatiya is an independent party led by 75-year old Hussain Muhammad Ershad, a former army chief who was President from 1982 - 1990. The Islamic Oikya Jote was established in 1990 from a coalition of seven small Islamic parties, but does not have many members in the 300-seat parliament of Bangladesh. In the elections of 1996, it only raised one MP.

Islami Oikya Jote and Jamaat-e-Islami are both Islamist parties. As we discussed earlier, various accusations have already been made concerning possible involvements of these two parties in the bombing epidemic which has swept the country, mainly carried out by Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Representatives of Islami Oikya Jote and Jamaat-e-Islami have both denied involvement with the extemists behind the bombings.

On December 15 we mentioned how arrested Chittagong leader of JMB, Aman Ullah, claimed that as well as having involvement with al-Qaeda, JMB also enjoyed the support of thousands of former cadres of Islami Chattra Shibir or ICS. ICS is the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The leader of another Islamic terror group, Harkatul Jihad, had been arrested on October 1. At a court hearing, he was prevented from making "speeches" by the judge. He had stated shortly before his arrest that he had connections with leaders of the four-party alliance. His organisation was only made illegal on October 18, even though it had been carrying out bomb attacks for at least five years.

It is true that the Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikye Jote share one primary goal with JMB - the installation of an Islamic state.

Sources within India's Ministry of Home Affairs have claimed that much of the Islamic extremism in Bangladesh is being given support from Pakistan, in the form of its Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). A report in Asia Times from March last year stated that:

The ISI has plans to appoint Pakistan nationals, trained as maulvis (religious instructors) in madrassas (religious schools) and mosques in Bangladesh, particularly the ones that are situated on the India-Bangladesh border. They will also be used for a variety of anti-India activities. Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh (JEI/BD), a constituent of the present government, reportedly issued in January 2002 instructions to its districts amirs [heads] to provided help and shelter to ISI operatives. Its plans include setting up jihadi training camps (including those of HUJAI [Bangladesh militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi-al-Islami] ) in Moulvi Bazar and Chittagong with an ISI controller in Cox's Bazar.

American political analyst and columnist Jane Novak, writing in Worldpress.org on April 29, said "Islamic extremists have spread their ideology, primarily among the disadvantaged poor, using over 700 mosques built across the country by the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society."

The Revival of Islamic Heritage Society has been accused of spreading Islam by funding actions aimed at destabilising already destabilised countries. They were placed on a US State Department exclusion list on Jan 9 2002, and this move was then adpted within days by the UN and the Bank of England.

RIHS, aka Jamia Ihya ul Turath; a.k.a. Jamiat Ihia Al- Turath Al-Islamiya originated in Kuwait, and has been accused of funding the August 17 nationwide bomb attacks. Just before the suicide bombings at courthouses in Chittagong and Gazipur on November 29, this organisation was given a substantial grant from the Bangladesh government, to set up mosques, madrassas, and training of imams. The Daily Star noted that on the day of the bombings, the RIHS was handing out its grant money to its contractors.

The accusation made at the start of the current talks, that the Jamaat-e-Islami party are supporting terror, has now apparently caused a censorship among those invited to speak. The Daily Star states that the Prime Minister's Office had on Sunday requested delegates not to mention anything about Jamaat-e-Islami's reputation in their speeches.

Izharul Islam Chowdhury, the chairman of the Islami Oikya Jote, even though a coalition partner, said that they still had not received an invite to talk at the meeting, even though it has been in progress for a week.

Another group which has accused the Jamaat-e-Islami party of links to militants is the Islami Shashantantra Andolon, which is undecided if it will attend. Even though this group condemns Jamaat's association with "militancy", the ISA is hardly moderate.

MITP Terrorism Knowledgebase states that on Sept. 28, 2002, at Satkhira during a Hindu festival, a twin bomb attack took place, killing 2 and injuring 35. This bombing is alleged to have been done by Islami Shashantantra Andolon. This group wishes, like Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote and JMB, to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh.

Islami Oikya Jote may be small, but they are venomous. Last year they spearheaded a hate campaign against the Ahmadiyyah (Ahmadi) sect of Muslims. Ahmadi Muslims are essentially Sunni, but they are classed by some as "heretics".

In late December 2003, anti-Ahmadiyyah militants had threatened to drive out members of the sect from the Nakhalpara Ahmadiyya mosque by January 9, and insisted the Islamic parties made a bill declaring the Ahmadiyyahs to be non-Muslims, threatening to invoke strikes.

Amazingly, the government actually complied with the demands. Falling short of an outright declaration of the Ahmadis as "non-Muslim", on January 8 2004, Zia's government banned all Ahamadiyyah publications as they contained "objectionable material which hurt or might hurt the sentiments of the majority Muslim population of Bangladesh".

On August 21 2004, there were battles between police and groups of extremists attacking an Ahmadiyyah complex at Bakshibazar. The militants threatened to destroy the complex on August 27, but the plan was foiled by police. The protesters were still demanding that the Ahmadis be classified as non-Muslims.

So the talks on how to tackle extremism seem doomed. The participants in the coalition governments have all, BNP included, been accused of aiding extremists.

These claims of government complicity in the actions of the country's Islamic terrorists, once sounded laughable. Now, they are becoming more credible. The BNP officially renounces Islamic terrorism, but it uses thugs in its youth wing, Jubo Dal, who use violence and intimidation. Some have been implicated in murders.

It is unlikely that the original convenor of the anti-extremism talks, Prime Minister Zia will be able to attend the discussions in person over the next few days, as her current schedule involves a heavy roster of travel engagements and appointments.

The government which is now declaring a crisis on account of JMB's terrorist attacks, was earlier in denial about the existence of JMB, with the Interior Minister Luftozzaman Babar denying the terror group's existence as recently as January this year. Zia has led her carnival of clowns for four years, and has turned a blind eye for too long. The Islam ticket got her into power, but it appears to be swallowing up any credibility that her government can have left.

The country is riddled with corruption, and the ecnomic situation is not improving. The country will go to the polls again at the end of next year. Unless Zia can pull a rabbit out of a hat by then, it seems that her rulership will be as doomed as her attempts to discuss an effective strategy against Islamic extremism.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 20, 2005 10:50 PM

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