The war of liberation in Bangladesh is not over

Bangladesh has emerged as the major coordinating centre of international jihadi groups and their local collaborators. A political analyst maintains that Jamaat’s ulterior motive is to build a “monolithic Islamic state, based on Shariah law and declare jihad against Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and free-thinking Muslims”. The civil society of Bangladesh is seriously concerned about the radical agenda of Jamaat and other religious extremist groups.

The present situation in Bangladesh is very uncertain. There is no security for anyone who writes against irrationalism and advocates secular values. The fundamentalists have already killed nine bloggers who have been fighting for free thought. There are many writers, bloggers, and editors who are on the hit list of the fundamentalist forces for writing against Islamic extremism. The government is doing nothing to protect the lives of these bloggers. The bloggers are living in constant fear and there is no attempt by the regime to address their security.

There is no law, there is no justice and the government does not stand by secular forces. It seems as if they are in cahoots with the killers. Despite open threats to writers and bloggers, the government is not able to rein in fundamentalist groups.

The condition inside the country is not good. Maybe fundamentalist forces and the government are working in tandem. That’s why the police buy the argument that the bloggers are atheist and should be targeted. Why someone should be killed for having an independent mind about religion and politics? This is not a sign of good politics. I think day by day the condition of this country is getting worse and there is an urgent need to intervene and  restore the fundamental principles of the country.

The religious fanatics have made deep inroads into Bangladesh’s economy and society. Under the names of various trusts and foundations, the Islamists run super-speciality hospitals, banks, educational institutions, transport and pharmaceutical companies with the avowed aim of capturing state power. A US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation report released on July 17, 2012, says that two Bangladeshi banks — Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd and Social Islami Bank Ltd, have been involved in terror financing. The report says that both the banks are linked to a number of terrorist and jihadi groups based in Bangladesh.

The 2012 Anti-Terrorism Act authorised death penalty for terrorists targeting another country from Bangladesh.
Furthermore, on July 15, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) indicted Jamaat as a political party for its anti-people role in 1971. While sentencing Ghulam Azam, the then party chief of East Pakistan, the ICT observed that Jamaat “functioned as a criminal organisation, especially during the War of Liberation in 1971”. Again in a landmark judgment in August 2013, Bangladesh’s High Court scrapped Jamaat’s registration with the Election Commission and disqualified the party from contesting future elections since its charters are not in conformity with the secular provisions of the Constitution.

According to various reports, there exist more than 100 Islamist parties and extremist organisations across the country, including village-level Allahar Dal. Only a few of them have been banned so far but even those continue to operate under different names. The country is often flooded with audio and video propaganda cassettes/CDs containing the ideology and programmes of the jihadi outfits.

Meanwhile, innumerable madrassas affiliated to the Wahabi school of thought have been imparting radical Islamic teachings for a long time. Local reports suggest that some external forces act as facilitators of radical Islamisation process in Bangladesh. While Pakistan is the brain behind such efforts, other muslim countries provide necessary funds to sustain the radical agenda.

A radical Islamic movement called Hefazat-e-Islam sprang up from such madrassas in early 2013 and gave an ultimatum to the government to fulfil its 13-point demand, which included introduction of blasphemy law, to reinstate pledge to Allah in the Constitution and making Islamic education compulsory. To press its demands, Hefazat organised two massive rallies mobilising over 100.000 people in Dhaka’s busy commercial area on May 5 and 6 and created mayhem there.
region.

Bloggers always condemn those who kill people in the name of Islam. Such writings expose them and thereby they become a natural target. Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim country and the fundamentalists try to incite religious passions by calling us atheists and anti-Islamic; this way they justify the killings of secular writers. This is a deep-seated conspiracy to radicalize Bangladeshi society which identifies itself as Bengali first and Muslim second.

The new generation respects religion, but they are very scared of the religious extremism. They don’t like Islami politics, which can do anything in the name of religion. The new generation respects secularism, but they don’t want to be branded as atheists by fundamentalist forces because that invites certain death. People are afraid.

The whole premise of our separation from Pakistan was Bengali nationalism and secularism. We rejected Pakistan because it was an Islamist country. But unfortunately, the composition of Bangladesh is also changing today. Our country is not a secular country in the strict sense of the term. Islam is our religion now. This is not good. We should have the liberty to choose our way of life and have the freedom to be critical of religion if it is exploited by vested interests.

It’s no exaggeration to say that secular bloggers are under siege in Bangladesh. Oyasiqur Rhaman, a young blogger, was hacked to death in full public view for his liberal views on religion.

“We have to keep on fighting,” Animesh Rahman, president of the Dhaka-based Blogger and Online Activist Network, asserts. “I know my life is at risk at every moment. For people like me there is no other option but to stay back and fight. We are putting our life at risk to keep the soul of Bangladesh

alive.”

Rhaman’s death follows the killing of blogger Avijit Roy, murdered outside Dhaka University five weeks ago. Roy, a U.S. citizen, had just participated in the Ekushey Book Fair, Bangladesh’s largest literary event. He was an online presence that challenged fundamentalism and extremism in Islam. That stance made him the target of fundamentalists, and Roy paid the ultimate price.

Rhaman, an ardent follower of Roy, was so shaken by the death of his idol that he created a Facebook page in his memory, called “I Am Avijit.” According to The New York Times, he also mourned the 2013 killing of blogger. Ahmed Rajib known online as Thaba Baba, and vowed to keep fighting for his belief. His open defiance of Islamic extremism cost him his life.

So why are bloggers being targeted in Bangladesh?
In January 2014, A group of bloggers in Dhaka and Chittagong, living in hiding. We met just a few months after the Shahbag movement, popularly known as Gonojagaran Mancha or National Awakening Stage, upheaval which was driven by online agitation demanding the death penalty for Islamist leaders involved in atrocities during the war of liberation in 1971.
At the same time, Islamists led by Jamaat-e-Islami were counter-mobilizing. They asked for the release of the arrested Islamists, the majority of whom were from the organization’s rank-and-file.

That bitter ideological divide, between the secular nationalists and fundamentalists, claimed the life of Ahmed Rajib Haider in February 2013, a pro-Shahbag blogger. Haider was brutally killed outside his home by machete-wielding youth, much in the same manner as Avijit Roy and Oyasiqur Rahman, Anonto Bijoy, Niloy Neil.

Taking advantage of the current political deadlock, Islamist parties have had a field day last year. They are now offering Islamic Khilafat as a viable alternative to the democratic order. The more the mainstream political leaders indulge in corruption, nepotism and mendacity, the more the Islamists are becoming vocal to present themselves as the ideal leaders capable of bringing about positive changes in the society. The rise of religious extremism leading to terrorism in Bangladesh has a lot to do with the failure of political leadership too. The failure of governance at all levels, deteriorating law and order, lack of access to the justice system for the poor and the disadvantaged are some factors that alienate people from the state. As a consequence people start to view the state as a corrupt and coercive institution and Islamic Caliphate as the saviour.

Although political use of Islam dates back to pre-partition days and was the raison d'être of the establishment of Pakistan in 1947 to which Bengali Muslim played the key role, the Islamists political parties remained on the fringes until about two decades back. Although their following among the masses continue to be small compared to the mainstream political parties, the numbers are growing fast. Because of their very organized structure and party discipline, the Islamists are fast assuming the position to exert pressure on the society and government, far more than their numbers alone would suggest.

Last year it was starkly noticeable by the agitations carried out by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the well-organized Islamist party in Bangladesh. It started nearly three years back when their top leaders were arrested on war-crime charges, and have now taken so violent a turn that it can now be termed as acts of terror. Its student wing - Islamic Chattra Shibir (ICS), is the most well-organized student body in the country that provides muscle to the JI activities. Dismantling of railway lines and bridges, burning down public transport with passengers inside, bombing and burning people who are totally unconnected with any political activities are defined by the United Nations and the international community as “acts of terror”.

December is the month when we achieved victory over the Pakistani occupation forces. Jamaat-e-Islami, along with some other Islamist parties, was on the run then for their active collaboration with the Pakistan Army in the genocide they committed.  Since then, at least during the month of December, JI used to be in low profile. It is an irony that in 2013, for the first time, they were able to impose a country-wide shut down on the 15th of December, a day ahead of the Victory Day.

While JI's acts of bombing, killing, arson and vandalism had been on the headlines of the media every day, other Islamist forces, including some terrorist organizations, had not been idle either. In fact, taking advantage of the political impasse, uncertainty and violence, these parties are actively regrouping and consolidating their organizations for a show-down that they expect will come soon. The most active Islamist terrorist group at present is Ansarullah Bangla Team whose leader Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani was arrested on 18 August 2013 for propagating Jihadi ideology and urging Muslim youths to carry out bombing, killing and other violent acts to establish an Islamic state. Rahmani's disciples included Rajib Karim, an IT expert who was jailed for 30 years on terror charges in UK in 2011, and Nafis, a 22-year-old Bangladeshi jailed for 30 years in the US on 9 August, 201, for plotting to bomb the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York a year ago. In Bangladesh, Rahmani's disciples included 5 NSU students who killed blogger Rajib on 15 February and Mesbahuddin, a BUET student who allegedly hacked to death a fellow student on 9 April last year.

Police reported that since the arrest of Mufti Rahmani the organization is run by ex-Major Ziaul, a fugitive since his attempted coup two years back. Ansarulullah Bangla Team has link with its counterpart in Pakistan as well as with AL-Qaida elements in Yemen. A number of arrests of Rahmani's followers were made across the country in the middle of this year, but the website containing Rahmani's sermons, lectures and videos urging young Muslims to join the Jihad, kill people who they perceive as apostates, destroy the state structure as it exists and establish a “true Islamic state” is up and running as of today. The website provides tips on how to make bombs using easily available materials, eulogizes Bangladeshi jihadists killed at home and abroad, and provides links to websites containing Al-Qaida propaganda materials. Exact number of members of Ansarullah is not known, but from the hits on its websites as well as blogs and Facebook entries, it can be deduced that the organization is growing fast. One wonders how these websites can run while the government is avowedly committed to eliminating Islamist terrorist outfits in Bangladesh.
Hizbut Tahrir (HT) is another banned Islamist organization that is fast increasing its activities throughout Bangladesh. Its website, that was blocked for sometime, is working. HT has not been involved in overt violence or terrorist activities, but through its website, posters, leaflets and occasional rallies it engages in denigrating democracy, secularism and the state of Bangladesh as it exists. It strongly condemns both AL and BNP leaderships for leading the country towards what it sees as slavery of Indo-US-Israeli axis.  Its shrill anti-US and anti-Indian slogans sell well with the disenchanted Muslim youth who consider themselves as victims of big power conspiracy. Off late, HT has been urging the Army to bring an end to Hasina-Khaleda misrule and establish a government run by true Muslims.
HT members are generally from the educated urban youth from affluent families who had been to English medium schools or are in the private universities.  It is apparent that most of these youth, who had had little contact with Bangladesh's cultural diversity, its rich history and traditions, are easily susceptible to the revisionist history portrayed by the HT. While most of Islamic extremist groups recruit from the lower middle class, rural, half-educated, unemployed youth, HT targets the urban, economically affluent, educated professionals. Therefore, although their numbers may be small, their ability to influence the society is significant.

Another extremist group that came in the limelight last year is Hefazat-e-Islam. It was formed in 2011 as an organization of Quomi Madrasa lobby to oppose government's move to give Muslim women equal rights in inheritance and its attempt to reform Quomi Madrasa education. However, Hefazat burst into the political scene in 2013 with its 13-point demand.  The demands included among others, promulgation of blasphemy law with a provision of death penalty, scrapping of laws on women rights and the proposed education policy, declaring Ahmedya community as non-Muslims, banning of Christian missionary activities, especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and dismantling of sculptures erected at public places as those are considered by the Hefazat as un-Islamic symbols. Hefazat represent a very narrow, obscurantist view of Islam, akin to the Talibans of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Their march to Dhaka on 5 May, 2013 drew a crowd of nearly half a million madrasa students, teachers and sympathizers, virtually choking the city and forcing the city dwellers indoor. Its rally in Motijheel, the heart of the nation's financial district, extended well into the night and grew increasingly violent. Finally, the government had to apply considerable force to eject the protesters from their sit-in.  Hefazat's meteoric rise is the proof that the madrasas, so far considered by the political elites as the abode of the poor and neglected, now developed into a potent political force impossible to ignore.  However, their proposed march to Dhaka on 24 December did not take place.
The Islamist extremist organizations that stole the headline by their acts of terror in 1999-2005, such as Jamaatul Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami, Bangladesh (HUJI-B), are not so much on the radar screen now since most of their leadership were either prosecuted and hanged or awarded long term prison sentences. However, they had been regrouping and reorganizing, often under new nomenclature as had been established through a number of arrests made over the years. HUJI-B is particularly trans-national in character with its headquarters in Pakistan. Pakistani operatives have been arrested in Bangladesh, trying to use Bangladesh as a launching platform for attack on targets in India. Mufti Hannan, the leader of HUJI-B, is the prime accused of 21 August 2004 grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina, the current Prime Minister and at that time the Leader of the opposition. Hannan's organization is accused of a series of deadly attacks on public places targeting the Awami League and the left political elements.

It is a sad testimony that Bangladesh that won its freedom through a bloody Liberation War fought to establish a modern democratic state is now confronted with elements who want to turn the state into a medieval theocracy. We have reached the present state because of our failure to develop strong democratic institutions in the country and our failure to deliver the due governance and justice that the citizen expected from the state. Almost all governments that came to power since 1975 were engaged in appeasing the religious forces in order to counter the political opposition. The religious forces gained at the expense of mainstream political parties. The bitter political feud between AL and BNP created the space for parties such as JI to expand its power base. Today the Islamist forces are better organized than ever before. Awash with money flowing in from domestic and foreign sources, as well as from the charities, banks, insurance, hospitals, diagnostic centres, educational institutions and coaching centres run by them, the Islamists in Bangladesh are ready to face the mainstream political parties in their own turf. With stepping in to 2014, we see only dark clouds in the horizon. Unless the two major political parties identify their common enemy and close ranks, soon they themselves will be overwhelmed by the Frankenstein they created.

The rise of religious extremist forces not only poses a direct threat to Bangladesh’s hard-won democracy and the process of its institutionalisation but also threatens peace, stability and security of South Asia. Security analysts have expressed concern that the impending drawdown by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops from Afghanistan may possibly bolster the extremist elements to reactivate themselves in Bangladesh. This in turn may constitute a major threat to India, especially in its restive Kashmir and north eastern.

Ref: Various Newspaper.