By Bhaskar Roy
The recent arrest (July, 02) pf 12
militants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, including the resident co-ordinator of the Al
Qaeda in South Asia (AQIS) may not be a total surprise for counter-terrorism
experts, but it is an eye-opener for the people of South Asia.
The arrested included the AQIS
co-ordinator, Mufti Mainul Islam (with many aliases), Maulana Zafar Amin, advisor
of AQIS, and ten others. The arrests revealed they had acquired a huge
amount of arms and explosives, bomb-making and training manuals. They
planned to hit Dhaka in a spectacular strike after the holy month of Ramadan,
to announce their arrival in the country.
This is not the first time Al Qaeda
tried to get a foothold in Bangladesh. According to earlier reports, a
group of Al Qaeda men of foreign origin were spotted in 2005, in the Banderban
area of Bangladesh. They were reportedly assisted by the Jamaat-e-Islami
(JEI). But the group slipped out of the country when the political
situation became unfavourable for them and international attention shifted to
Bangladesh on terrorism. Mufti Mainul Islam, 35, was earlier a member of
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Bangladesh or HUJI-B. The others were
committed to Al Qaeda ideology. Senior HUJI leader, Maulana Mufti
Moinuddin @ Abu Zandel, who is on death row for his attempt on the life of a
former British High Commissioner in Bangladesh, was in touch with this group
through mobile phone and letters, from Kashimpur jail, where he is
lodged. Have some prison guards been influenced by extremist
ideology? Or have they been bribed or been just negligent? The
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) who are pursuing terrorists with a significant
degree of success would, expectedly, enquire into this.
A simultaneous development is the
attraction for ISIS/ ISIL/ Islamic State among some expatriate Bangladeshis in
the UK. A family of 12 from UK visiting Bangladesh in April/May, left for
Syria to join the Islamic State. The oldest of the family was Muhammed
Abdul, 75, and the youngest three children between one and eleven. In between
were Muhammed’s wife, 53, and relatively young sons and daughters.
Reportedly, they were indoctrinated
by the banned Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, which has some presence in
London. The name al-Muhajiroun suggests this group has its roots in South
Asia.
These are not the first expatriate
Bangladeshis from UK to join the Islamic State. In this year along,
several Bangladeshis from UK, especially young women, went off to join the
Islamic State, to serve the fighters of the Caliphate led by the Iraqi cleric,
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was reported to have been seriously injured in an
American air attack, but seems to have recovered.
Baghdadi has appointed himself
Caliph-Allah’s deputy on earth-to take over the dream of the late Osama bin
Laden, who wanted to avenge the historical defeat of Muslim forces in
Europe. The “9/11” attack in USA was, supposedly, revenge on behalf of
Turkish forces defeated at the gates of Vienna (1683). Osama dreamt of a
Caliphate stretching from Spain to South East Asia, covering Central Asia, West
Asia, North Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of India, Bangladesh and the
Philippines. Baghdadi is pursuing the same dream, albeit with much more
ruthlessness and stupendous success, challenging the world. Extremist
organisations with distorted ideologies, such as Al Qaeda, Afghan Taliban,
Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State did not fall from the skies. They
were created by powerful states to further their political and strategic
agendas. When deadly creatures are reared to destroy others, they will
multiply according to the laws of nature, and ultimately turn on their
creators. And these dangerous creatures have a tendency to coalesce and
form a formidable family. The genie is out of the bottle and it is
hungry,
The growth of the Islamic State has
been unprecedented by any count. It has money, technology and propaganda
expertise to attract Muslims who feel oppressed in the societies they live in.
A survey by the Clarion Project
revealed that more than 8.5 million people view the ISIS/ Islamic State
“positively”, and about 42 million view them “somewhat positively”.
Sympathy for those leaving the UK to join the terrorists was highest among
female Muslims. Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project warns that “ISIS is
only a fraction of what it could potentially become”. (Express, Tom
Parfitt, July 01, 2015).
Returning to Bangladesh. Even
before liberation, when the country was East Pakistan, the majority of the
people followed Sunni Islam tinged with Sufi philosophy. Muslims and
Hindus lived side by side, sharing their weal and woe. Travelling
mendicant singers, the Bauls (Hindus) and Mafratis (Muslims) sang similar
songs, mystical in nature, exhorting people to search for God (Allah) not in
temples and mosques but within their hearts. Of course, there were always
fringe elements owing allegiance to religious extremist schools of
thought. They were unleashed with ferocity by the Pakistani army during
Bangladesh’s war of liberation. These forces were controlled but never
eliminated. After the assassination of the country’s founder, Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, these forces who had the blood of innocent Bengalis on
their hands, were given new life by political leaders. There is no space
to discuss this in detail but suffice it to say that the Jamaat-e-Islami was
reborn in 1978 with the active help of the leaders of that time. And with
active external assistance.
Extremism really progressed rapidly
when the BNP-Jamaat government ruled Bangladesh from 2001-2006. More than
a hundred Islamist tanzeems mushroomed with external financial and religious
aid and abetment. At one count, around 2004, more than a hundred such
groups received funds from abroad. There is enough evidence to prove that
these tanzeems became tools for the BNP-Jamaat government.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had
promised she would act against extremists, terrorists and Indian insurgents
taking refuge in Bangladesh. She did, and continues to do so with
considerable threat to her life. Of the 160 million population of the
country, most are young and focused on development. But the cancer of
religious extremism has spread too wide. Well educated people such as
professors, doctors, lawyers, officers in the armed forces directly or
indirectly support Sharia law. This includes women who know what such a
law would do to them.
The poor may dream of a paradise
under the Islamic Caliphate where there is no discrimination in terms of wealth
and status. But what about educated professionals?
The religious extremist tanzeems are
very likely to network among them to form a base for the Islamic State.
The stateless Rohingyas are eminent candidates for the same.
A huge challenge is looming over
Bangladesh. In the course of the rise of religious extremism, secular
politicians cannot be totally absolved of blame. They also played footsie
with the Jamaat for the vote bank. There is still a tendency to be
somewhat soft on them. Bringing the killers of the secular bloggers of
justice is not moving at a desired pace. Again, the issue of votes
appears to be weighing the decision. Do not make the mistake that some
Jews made in Germany, when Hitler was rising.
India must also be alert to the
spread of the elements contributing to the idea of the Islamic State and the
Caliphate. There is an argument that Indian Muslims are primarily
Indians, they are inclusive and no Indian Muslim joined the Afghan Jihad.
That is true. But things are changing slowly but surely. Some
Indians joined the Islamic State and have died fighting. To garner Muslim
votes, so-called secular politicians, especially in the Congress allowed the
Students Islamic Movement in India (SIMI) to grow. No right thinking
Muslim would support the strategy of SIMI. Out of this the Indian
Mujahiden has grown. What is pushing these young Muslim men towards
extremism? Has any government in New Delhi honestly tried to address this
most critical question? The answer is an emphatic “No”!
In this connection, let us not close
our eyes to Hindu extremism. The demolition of the Babri Masjid for
example is an incident Muslims (and Hindus) find difficult to forget. It
would be disastrous if the National Investigation Agency (NIA) starts diluting
cases against Hindu extremists who attacked Muslims.
The Islamic State is not offering
paradise. First, it is offering oppressed Muslims a governance of
equality. Next, it is telling Muslims the world over that they are
avenging the cruelty of the Christian crusaders hundreds of years ago.
These are very strong propaganda points. That they are, at the moment,
killing mainly Muslims is explained by pointing out that they are traitors to
the Ummah,
The world is yet to find a powerful
narrative to convince those who are flocking to the Islamic State a
convincing reason that the Islamic State is pure evil.
The great powers are masters in
psychological warfare. They also have the military muscle to
significantly weaken the Islamic State. But their actions do not inspire
observes like this writer.
Given the situation, countries like
Bangladesh and India will have to face some facts squarely and devise their own
strategies. Do not count upon countries like Pakistan and China.
They still believe in using extremism against their enemies.
(The
writer is a New Delhi based strategic analyst, He can be reached at e-mail
grouchohartayahoo.com)
- See more at: http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/node/1817#sthash.dFswJ6AC.dpuf
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