Bangladesh strikes at terror network

For millions of Bangladeshis, it was a great relief to know that the country's two most wanted terrorists, Shaikh Abdul Rahman and Siddiqul Islam, alias Bangla Bhai, have finally been arrested.

This, however, could mean nothing without the two criminals being charged with sedition, which in Bangladesh carries the death penalty. On the other hand, the dramatic arrest should not be seen as the end of terrorism in the country, as many other extremists are still free and capable of polluting the minds of young Bangladeshis.

Rahman, the spiritual leader of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) which had claimed responsibility for a series of bombings last year, was arrested on March 2, following a long siege at his hideout in Sylhet. Shortly after that, security forces arrested his operational commander, Bangla Bhai.

The two men do not differ in their physical appearance, profiles, ideological background, agendas, or ultimate goals, from other ultra extremist Muslim figures. Like the latter, they had studied in certain Islamic institutes and honed their talents for killing in jihad camps in Afghanistan before they returned home with a dream of establishing a Taliban-like Islamic rule.

Born in Jamalpur district, 200 kilometres from Dhaka, in the mid-1950s, Rahman is the eldest among Abdullah Bin Fazal Munshi's four sons and five daughters. His father, a local religious leader, spent years in jail for his collaboration with the Pakistani army during the Liberation War that resulted in the disintegration of Pakistan and emergence of Bangladesh.

Rahman, also known as Moulana Ahsan, studied at the Islamic Chhatra Shangha and Ahle Hadith madrassa, both of which represented the educational arm of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JIB), a party ideologically affiliated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement.

As a son of a leading JIB leader, he was sent to Saudi Arabia for higher education at Madinah Islamic University, which has academically been, since its establishment in the 1960s, under the influence of deported Egyptian and Syrian scholars belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Easy access

On his graduation, he returned to Bangladesh to try various jobs, one of which was interpreter and translator at the Saudi and Kuwaiti embassies between 1985 and 1990. It was this job that allowed him to build contacts with many Dhaka-based Middle Eastern diplomats and subsequently to have easy access to Arab countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While his visits to Arab countries were aimed at establishing ties with Islamic charities or breaching organisations and raising funds for Islamic madrassas in Bangladesh, his many visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan were to participate in jihad, fight alongside Al Qaida, or cooperate with Pakistani and Kashmiri extremist groups.

Returning to Bangladesh, Rahman was convinced of the use of terrorism to establish an Islamic state. For this purpose, he tried first to control Ahle Hadith, an organisation founded by his father and headed by Asadullah Ghalib.

But Ghalib was not then of the opinion of clashing with the government. He wanted first to build a well trained and disciplined force. This, in addition to certain financial discrepancies, led to a fracas between the two men and consequently Rahman was expelled from Ahle Hadith.

In the late 1990s, Rahman formed the JMB and soon joined hands with his former student, Bangla Bhai, to launch terrorist activities in the north region, using funds believed to be transferred from certain Middle East-based Islamic NGOs.

Bangla Bhai, also known as Azizur Rahman and Omar Ali Lito, had fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s before he returned to Bangladesh to teach irregularly at a private college. Later, he quit teaching and formed a radical group called Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (Awakened Muslim Masses of Bangladesh), JMJB.

With nearly 20,000 fighters and supporters, mostly armed with swords and daggers, and with the authorities turning a blind eye to their operations for years, the JMB and JMJB have gained a nationwide notoriety for terrorist activities, including the torture, intimidation, killing of secular and leftist opponents, planting bombs, forcing women to wear the Islamic veil and imposing taxes on villagers.

Mini-Taliban like state

In brief, they turned parts of Bangladesh into a mini Taliban-like state.

In 2002, local police arrested 17 terrorists, including Rahman's younger brother Ataur Rahman, in connection with terrorist activities. Bangla Bhai was also arrested in 2002 for leading a killing squad in Bagerhat but no cases were filed against him, something that surprised many and reinforced the allegation that the government was using him against its political opponents.

Following this incident, the JMB and JMJB commanders went underground and extended their activities around the country.

Only after the August 17, 2005 series of blasts that hit 63 of the country's 64 districts, the government officially banned the two groups, used its intelligence and elite force to hunt for their commanders, announced a bounty for apprehending Rahman and Bangla Bhai, and approached Interpol for assistance in this regard.

Dr Abdulla Al Madani is an academic researcher and lecturer on Asian affairs.