Bangladesh, a moderate Muslim
country is fast becoming a terrorist hub under the leadership of
Khaleda-Nizami coalition government. In the last one month, a number of
terrorist groups killed judges and lawyers as they were not practicing
the Islamic Sharia Laws. These groups on August 17, 2005
exploded nearly 493 bombs across the nation to commemorate their
successful bomb blasts of August 21, 2004 that they directed
at the Public Rally of Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the largest
political party of the country, the Awami League (AL) in which 23 killed
and over 350 were wounded. Earlier they killed and assassinated a
number of top AL leaders including former Finance Minister Shah AMS
Kibria, Ahsanullah Master, MP, a number of progressive writers, authors,
university professors and journalists that opposed �rise of militancy
and extremism�. The total death toll due to bomb blasts alone is over
158 now and total death toll due to torture and extra-judicial killing
by the government forces and the terrorists is over 1,000 lives. In all
those occasions, instead of arresting the culprits and the terrorists,
the government routinely blamed the Opposition party, the journalists
and the nation�s intellectuals and arrested nearly a million innocent
people It also arrested columnists, journalists, and human rights
activists that voice opinion against such futile �coverage� and their
inactivity. For example, when bomb exploded at a movie theatre in
Mymensingh, instead of arresting the culprits, the Khaleda government
arrested a 70-year old highly respected Opposition leader, a lawyer by
profession plus Dr. Muntasir Mamun, a reputed professor and columnist
and Saber Hussain Chowdhury, a highly successful businessman, formerly a
Minister. In fact, the wrath of the government fell on journalists and
columnists and they were falsely termed as the �enemies of the country�
and �paid employees of RAW�, the Indian Intelligence forces, as per the
government PR campaign, for disgracing the image of the nation by
exposing the danger and evils of target killing, fascism, violence and
rising terrorism and for calling the government to take action against
terrorists. The government not only arrested journalists and columnist,
they mercilessly tortured them, and many had to leave the country and
solicit asylum abroad. The government filed cases of treason against
them. Unfortunately, all the time Prime Minister Zia and her stooges
either out-rightly denied the existence of terrorists, blamed her
Opposition, or claimed those as media-created. More painful is that they
always misdirected the investigation. The police officers that unearth
the linkage of Jamathi Islam party to terrorism, a coalition partner of
the government, were summarily withdrawn from the investigation. No
wonder, Ms. Asma Kibria, wife of assassinated editor and leader, Mr.
Shah Kibria and her family demanded a FBI investigation as they have no
faith and confidence in the government. When 16 U. S. Lawmakers
including Senators Kennedy, Kerry, Sununu, Chafee, DeWine and others
demanded an expeditious independent investigation, the Bangladesh
government instead of independent investigation went on a massive PR
campaign and questioned the validity of such a letter and their
integrity. It also replaced all the officials that are linked to
investigation with die-hard party supporters. For example, the
investigation officer was replaced by a close associate of the son of
the Prime Minister, the Deputy Commissioner, the executive head of the
district where murder took place has been replaced by an officer of the
Prime Minister�s secretariat basically to ensure water-tight control to
avoid leakage of findings linking the government leaders. No wonder such
action compelled many Bangladeshis including Kibria�s family to demand
international investigation under the UN/FBI Supervision as they did in
the case of murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Harari.
However, since August 17 bomb blasts, more
than 100 suspected terrorists have been arrested. Although many
attackers gave vivid testimony linking the JI leadership, Prime Minister
and her associates claimed that the JI is not involved with terrorism.
Question is; can government continue to cover up and shelter the
terrorists and their master mind?
In October 2001, the current government
came into power with two-third majority through a debatable election and
since then, the rise of Islamic militancy took a sharp turn. A senior
member of the ruling coalition, Abu Hena, MP, recently alleged that a
number of Minister and a dozen of top leaders of the coalition
government have been directly involved in sheltering the terrorists. He
further alleged that the Prime Minister Khaleda Zia knew about them. The
government instead of launching any inquiry on his allegations
immediately terminated him from the party membership. It also reminded
its other party members that such disloyalty would be dealt with
severely. In case of Dr. AQM B. Chowdhury, former President of the
coalition government and other BNP MPs like Mahi Chowdhury and Col
(Retd) Mannan that voiced opinion against the government�s cover ups and
mismanagement faced quick termination and beating publicly at the hands
of BNP-Jamat hoodlums.
Who are the Terrorists?
The Bangladeshi dailies have been
publishing reports linking the Jamathi Islam party (JI) as the main
master-mind of terrorism in Bangladesh. This party has the
financial resource, dedicated membership, relevant literature, committed
ideology and mind set and also capability to launch Jehadi movements.
Secondly, the members of its youth wing, the Islami Chatra Shibir, ICS
(earlier Ishami Chatra Songo or Tulabay-e-Islam) have been found to be
involved in many explosions, murders and assassinations. Although a
large number of their followers come from Madrassa, nevertheless their
leaders belong to major universities. The Chittagong and the
Rajshahi Universities are mostly overtaken by them. Many of them
are very smart, fully brainwashed and highly committed. For example, one
suicide bomber who miraculously survived Gazipur bomb blast, as per
media report, stated that he would prefer death and become a �Jehadi
martyr� so as to receive 70 virgins as his companions after his death.
Another one, a Madrassa student whose right hand is crippled due to bomb
explosion refused taking even water with his �left hand� as �eating food
only with his right hand� as per his teaching would lead him to heaven.
They are so much committed and brainwashed!! No wonder they could kill
point blank Principal Muhuri, a veteran Hindu educationist. No wonder
they could kill Dr. Mohammed Yunus or could chopped the neck of Dr.
Humayun Azad, renowned educationists that opposed extremism. In fact,
most of the terrorists that have been arrested in Bangladesh so far
belong to JI or ICS. Third, the three militant organizations of
Bangladesh---- the Jamatual Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the
Jagrotho Muslim Janatha (JMJ) and the Hujjatul Mujahideen (HuJ) that
government declared as �terrorist organizations� were led by JI party
members. For example, the leader of the JMB Maulana Abdur Rahman Ibne
Abdullah alias Sheikh Abdur Rahman is a son of die-hard JI activist who
was a member of the notorious Al-Badr in 1971 [Al-Badr killed many
Bengali progressive intellectuals in 1971]. Sheikh Rahman was a member
of ICS when he was a student and then joined JI. Afterwards, he went to
Afghanistan and on his return formed the JMB. The notorious
terrorist, Bangla Bhai alias Siddiqul Islam that murdered more than 20
in �execution style� was a strong JI activist. He was working at the
Saudi Embassy in Dhaka as a local recruit and then went to
Afghanistan. On his return, initially he formed the �Al-Qaeda of
Bangladesh� and then changed its name to �Muslim Rokka Mujahideen
Okko Porishad�. Recently, he again renamed his organization as the
�Jagrotho Muslim Janatha� (JMJ). The leader of the HuJ Maulana Fazlur
Rahman signed an Al-Qaeda official declaration of 'holy war' in which
Osama Bin Laden, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, Ayman Zahwari, Ahmed Taha and
Sheikh Hamzah, internationally known Jehadis also put their signatures.
The declaration proposes to destroy the evil empire of USA
and establish the Sharia law across nations [see Litner�s article].
Nevertheless, the leader of the JI party, Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami,
a Cabinet Minister of Bangladesh government claimed that all these
terrorists are no longer with his party although the JI never terminated
their membership.
Why young men become suicide Jehadi?
There are many reasons why a young man
chooses the life of a Jehadi in Bangladesh. First, religious
indoctrination and brainwash. Second, poverty and hopelessness. Third,
feeling of injustice either due to foreign policy of big powers or
others. Fourth, polarization of wealth and fortune. The Bangladesh Human
Rights groups identified a total of 58 terrorist organizations in
Bangladesh and members of all these organizations, as per analysts, are
linked to JI party. One might wonder how come it is possible to form so
many terrorist organizations. Remember, Bangladesh is a big
country in terms of population and if it becomes a hotbed of terrorists,
it would be difficult to contain it. It has a population of over 140
million and nearly half of them earn less than a $2 a day. Over 40% are
unemployed or under employed and youth unemployment is staggering. Many
young men who are little educated finding no hope, no job, no future and
staying at parent�s home watching their poverty morally and ethically
want to help them. How can they help? They have no job no money.
Therefore, if anyone approaches them with Taka 10 or 20 grants [nearly
$100-$200] they get hooked to it. More importantly, if they are told
that if they die, first they would go to haven leaving this miserable
life and secondly, their family would get Taka 1 lakh or 2 lakh (nearly
$1500) as compensation. How many unemployed youth for months can resist
such temptation?
Still the strength of Bangladesh
economy is its rural and agricultural sector that employs the majority
and arranges their daily needs. Since Zia government came to power,
there has been a sharp decline in the growth of these sectors and
unemployment sharply increased. In addition, there is also a sharp
decline in both foreign and domestic investment causing further crisis
of employment opportunity. Finding no option over 3 million Bangladeshis
went abroad to work as �expatriate laborers� at a personal high cost.
The hopelessness of nation�s youth further
intensify when they observe that fellow kids of their age by becoming
terrorists, murderers and hoodlums become rich overnight. They enjoy the
modern comforts of life including close contacts with the power house,
the police, the Ministers and the like [Bangladeshi dailies published
photographs of terrorists with the nation�s Home Minister repeatedly].
They overnight become friends to the coalition leaders that use them to
perform their evil designs. Third, these young men while watching global
media find that their life is worse than that of animals abroad and such
intensify their frustration further. In addition, the brainwashing of
having 70 virgins after death works as a catalyst to become suicide
bombers or terrorists.
Why the Government Be Involved in
Terrorism?
Now question is why the ruling party or
the JI would be involved in �terrorism� and �murder�. Both the JI and
the BNP parties� main enemy is the AL party and they would
like its total elimination. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her top
leadership repeatedly and publicly declared that the opposition AL
party would never be allowed to take power for the next 55 years [Daily
Star, Janakantha, Bhorer Kajog]. In order to achieve that goal, a number
of prominent leaders of the AL party have been assassinated.
Secondly, it has been observed that the nation�s lawyers, intellectuals,
journalists and human rights activists are strong supporters of �rule of
law�, �moderation�, and they are generally anti-JI. Since the opposition
AL party was critical of the government�s atrocities, cover-ups and
violation of rule of law through programs like the �Operation Clean
Heart�, �Rab�, �Chita�, �Bangla Bhai� and such other extrajudicial
killing, these lawyers and human rights activists became the largest
group of supporters of the opposition platform. Third, the legal laws
and courts are an impediment to government�s totalitarianism, fascism
and rampant violation of laws. Therefore, the ruling coalition, the
BNP-JI, wanted to punish the AL and their supporters as they did in
2001. Immediately after their victory in 2001, the ruling hoodlums
punished, uprooted, raped and destroyed the minority people that are
known as the �vote bank� of the AL party. In addition, the
goal of the JI and its affiliates are to replace nation�s legal system
based on English common laws by Sharia laws that were developed in the 7th
century by the then Islami scholars on the basis of their interpretation
of the Quran and the Sunnah [many of those are incompatible in today�s
world, for example, heart or kidney transplant or even teeth implant].
Since the BNP�s goal and the JI�s interests matched in punishing the
lawyers and judges, the JI�s militant affiliates, the JMB launched their
bombing especially targeting the Courts, and the Bar Libraries (where
lawyers seat and converse) and the AL leadership.
Interestingly, although the terrorist have been bombing or throwing
grenades for last 5 years, the government did never published any
inquiry report nor ever punished any real terrorists yet. They never
published any report as to how those sophisticated military grenades
were procured, what happened to truck loads of weapons and bombs, who
brought those and for whom, who were the strategists of the grenade
attacks on former Finance Minister ASM Kibria, former Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina or on AL leaders, Zebunnessa, Ahsanulla Master or Mayor
Kamran. Neither the government published any report stating who
manhandled former President Dr. B. Chowdhury or former Foreign Minister,
Dr. Kamal Hossain. Instead, they opted to blame the Opposition
leadership and at times, they argued that Sheikh Hasina herself staged a
melodrama to kill herself through bomb blasts in which 23 died and over
350 injured. Do they think that people are that na�ve? In the process,
they allowed and encouraged their hoodlums and terrorists to gain more
confidence and notoriety.
The JI party aims at establishing an
Islamic government in Bangladesh based on Sharia laws. It
created a Fund and raised millions to help the Taliban militants against
the U. S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. It is
a well funded organization and it has its own sources of income. It runs
many health clinics, shops, hospitals, madrassas, businesses, banks and
NGOs. It has links to many militant parties across nations including the
Jamathi Islam party of Pakistan.
It is believed that after the Afghan war
when General Musarraf of Pakistan agreed to clean his country
of the Al-Qaeda terrorists, many took shelter in Bangladesh
after protracted negotiation between Pakistan�s ISI and
Bangladesh�s DFI intelligence forces. When the fall of Taliban was
imminent, a ship-- the MV Mecca landed in Chittagong
port with cargo loaded with over 100 Al-Qaeda and Taliban cadres along
with boat load of arms and ammunitions. These Al-Qaeda operators
besides imparting training funneled finances to the corrupt DFI and the
JI members [ref Bertil Litner and Alex Perry].
Will chaos and lawlessness allow Zia a
soft transition?
Currently the popularity of the BNP-Jamat
government is very precarious due to extreme lawlessness, widespread
corruption, run away price hike, near collapse of civil administration,
worsening public transport, and sharp economic downswing. The
unemployment rate is over 40 percent and the exchange rate depreciated
over 18 percent only in last few weeks. Such situation created a general
sense of hopelessness, despair and frustration in Bangladesh
now. Given the near failed governance, if there be a fair election, the
BNP-Jamat coalition is likely to face a horrifying defeat. Moreover, if
they lose, they believe that the unruly masses will hang them
mercilessly due to their atrocities and fascist rule. No wonder, Tariq
Zia, eldest son of the Prime Minister and a senior leader of the BNP
precisely stated that if they lose, neither he nor any of his stalwarts
can survive public wrath [Issued warning at the BNP Regional Conventions
in Chittagong, Sylhet Rajshahi, Khulna]. So what
are the alternatives? The best is to win the next election by hook or
crook and remain in power. In order to achieve this, they have simply
politicalized the nation�s election commission, the civil administration
and the police forces. However, as they know the characteristics of the
Bangladeshi officials and the bureaucrats--- once they are no longer
their Master, even their chosen ones may betray them and therefore, they
are not 100% sure of a total fraudulent win in the next election. The
stake is big�..if win, then rule like a king surrounded by sycophants.
If lose, then get lynched or hanged. Therefore, the second option is to
create more chaos and confusion with a view to declare a �national
emergency� and thus to extend her period of governance, and eventually
to hand over the power to a military administration. Even in the
process, if there is a military takeover, it might help the BNP-Jamat
leadership as Begum Zia has relatively higher support in them and
secondly, many JI and ICS party members that infiltrated the
Bangladesh army could allow them a smooth transition. They can
evade public wrath and lynching and take out their illegally accumulated
wealth abroad and enjoy it through �self exile� until the situation
calms down. Bangladeshis in temperament not vindictive nor they are keen
to punish murderers when situation normalizes. Unlike the Jews and the
Balkans, they did not try to identify the �war criminals� of 1971 nor
ever penalized the murderers of their founding fathers. They even
accepted many opportunists as their leaders that are known murderers,
criminals and the like without much noise. Knowing that a strong sense
of forgiveness among Bangladeshis often times shadows their sense of
ethical and moral values leading them to indecision, may prompt the
looters to go on �self exile� for a period to enjoy ill-gotten fortune
and to reorganize.
For the JI party, if history is any source
of knowledge, it would be a win-win situation. In case of Pakistan,
it was the military government of General Ziaul Huq that helped
Islamization and adoption of discriminatory laws like Hudud Laws that
helped rise of Islamic militants in Pakistan and subsequently
in Afghanistan. Chaos, confusion and lawlessness helped
developed war lords in Afghanistan and as people got totally
disgusted with them, they welcomed the Taliban, the Islamic militants
with the hope of a better life. Unfortunately, the laws, regulations and
the know-how of the Taliban were primitive and not compatible to peace,
prosperity, competitiveness and economic growth of any nation.
Naturally, it failed and failed miserably.
In Bangladesh, the Islamic
militants are looking forward to set up a society that will only bring
misery, poverty, lawlessness and disaster like that of Talibans. In
spite of such likely outcome, the BNP-Jamat leadership seemingly is
opting for it as a transitional measure to evade public lynching. No
wonder, their militant partner organizations like JMB, JBJ and HuJ are
threatening to explode more bombs and create more chaos and lawlessness.
If such lawlessness continues, it may be ripe for Prime Minister Zia to
declare a national emergency and if a military general like Ziaul Huq
takes over in Bangladesh in the process, it may pave her
smooth transition and may bring a national disaster for years.
___________
* Dr. Abdul Momen, Professor,
Economics and Business, FSC, Boston
