Part II – Rise of Radical Islam in Bangladesh
(To understand the Future, Study the Past)
The “Rise of Radical Islam in Bangladesh” is a grim prospect whose fallout may have far reaching implications in India.
Not to be brushed aside lightly is the “Revenge” to settle the 1971 War ignominious defeat that remains the end objective of Pakistan Army and the ISI. Add to it, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) end objective to use Bangladesh as a territory to expand or base their operations to establish Islamic Caliphate. Undeniably, Pak ISI is aiding and abetting the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, the ISIS and the AQIS to exploit all the opportunities that Bangladesh offers.
List of Islamist Terrorism organizations includes: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B); Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB); Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB); Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT); Ansar al-Islam; LeT; Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP); and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS).
Since the 1980s, ISIS and AQIS have been increasingly active on Bangladeshi territory. Over 3,000 Bangladeshis reportedly left for Afghanistan to join the US and Saudi sponsored anti-Soviet Jihad. As Bangladesh was receiving approximately 15% of its bilateral development assistance aid from the US in the 1980s, Bangladeshi authorities were lenient on their nationals travelling to and from Afghanistan to wage Jihad.
Irrefutable Facts: In 1992, Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJIB) was founded with funds from Al-Qaeda by Bangladeshi returnees. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, HuJI-B established strong links with LeT. In 2004, the group claimed that up to 15,000 members had been recruited from Madrasas in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Next, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an indigenous setup founded in 1998, with the aim to replace the Bangladeshi State with an Islamic State based on Sharia Law. JMB collaborates with LeT to receive training in Pakistan. In the past, the JMB synchronized 459 bomb blasts in 63 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts in order to push the nation to adopt Sharia Law. Around 944 terrorist attacks have been recorded between 2000 and 2015. JMB had spread its activities in Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala as well, in the guise of Bangladeshi immigrants. The NIA has shared with states concerned a list of 125 suspected activists who have close links with the JMB leadership.
ISIS formally announced its presence in Bangladesh in November 2015, with the publication of an article titled ‘The Revival of Jihad in Bengal’ in its English language magazine ‘Dabiq’. The group aims to install an Islamic State and implement IS’s strict interpretation of Sharia Law. ISIS recruits in Bangladesh are mostly drawn from existing local terrorist groups and also increasingly targeting youth with a mainstream educational background by means of disseminating propaganda on social media.
AQIS was founded in late 2014, when AQ leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in a video message the creation of a new branch which vowed to raise the flag of Jihad, return to Islamic rule, and empower the Sharia of Allah across the Indian Subcontinent. While the group seeks to operate across the South Asian region, its leadership is based in Pakistan, and all of its successful attacks have been carried out either in Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Among the four organizations that had carried out militant and sabotage activities in the country in the past, Ansar Al Islam formed after Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) which was banned in May 2015, was the most active. Later, Ansar Al Islam was also banned on March 5, 2017 due to its extensive use of violence against intellectuals, writers, atheists, secularists, and gay rights activists between 2014 and 2016. ABT/Ansar al-Islam now has around 700 to 800 active members and at least 274 of them are sleeper cell members. The organization has at least 56 sleeper cells. The ABT/Ansar al-Islam appears strongest in Dhaka and Chittagong Districts besides bases in Satkhira and Kushtia Districts.
Ansar Al Islam currently maintains 100 to 150 websites that showcase its actions on a regular basis. Additionally, they use Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and X for their dawah (proselytizing) activities. Ansar Al Islam is currently more active in recruiting technology experts. They have a different section called Idratul Dawah Network (IDN) for this purpose. On June 1, 2024, Ansar al-Islam had raised BDT 1.8 million through crowd funding within a few months after launching a platform called Deen Islam Foundation on Facebook, in the name of sending aid to victims in Palestine.
Ansar Al Islam continues to receive financial support from some businessmen in the country and from Pakistan and Gulf countries in the form of crypto currency. More worryingly, on July 4, 2021, CTTC officials disclosed that ABT/Ansar al-Islam was trying to represent Al-Qaeda in Bangladesh. Their plan is to send people to Kashmir in India and to the Rakhine State in Myanmar, to work for Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
A recent investigative report released on July 6, 2024, revealed activities of militant organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, inside Bangladesh's prison system. These groups use the country’s prisons not just as a hideout but also as a hub for planning acts of terrorism and for raising funds. The report indicates that one of the most alarming findings was Ansar al-Islam’s involvement in narcotics trafficking out of Kashimpur Central Jail (Part-1) in Gazipur District.
Yet another outfit is the Neo-Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) is an Islamic State (IS)-inspired outfit. Further, on July 12, 2021, CTTC officials stated that Neo-JMB tried to build a militant den in the hilly area of Bandarban District.
Also, there are several hardliner Islamic formations, including the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Shongrokkhon Parishad, backed by the hardliner Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI). The Islamic hardliners were opposed to the Ahmadiyyas. The HeI chief Shah Ahmed Shafi demanded that the Ahmadiyyas Muslim community immediately be declared ‘non-Muslim’.
Bangladesh’s Jihadist groups have been successful in raising funds through drug trafficking on its borders with India and Myanmar. They also depend on forged Indian currency from Pakistan. Add to them, individuals as well as organizations from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in particular to fund Madrasas and Mosques across Bangladesh, with some of the money apparently finding its way to Jihadist groups. Also, Islamist terrorist groups have been successful in using Hundi or Hawala.
The Left Wing Extremist (LWE) movement also continues. The Red Flag faction of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Red Faction, Lal Pataka), Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, New Biplobi Communist Party and Joypurhat-based Kadamati Party are active in Pabna, Natore, Sirajganj, Bogura, Naogaon, Joypurhat, Rangpur, Kushtia, Jashore, Jhenidah, Rajbari, Satkhira, Narail and Tangail Districts. Not to be left out of consideration is Parbatya Chattogram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), which had spearheaded the insurgency in the region in the 1990s. The insurgency terminated with the signing of 1997 CHT Peace Accord between the Government and the undivided PCJSS.
Finally, the Rohingyas are sources of recruitments for transnational Islamist organizations such as the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Their involvement in terrorist activities within Bangladesh is real. In April 2019, Bangladesh accused Pakistan of interfering and attempting to cause turbulence after Pakistan-based Al Khidmat Foundation allegedly organized a rally for Rohingyas refugees in the Chittagong area. The Al Khidmat Foundation is supported by Pakistan’s ISI with links to the JeI. Other Pakistan-based terrorist entities, including the LeT, are also allegedly involved with the Rohingyas via their various ‘humanitarian’ front organizations. Add to it, yet another outfit called the ARSA responsible for 2017 Hindu massacres in which up to 99 Hindu residents in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar were murdered.
To sum up, Bangladesh over the years has become the pawn in the game of achieving the end objective of establishing the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K, IS–K, IS–KP), as a regional branch of IS. They seek to destabilize governments in the Khorasan region and establish a caliphate across South and Central Asia. The group's goal is to govern under a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. So, the threat in a mid and long term context cannot be ruled out. South Asian nations with fragile societal, cultural, and political ecosystems offer opportunities for the IS to advance and consolidate their hold in South Asia. Of course, IS does face challenges in South Asia, including strong counterterrorism pressure. Nonetheless, one must be prepared to safeguard against “Worst case” scenarios.
Part III – Lessons for India
 by GB Reddy Sir){kind=link}
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