Expressing concern over credible reports of heightened Islamist extremism, Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman on Monday told an assembly of officers and troops in Dhaka that any move by “such forces” would be dealt with severely, Northeast News has learnt.
Addressing a durbar at the Army Headquarters, Gen Zaman feared that widespread disturbance might be set off by the Islamist forces over the next one month or so, even as he revealed that an American Senator, Gary Peters, who met him last week had shared his concern over the sudden and rapid growth of Islamist extremism over the last eight months.
A day before the durbar, Gen Zaman met the chiefs of all intelligence and security agencies, including the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the Special Branch to set a clear direction in intelligence gathering on the Islamist threat in general and specific pieces of intelligence.
During a meeting with a key official of the Mohammd Yunus-led interim authority on March 23, Gen Zaman is said to have expressed his dissatisfaction and exasperation at the “non-serious” and “casual” approach of the chief advisor (Yunus) to the threat of Islamist militants.
It is said that the Army chief shared his concern with Yunus on several occasions in the past, but these were “not taken seriously” when most intelligence reports indicate the threat from Islamist extremist forces were specific and real. “His concerns are akin to warnings and there is considerable substance in them,” Dhaka-based political analyst Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah told Northeast News.
Other sources in Bangladesh’s security establishment as also those in Indian agencies fear that the extremists were in possession of unaccounted for weapons that were stollen from police stations armouries when they were ransacked and burnt during the July-August 2024 students’ movement.
Additional sophisticated weapons and ammunition were offloaded from ships that docked at Bangladeshi ports, particularly Chittagong, and ferreted away clandestinely to secret hideouts. The full cache is considered to be large with estimates ranging from 18,000 to 25,000 firearms. “Unless raids are carried and the weapons seized, there is every likelihood that extremists might use them to create widespread disturbance in the days and weeks to come,” a Bangladesh security analyst said.
The Bangladeshi security agencies fear that several hundred men belonging to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have taken up residence in and around Jatrabari, on Dhaka’s outskirts.
The arrest of ten ARSA members, including the outfit’s commander Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi from Narayanganj, on Dhaka’s outskirts, has led Bangladeshi security service officials to suspect that many others might be living in other areas on the fringes of the Bangladeshi capital.
But the real concern for Bangladeshi security agencies is the inexplicable release of several convicted terrorists since the Yunus-led interim authority took charge in August 2024. These terrorists were let off on executive orders issued by public officials in the law and home ministries.
“Those who have been released have certainly regrouped and now pose a real threat to not only Bangladesh but also neighbouring India,” a Dhaka-based security analyst said, adding that “intensified” activities by the Pakistani ISI on Bangladeshi soil was “another dimension of the problem”.
Besides, the meetings that Pakistani envoy to Bangladesh Syed Ahmed Maroof has held with leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Amar Bangladesh party have not gone unnoticed.
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Quoting a hadith, which serves as source of religious law and moral guide, Gen Zaman said “the strong is not the one who overcomes others with his strength, but the strong one is the one who controls himself when in anger”. Indeed, this is being seen by political analysts as a reflection of his own situation.
Stressing that the Army’s ultimate victory would be the successful conduct of fair elections, followed by a return to the cantonment, Gen Zaman said that his soldiers were engaged in a battle with no weapons and rely on ethics, wisdom, respect and hikmah (reason and sagacity). He cautioned the soldiers to not be swayed by any provocation.
Gen Zaman said that he expects a false information and fake news campaign in the days to come, but this would certainly not be taken cognizance of and would be countered and dealt with effectively.
