A photograph taken on August 31 last year of Chief Advisor of the Interim Government in Bangladesh Mohammed Yunus standing, warmly holding the hands of Mamunul Haque, a leader of the extremist group Hefazat-e-Islam in Dhaka, underscores the danger that the rise of Islamic terrorism in Bangladesh since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government poses to India and other countries.
As soon as the Interim Government had come to power, several senior leaders of Islamic terrorist groups were either released from jail or allowed to escape in jailbreaks engineered with the complicity of the authorities.
The Mohammed Yunus government is giving protection to Islamic terrorist groups and helping them to flourish in Bangladesh.
The terrorist groups are also being allowed to campaign freely to spread their warped ideology among the common people of Bangladesh.
In recent months messages with extremist content have increased in number in the Bangladeshi social media domain.
Notorious for his anti-India comments, Mamunul Haque had been jailed by the government of Sheikh Hasina Wazedunder various charges; including instigation of violence.
In March 2021, Hefazat-e-Islam led a violent protest in several districts in Bangladesh against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh.
Following the departure of Sheikh Hasina from Bangladesh on August 5, the Mohammed Yunus government did not waste much time in releasing Mamunul Haque from jail along with about 70 other leaders of various Islamic terrorist groups.
A total of 1,200 prisoners escaped from five prisons in Bangladesh. Ikramul Haque, India operations head of the banned outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), escaped along with 500 other prisoners when an armed mob attacked the high-security Sherpur prison on August 6, 2024.
Among those released was also Jashimuddin Rahmani, leader of ABT.
Immediately after his release, Jashimuddin Rahmani threatened India; calling for the support of Pakistan and Afghanistan for the “independence” of Jammu and Kashmir.
There are reasons to be apprehensive. Immediately after his release, Rahmani resumed his old game of setting up sleeper cells of Islamic terrorists in India, to carry out subversive activities.
It is time key capitals including Washington should sit up and take note as ABT is an affiliate of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
Earlier, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba had partnered with the ABT to carry out terrorist attacks in north-east India.
The recent arrest by Assam Police of eight members of ABT in the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal and Kerala has exposed the plans of the banned outfit.
Among those arrested was Mohammed Shaad Radi, who had crossed the border to enter West Bengal under the instruction of Jashimuddin Rahmani. Investigating agencies in India have learned that the first target of these sleeper cells was the vulnerable Siliguri corridor — also known as the Chicken’s Neck — joining north-east India with the rest of the country.
Analysts say China will be the main country that will benefit if the Siliguri corridor is destabilized.
China has been trying for a long time to occupy the Doklam Plateau in Bhutan which overlooks the Siliguri corridor; something which only the vigilance of the Indian army with the cooperation of the Bhutan government has prevented.
It is a long-held aim of the communist leaders of China to open up access to the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh.
These developments lend credence to reports that after the fall of the SheikhHasina government, Beijing, with help from all-weather friend Pakistan, is trying to expand its influence in Bangladesh.
In another controversial move, the Mohammed Yunus government has entertained a plea from dreaded terrorist Syed Ziaul Haq, also known as Major Zia, to drop charges against him.
A sacked officer of the Bangladesh army, he is the main link in the chain connecting ABT with al Qaeda. He is also an accused in the murder of a secular blogger in Bangladesh Avijit Roy, a U.S. citizen.
After a failed coup attempt against the Sheikh Hasina government in 2012, Major Zia, a key figure in the attempted coup, fled to Pakistan and stayed there under the protection of the Inter-Service Intelligence of Pakistan.
After the removal by the Yunus government of the mandatory security clearance for Pakistani nationals seeking Bangladeshi visas, he was reported to have returned to Bangladesh with a Pakistani passport.
Reports indicate that the ISI, a wing of the Pakistani army, is actively engaged in aiding and abetting Islamic terrorist groups in Bangladesh.
Taking advantage of a decision of the Mohammed Yunus government that cargo ships arriving from Pakistan to Bangladesh will not be subjected to mandatory checking of the nature of the consignments, there is believed to be a move to ship from Pakistan arms and ammunition to Bangladesh to supply these to terrorist groups in Bangladesh.
Recently a large amount of explosives unloaded from a ship in Chittagong Port from Karachi has been supplied to terrorist groups in Bangladesh.
Pakistan has been trying to push fundamentalist Islam in Bangladesh with the help of Jamaat-e-Islami, a hardcore political group.
Jamaat had been banned in Bangladesh by the Sheikh Hasina government, but the ban was lifted by the Mohammed Yunus government.
Pakistan has also been trying to strengthen Islamic terrorist groups to use them against India and secular forces in Bangladesh.
The South Asia Terrorism Portal has listed over a dozen banned Islamic terrorist outfits active in Bangladesh, among them groups operating from Pakistan like Lashkar-e-Taiba, followers of Osama bin-Laden like Ansarullah Bangla Team, Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh, and other major groups like Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
Thus, several non-indigenous groups are active in Bangladesh but have their origin in Pakistan and other Islamic countries in West Asia.
Their main motive is to introduce fundamentalist Islam in Bangladesh and destabilize India.
Observers believe that the recent objection from the Border Guards Bangladesh against India setting up fences on the Indo-Bangladesh border is a ploy to push terrorists in India through the open border.
A paper presented at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, has said that the Sheikh Hasina government had managed to control radicalism and preserve security since the Holey Artisan Bakery attack in 2016.
Since it fell from power, the chaotic situation in the country has provided extremists with the opportunity to gain ground. Many of the over 5,800 weapons and 300,000 rounds of ammunition looted from police stations have made their way to the hands of criminals and terrorists.
It is an ominous message for countries in South East Asia too that Islamic terrorism is gaining ground in Bangladesh under the Interim Government of Mohammed Yunus, particularly the foothold that al Qaeda affiliates are getting.
Radical Islamist groups are present in South East Asian countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore too; with their ties with the al Qaeda network.In the Philippines, for instance, the Abu Sayyaf Group is a violent Islamic separatist outfit.
The Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency considers Jemaah Islamiyah and Jamaah Ansharut Daulah as dangerous terrorist groups.
Now with the strengthening of the al Qaeda network in neighbouring Bangladesh, al Qaeda affiliates in these South East Asian countries will get more help.
The involvement of five terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) in the Holey Artisan Bakery attack points to the threat such Islamist violence poses to countries in Southeast Asia, say observers.
More recently, Malaysian authorities had arrested three suspected IS terrorists, among whom there was a Bangladeshi national.
This suggests that Bangladeshi citizens may currently be recruited by terrorist outfits in South East Asian countries.
