Recently Bangladesh witnessed sudden spurt of radical violence. Sheikh Hasina's Govt. finally decided to crackdown against extremism led by Jamaat for years
Tayab Bashar
It is indeed very sad to note that Bangladesh society has seen much unnatural, unusual and senseless death in recent days, which is very intriguing. People of various faiths have become prey to mindless assassinations attempts by reportedly Islamist extremists. It is not only Hindus, Christians, Buddhists alone but people of Muslim Sufi Sects, bloggers, publishers & general innocent citizens are also being hacked to death by these alleged extremists. It is also interesting to note that whenever any such killings take place in the country, ISIS from a remote corner of the world declare responsibility of the killings in their web page whereas, there is no existence of such group here as we see prevalent in Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Major Incidents
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The media reports that Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical party that opposed the War of liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 is behind this mayhem or its offshoot is now appearing in different outfits, sometimes, Ansawarullah Bangla Team, sometimes, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), or Hizb ut-Tahrir etc. These extremists groups are allegedly behind the murders of innocent priest to university teachers or general traders of other faiths in order to create havoc and destabilise apparently placid political ambience of Bangladesh which otherwise believes in democratic and secular society. The killings of Rajshahi University teacher, a Buddhist monk in remote Khagrachari or Hindu Priest in Pabna sent a shock wave across the country. It also proves that the killing is not just targeting religious minority as many investigations report highlighted that the radical group under the tutelage of Jamaat-e-Islami is instrumental because, they could not accept the arrest followed by the trails in war tribunals created by the recent government, and their execution for the war crimes which has been amply proved in the court of law. More evidently, the reaction of Pakistan from which Bangladesh seceded over a 9 month bloody war in 1971 and after the death sentence levied to Matiur Rahman Nizami of Jamaat-e-Islami who was a top collaborator and a war criminal proves Pakistan still has ties with these war criminals who didn’t want creation of a secular Bangladesh. For all these men-slaughtering in recent days appears to be a conspiracy against the present government by the BNP-Jamaat alliance so that the good image of the Government gets tainted to the outside world.
It is indeed very heartening to note that Awami League led by 14 party alliances and its leader Sheikh Hasina boldly faced to thwart the onslaught of the so-called Jihadist and extremist. People have deep faith on the leadership of its present premier Sheikh Hasina who declared zero tolerance on religious extremism.
Recently Bangladesh has witnessed government’s positive role against social malice and sudden raise of extremism in the name of religion which is being put down with heavy hands. The role of law enforcing agencies has also been lauded by the citizens for their courage of standing against religious bigots fueled by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamaat. After the recent killing of a wife of a police Officer SP Babul Akhter who has been instrumental in a lot of major terror crackdowns, the law enforcing agencies have launched many offensives and nabbed over thousand suspects as a part of their crackdowns against terrorism. The government has also launched a strong campaign against terrorists in a week-long anti-terror drive. Although a lot of noted personalities have spoken against it yet considering 16 million people and hardly a handful of complaints again proves that the current government is not just talking about zero tolerance but is actually doing something about it. The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in many occasions has spelled many a times that ISIS does not exist in Bangladesh and it is rather home-grown off-shots of Jamat-Shibir who are creating the havoc. What is alarming is that the prime minister is not just correct regarding all the recent terror activities as all facts, news items strongly indicates that Jamaat is linked with all these killings. Even at the time of BNP & Jamaat Government all terror groups were patronised indirectly by them and now finding no grounds in country politics, they are fuelling bigots and extremists to destabilise the country.
Bangladesh has seen the rise of homegrown terrorists and its extremist ideology during the tenor of BNP-Jamaat regime. Newspapers of that time including all top ones have many times reported about terrorists who were being groomed and trained with reluctant ignorance of BNP Government back then.
The country, for the first time had witnessed a radical ‘qoumis’ – a fanatic religious group storming towards Dhaka international airport and breaking down of ‘Baul sculpture ’ in broad daylight with police watching it silently without taking any action. Trained fighters went to and returned from Afghanistan and openly held press conferences, 10 trucks of arms and ammunition were inadvertently caught back then in Chittagong. The case is still under trial. It is a clear evidence of rampant corruption that took place during BNP-Jamaat regime.
Today the current government is not only fighting what is being thrown towards them but it is actually cleaning all the mess which has been created by the previous BNP led government. When the whole world is in all praise for the strong role Bangladesh is playing to fight against terrorism we join them in appreciation for their bold role. Security concern is a major issue that needs to be looked into for the Premier Sheikh Hasina and the members of her family for conspiracy is on. Defeated collaborators of ’71 along with thugs, goons are around to overthrow the present Government which is committed to democracy, secularism and overall emancipation of the common people of Bangladesh led by Sheikh Hasina?
(The writer is a Dhaka based Islamic Sects and Ideology expert)
