The caretaker government in Bangladesh, led by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, has sparked controversy with its decision to release Jashimuddin Rahmani, the chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a terrorist outfit affiliated with al-Qaida. This release has raised significant concerns in India, as ABT has been attempting to establish a jihadi network through sleeper cells.
Rahmani, who was previously convicted for the murder of blogger Rajib Haider, was granted parole on Monday (August 26) from the Kashimpur High-Security Central Jail in Gazipur. The Dhaka Tribune reported that Rahmani, sentenced to five years in prison for Haider’s 2013 killing, also faced charges under Bangladesh’s anti-terror laws.
Haider was brutally hacked to death in front of his home in Dhaka, leading to Rahmani’s arrest in August 2013. ABT, which was banned in Bangladesh in 2015 under Sheikh Hasina’s regime, later rebranded as Ansar al-Islam and was again banned in 2017.
ABT’s terrorist ties and regional implications
Sources indicate that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) collaborated with ABT starting in 2022, establishing a base in Bengal with the aim of launching attacks in India’s northeastern states. Intelligence inputs from 2022 suggested that approximately 50 to 100 ABT operatives were planning to infiltrate Tripura. Assam Police have intercepted ABT terrorists on several occasions, thwarting their attempts to build a network in the northeastern region.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma highlighted that ABT operatives use highly encrypted devices to evade detection, rather than conventional communication tools.
Post-Sheikh Hasina concerns
Sheikh Hasina, as Prime Minister, had previously addressed India’s security concerns and conducted a crackdown on anti-India forces that had found refuge in Bangladesh during the earlier Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami regime. With Hasina’s regime being overthrown following widespread protests, there are fears that forces hostile to India are gaining prominence. This concern is exacerbated by the recent release of ABT chief Jashimuddin Rahmani, which occurred shortly after Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh.
The timing of Rahmani’s release is noteworthy, coinciding with a violent jailbreak on August 6 in Sherpur, northern Bangladesh, where more than 500 inmates escaped, including Ikramul Haque alias Abu Talha, the India operations head of ABT. Haque was arrested in Dhaka in 2023, following intelligence provided by Indian agencies.
Impact in India
The implications of these events are significant for India’s northeastern states, which rely on a stable and secure Bangladesh for their development. Former IAS officer Radha Krishna Mathur’s think tank, The Society to Harmonise Aspirations for Responsible Engagement (SHARE), has expressed deep concern over the situation, while speaking with India Today. A SHARE report highlighted that between 2022 and 2023, over 60 members of ABT were arrested from Assam and Tripura, with more than 30 being from Bangladesh. This raises questions about the intentions of the Bangladesh caretaker government.
Anti-India sentiments have been growing in Bangladesh, particularly among pro-Jamaat and pro-Pakistan factions. Recent developments, including calls for boycotting Indian goods and allegations against India regarding devastating floods, have exacerbated these sentiments. The release of Jashimuddin Rahmani is thus perceived as part of a broader pattern of anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh, adding to India’s security concerns.
