Sheikh Hasina overlooked terror
festering in Bangladesh’s backyard
Rather than waiting for
political empathy in fighting jihadi terrorism, the PM will have to urgently
rewrite her counter-terrorism template
POLITICS | Long-form |
12-07-2016
It is heartless to say the
slaughter of 23 people, mostly foreigners, in a bakery in Dhaka’s posh suburb of
Gulshan few days before the end of the holy month of Ramadan was waiting to
happen. But that is really the case.
So “What next” would be a
logical question easily asked than answered.
The inability of Sheikh Hasina’s
government to bring to book those who carried out the lone wolf attacks to kill
30 people including secularists, foreigners and many non Muslims during the
last 15 months probably encouraged the Jihadi elements to mount the concerted
Dhaka attack.
But there are bigger political
reasons hobbling Bangladesh war against Jihadi terrorism.
Khaleda Zia’s machinations
Prime Minister Hasina saw them
merely as violent attempts to destabilize her rule by Begum Khaleda Zia-led
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its fundamentalist coalition
partner Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), than as
globally manifesting jihadi extremist
activity.
Obviously, PM Hasina’s long
political struggle to overcome the BNP-JeI opposition that had been hounding
her and the Awami League (AL) after her father Mujibur Rahman’s assassination
in 1975 continues to prevent her from taking a dispassionate look at the
terrorist situation.
As a result the Bangladesh
government had been busying trying to read the fine print to identify the
involvement of BNP and JeI elements in the sporadic killings for nearly two
years.
In this process, important
indicators of the Islamic State’s efforts to step up their activities in South
Asia, and in particular Bangladesh, seem to have been missed out.
This is understandable as it
was Major General Ziaur Rahman, husband of Begum Khaleda, who usurped power in
a military coup taking advantage of the turbulence after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and
his family were assassinated in 1975.
It was Zia who condoned the
killers of Mujibur Rahman and soft pedalled the JeI leaders’ collusion with the
Pak army in the massacre of thousands of Bengali intellectuals and
professionals, in order to gain their support.
It was also Zia, who founded
the BNP to legitimize his power and started hobnobbing with fundamentalist
elements to rewrite the secular credentials of the country which had been an
article of faith of AL.
Islamic extremism of BNP, JeI
and JMB
By and large Bangladesh Muslims are Sufis with
a moderate world view of their religion. However, thanks to Saudi Arabian
support, Wahabism with its fundamentalist discourse has been making steady
inroads into the country.
After Zia’s assassination, General
HM Ershad took over power till he was forced to hold democratic elections. Begum
Khaleda Zia led the BNP-JeI coalition came to power. Their rule enabled
Taliban-loving fundamentalist groups like the JeI and Nizam-e-Islami (NeI) to
get entrenched in Bangladesh body politics.
It was also the period that saw
heightened activity of the Al Qaeda affiliate Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HUJI) which
established its tentacles in Bangladesh. HUJI was the prime suspect in a plot
to assassinate PM Sheikh Hasina in 2000 after she came to power. HUJI was also
believed to have been involved in a number of bombings carried out in 2005 that
led to its ban.
The BNP-JeI coalition chose to
ignore the rise of the Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) fundamentalist
extremists led by ‘Bangla Bhai’ Siddiqul Islam that terrorised the AL and the
nation.
Even Sheikh Hasina was not
spared of their wrath; according to the AL she has survived 19 attempts on her
life by various opposition groups including fundamentalist parties, JMB and the
BNP.
The JMB, which had Taliban
links, grew bold enough to explode 500 small bombs in a span of half an hour in
50 towns in 63 of the 65 districts across the country on 17 August 2005! This
led to the banning and arrest of JMB leaders and cadres.
After Bangla Bhai and six other
JMB leaders were apprehended and executed in March 2007, the JMB was dormant
for some time.
Their morale was shattered when
PM Hasina during her second tenure prosecuted 53 leaders largely from JeI but
also from ML, NeI, BNP and Jatiyo Party for war crimes against Bangladesh.
This deprived Jihadi extremists
the political patronage they had enjoyed which was vital for their survival.
Encroachment from Al Qaeda and
the ISIS
The decision of the Al Qaeda
and the Islamic State to expand their tentacles into South Asia in 2014 found a
fertile ground in Bangladesh. It provided rallying points for the JMB and other
Jihadi outfits like the Al Qaeda-inspired machete-wielding Ansar ul Bangla Team
(ABT) to step up their activity.
In fact, JMB elements became
assertive enough to plan an abortive attack on the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s
motorcade last March.
Now almost all parties have in
their ranks fundamentalist elements with Salafist beliefs, which may not
support Jihadi terrorism, but favour in its other articles of faith.
PM Hasina has been waging an
ambivalent struggle to gain the support of these conservative sections of
society as the BNP and JeI have become increasingly dependent upon their
support.
This is probably the reason for
the government to allow some leeway for fundamentalist propaganda that provides
the religious idiom for Jihadi extremism.
Perhaps this was also the
reason for the Bangladesh government to allow Salafist preachers like Dr Zakir
Naik to hold religious discourse in the country, although it probably inspired terrorists
as shown in the Dhaka bakery killings.
There are other factors too
which make Hasina’s fight against Jihadi terrorism more difficult.
Exposure to Wahabism/Salafism
Bangladesh has over two million
expatriate Muslims working in Gulf countries with over 1.2 million living in
Saudi Arabia alone. With constant exposure to conservative life styles and
beliefs they are a highly vulnerable source of recruits for Jihadi terror
outfits.
The IS has already mastered the
idiom of attracting educated and tech-savvy Muslims. These young converts to
terrorism are invigorating Bangladesh Islamic extremism. And the IS is
providing them guidance and global exposure.
Bangladesh has a volatile
political culture with the involvement of both left-wing and fundamentalist
extremism in politics. Major parties including the AL, BNP and JeI have their
own highly motivated student groups who are used as tools for political
activism that often ends in fisticuffs or even murders.
With Bangladesh’s political
discourse providing space for violent means to settle scores, it is not going
to be easy for PM Hasina to separate political extremism from jihadi extremism as
they are seamlessly interwoven.
The Dhaka Bakery slaughter has
underlined the urgency for PM Hasina to have a minimum level of political concurrence
with other parties in handling terrorism.
However, such a proposition is
unlikely to make headway in the near term, given the political blood feuds
poised to move into third generation.
Must rewrite counter-terrorism
template
So rather than waiting for
political empathy in fighting Jihadi terrorism, the PM will have to urgently
rewrite her counter-terrorism template.
Introduction of systemic
improvements in the employment of counter-terrorism forces is probably on the
cards. This would include police,
paramilitary outfits specializing in fighting extremists like the Rapid Action
Battalion (RAB) and army commando groups.
Modern investigative and
surveillance tools need to be used. And most importantly real time exchange of
intelligence among various agencies to enable better coordination of their
actions has to become part of the standard operative procedure.
Real time international
cooperation
PM Hasina will have to further strengthen
networking on counter terrorism cooperation with India and the US who are also
coming together to scale up such cooperation between them.
India-Bangladesh border despite
all the goodwill prevailing between the two countries remains porous.
It will remain so given the
common roots and contiguity of identity among people living on both sides of
the border. That is one of the reasons extremists from both countries are able
to find sanctuaries across the border.
It will be prudent for both the
countries to make it extremely difficult for the extremists from one country to
seek sanctuaries in the other.
This would involve sharing of
data bases on criminal and extremist elements operating between two countries
on a real time basis.
With sizeable Bangladesh
immigrant population living along the border areas of Assam and West Bengal,
India has proved to be vulnerable to infiltration by Jihadi extremists for
nearly two decades.
India has huge stake
Bangladesh is equally
vulnerable to Jihadi extremists operating from Indian sanctuaries. The NIA’s
follow up investigations in 2 October 2014 Bardhman blasts in West Bengal has
revealed that Enamul Mollah, the suspected IS mastermind in India was an active
member of JMB.
Among his followers, 20 IS
suspects have been arrested; ten other absconding suspects are believed to be
in Bangladesh.
In Assam, in April 2016 the
Imam of Amguri masjid in Chirang district has been arrested for motivating
young men to join JMB. Police have arrested 29 members of an extended module of
JMB in the same district.
But as far as India is
concerned, the moot question is how much India can help Begum Hasina fight Jihadi
terrorism?
If she fails, its fall out will
not only affect Bangladesh but India as well, particularly the highly
militancy-prone northeast region.
India will have to do the extra
mile and enroll Mamta Banerjee’s support to ensure West Bengal fully cooperates
in weeding out Bangladeshi extremist elements holed up in the country. The same
applies to Assam where a BJP government is in power.
Courtesy:
India Today opinion portal DailyO.
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