Radicalization and extremism continue to be significant issues in Bangladesh despite counter-terrorism efforts. The government has introduced several programs to address violent extremism, but there are still challenges in effectively implementing these programs. The increasing influence of violent extremist ideology in Bangladesh poses a serious security challenge. While mobile counter-terrorism operations have been carried out, they have not effectively stopped recruitment by groups like the Islamic State (IS) and Al Qaeda. As a result, Bangladesh has focused on soft counter-violent extremism (CVE) initiatives to raise social awareness. Still, a long-term strategy, commitment, adequate investment, and competent leadership are essential for more effective results. This paper will provide an overview of Bangladesh’s CVE initiatives and highlight areas that need more attention.
Five militants associated with IS attacked the Holey Artisan Café in Dhaka on July 1, 2016, resulting in the death of twenty people. This attack and subsequent incidents prompted various counterterrorism operations across Bangladesh, leading to the death of at least 70 terrorists. However, these operations have not significantly deterred radicalization and violent extremism, which have been longstanding issues in Bangladesh. Extremism is not new to the country, as Islamist militant groups were operating there as far back as the 1980s, and there have been several attacks in the country since then. Additionally, Bangladesh faces ongoing threats due to the radicalization of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, which has provided opportunities for groups like IS and Al Qaeda to advance their propaganda.
Efforts to counter violent extremism in Bangladesh are being led by the 17-member National Committee on Militancy Resistance and Prevention, established in 2009. This committee includes relevant ministries and security agencies and is headed by the Home Affairs Minister. The country’s law enforcement agencies have identified persistent recruitment by terrorist entities such as pro-IS Neo-JMB and significant changes in the demographic of terrorist recruits, with more urban youth with secular education being targeted. This contrasts with historical recruitment patterns in rural and sub-urban areas and madrassas.
The mainstream educational institutions in Bangladesh have been used as recruiting grounds for extremist activities, leading to an increase in online radicalization. The lack of attention from families, society, and the state has provided space for extremist organizations to operate freely. Female recruits have been increasing as male terrorists engage the female members of their families. Extremist propaganda materials from IS and Al Qaeda are readily available on the internet, particularly on Facebook, where there are over a hundred secret accounts used for recruitment. Law enforcement agencies have made some arrests and shut down extremist forums online, but the terrorists are constantly changing their tactics, operating in small cells instead of large networks.
Dhaka has the second-highest number of active Facebook users globally, making it a hotspot for online recruitment. To counter the impact of extremist propaganda, Bangladesh has introduced CVE initiatives focusing on building greater awareness of religious teachings and engaging communities to build social resilience. These initiatives partner with religious leaders to help detect extremist behavior more effectively. Additionally, the government uses newspapers, radio, television, documentaries, short films, and advertisements for CVE messaging to confront extremist narratives.
The Ministry of Education and Home Affairs is collaborating with educational institutions to raise awareness about extremism and terrorism among teachers, students, and parents. They have instructed teachers, parents, and students to stay vigilant and report to the police if any student is involved in extremist activities or goes missing for ten days. There are over 40 public and more than 95 private universities in the country, with a total student population of 600,000. The Ministry of Youth is developing a Youth Database for new youth-based programs and organizing sporting events nationwide to engage Bangladeshi youth in constructive activities.
Additionally, the government is revising the syllabus of certain madrassas to address concerns about religious intolerance and extremism. Efforts are being made to monitor and control extremist messaging on the internet, with steps taken to monitor social media platforms such as Facebook. The government is also developing the technological capacity of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) to enhance the detection of extremist websites.
Muslim clerics in Bangladesh have played a significant role in the government’s efforts to counter violent extremism. A leading Islamic group in Bangladesh issued a fatwa condemning terrorism and violent attacks on non-Muslims and secular writers and activists. The fatwa was signed by more than 100,000 Islamic scholars, legal experts, and clerics, effectively countering extremist propaganda. Despite these efforts, there are some weaknesses in Bangladesh’s counter-terrorism initiatives, including ad-hoc implementation of CVE initiatives, inadequate security coverage in vulnerable regions, and a need for better coordination and information sharing among security agencies in the country.
Fourth, there is no framework to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the CVE programs to make necessary adjustments. Fifth, detecting and countering extremist trends on social media platforms is ineffective since this domain lacks dedicated and technologically skilled professionals. Sixth, Bangladesh lacks a holistic plan to rehabilitate violent extremist offenders. Presently, there are more than 3,000 detainees in prison, and some inmates will be released in the next few years. Unless they go through a comprehensive rehabilitation program, they will fail to reintegrate into society and continue to pose a security threat. On the strategic front, Bangladesh’s response remains weak. Some initiatives utilize media to create social awareness and resist extremism and terrorism.
However, the progress is slow, and the outcome remains to be seen. In recent months, there have been some concerns about the government’s appeasement of an Islamist vigilante group known as Hefajat-e-Islam, which is a pressure group of madrasahs (religious schools) teachers and students. The government has changed the content of some school textbooks by ‘Islamising’ them. Many observers in Bangladesh are worried that this move will be counterproductive, especially at a time when Bangladesh is attempting to eradicate extremism. Bangladesh must formulate a comprehensive National Action Plan for CVE and ensure that the CVE work of various agencies and Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses ministries are coordinated to maximize the desired outcomes.
Bangladesh must increase its engagement of Muslim religious scholars and co-opt them into its CVE program because the contemporary wave of violent extremism thrives on the misinterpretation of Islamic texts. The terrorist and extremist threat can be contained, isolated, and eliminated if the security apparatus, including the national security agencies, law enforcement authorities, and military forces, is enhanced.
Political will, legal and governance framework, and operational capabilities of the government should be robust so that threats can be detected, disrupted, and dismantled. The present administration has the political will to tackle radicalization. Still, it lacks a well-articulated strategy and a dedicated body to coordinate inter-agency responses to the problem of violent extremism. Most importantly, Bangladesh should acknowledge that IS is operating on its soil. The government can only sustain and create a tactical and strategic CVE campaign to neutralize its threat by accepting it.
In recent times, there have been radical attacks that deviate from traditional tactics and now target minorities. In various countries of the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, the majority has historically acted violently against minorities, resulting in many lives lost. The direct relationship of power politics behind these attacks has not always been clear, but there has been no doubt about the indirect incitement of dirty politics. In Pakistan, corrupt political players have fueled religious tensions, resulting in continuous terror against Ahmadiyya and Shia communities by empowering radical political parties.
In India, religious terrorism has been driven regionally rather than nationwide. In Bangladesh, the politics after 1975 undid the achievements of the 1971 bloodbath, subjecting the pro-independence forces to extreme disasters, which was reflected in the 2008 elections. The people of the country entrusted the Awami League with running the country against the rise of fundamentalist militants and the undermining of the spirit of the liberation war. The Awami League fulfilled its election promise by establishing the International War Crimes Court to try war criminals and initiated trial proceedings, resulting in the imprisonment of many known war criminals. Subsequently, fundamentalist parties have become desperate to overthrow the government.
The Jamaat Afghan Fert Mujahideen, one of the severely affected war criminal groups, has formed close ties with and supported the derailed BNP. Militant groups have been carrying out sporadic attacks to instill fear in the state and society. Security analysts in Bangladesh, such as Mr. Muniruzzaman, have expressed concerns about the dire crisis of sectarian conflict that the state is on the brink of facing due to the tactics adopted by fundamentalists to target minorities. No sane person or political party would desire to disrupt communal harmony by inciting religious fervor in a stable country.
In the wake of recent trials of war criminals, repressed religious political parties have retaliated against minority communities in response to the atrocities of the Islamic State in the Middle East. Their sole purpose is to sow instability in the country by fostering sectarian conflict. In this case, the names of JMB and the Ansarullah Bangla Team are invoked. Still, behind the scenes, the political influence of religious political parties and their supporting domestic political parties is at play. It is now indisputable that there is a deep conspiracy behind the rise of the Islamic State as it vies with Al Qaeda for political dominance in the Middle East. Al Qaeda’s targets were Middle Eastern monarchies and their supporters in the West.
Al Qaeda’s attack on America, the subsequent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the demise of Saddam and Gaddafi, the ascendancy of Shia power in Iraq and Syria, the Yemeni conflict, and the Saudi invasion of Yemen have all contributed to exacerbating the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The protests against Israel’s strong opposition to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the West’s nuclear deal with Iran have been channeled into sectarian violence in the Middle East by stateless Sunnis.
The Islamic State has spread sectarian conflict with the support of Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the West. While it has not expanded its organizational structure globally, it has formed alliances with religious and political groups in different countries. The conflict perpetuates terror management. Bangladesh is not immune to this reality, as recent terrorist attacks claiming affiliation with IS demonstrate. The people of Bangladesh need to understand that by inciting communal violence in the name of IS, the creators of IS aim to intervene under the guise of country-to-country cooperation. They seek recognition of IS in different countries. Some political parties in Bangladesh use the government’s rejection of the existence of IS and disagreement with Western efforts for their power games, which is harmful.
Mr. Muniruzzaman predicted the future by saying that IS is using Bangladesh as a corridor to expand its influence among the Rohingya in Myanmar. IS is not moving forward with any global organizational plan to expand internationally. As mentioned earlier, IS is not a centralized political organization but a terrorist organization of Sunnis and Wahhabis who are committed to implementing Western and Wahhabi agendas without borders.
The danger for Bangladesh is the existing extremist religious political parties, groups, and their sponsors, opportunistic political parties in the guise of democracy. If the so-called “moderate” Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the sponsors of extremist religious groups, is banned for war crimes, its armed cadres will resort to terrorism. However, in the meantime, their involvement with all the terrorist acts under the name of JMB, Ansarullah Bangla Team, and Hizbut Tahrir has been found. Cloaked democrats patronizing the Jamaat and other militant groups have been vocal in not banning the war criminal Jamaat, dispelling these fears.
Their benefit is that if the Jamaat is in open politics, it will be saved in the fight for votes, and a threat to the Freedom Party will be kept alive. If the government bans Jamaat, then these evil forces will choose all crooked and crooked ways to overthrow the government with the help of extremists. They will try to create such an environment that the government will compromise with them if they become incompetent or will call the Westerners and admit their failure and turn Bangladesh into a failed state.
There is no doubt that the danger is not only international conspiracies but also internal conspiracies, sabotage, and vindictiveness, which are likely to spell disaster for Bangladesh. All anti-independence political parties, including Jamaat, should be banned immediately. If they choose the path of terrorism with direct or indirect support, they should be suppressed with strict hands. It is the blood debt of three hundred thousand martyrs, and the Bengali nation must pay this debt and be free from the curse.
The most significant source of bravery of the Bengali nation is the ethnic heritage, cultural ties, non-communal spirit, the bloody history of the liberation struggle, and the development of the demonic and violent culture of the upper desert of the Middle East will not be able to withstand this fighting spirit of the Bengali nation in any way. Like the Pakistanis, they may shed a lot of blood and destroy the Bengali’s hard-earned wealth and infrastructure. Still, they will not be able to defeat the Bengali national spirit and turn Bangladesh into a desert.
Radicals came in groups from all over the world and joined the ‘Jihad’ in Afghanistan. The rest is history. Even superpowers like the Soviet Union had to succumb to this strategy. Bolstered by US arms and logistics, the opposition alliance jumped into jihad and saw victory. Najibullah’s government was overthrown. Various petty ‘warlords’ divided Afghanistan among themselves.
Those who rushed from different parts of the world to participate in the Afghan war, were given tough training. In addition to various types of weapons training, the Jihadi camps carried out extensive propagation of the ‘Wahhabi’ doctrine known as ‘Political Islam.’ Several thousand “Mujahid” from Bangladesh also took part in the Afghan war. Most of them returned after the war. And they brought their jihadist ideology with them.
After returning to the country, they enthusiastically started expanding communal madrasas. Some Middle Eastern countries, which swelled overnight thanks to the petrodollar, became their sponsors. Money kept coming in non-stop. As a result, within a short period, they built a strong network across the country. During the Afghanistan crisis, they openly raised the slogan ‘We are all Taliban, Bengal will be Afghan.’ Still, our political parties who are drunk on vote politics have consciously pretended not to see about them. As a result, the poison tree gradually becomes a significant problem in Bangladesh, around South Asia, and the Middle East.
Religion-based politics was banned in this country for its controversial role during the Great Liberation War of 1971. Then they went into hiding. But after the assassination of Bangabandhu in his family on August 15, 1975, they again came out publicly. Former President Ziaur Rahman extended his hand of cooperation to them after taking power because he couldn’t get the support of pro-71 political parties.
As a result, in 1978, Jamaat-e-Islami, the organization of war criminals of 1971, got a license to start politics again in this country. As soon as they got the opportunity to do politics, they fell into the task of consolidating their seats. In this case, two techniques were very useful for them. One is to establish occupation in the country’s colleges and universities through their own student organization, Chhatrashibir. Another is to use people’s religious sentiments to spread across the country.
From Bangla Bhai to the killing of bloggers, most of the militants caught so far are involved with student camps at some point in their lives. Later, due to ideological conflict, some left the Shibir line and joined more radical groups like JMB or Hizb ut Tahrir.
Militant ideology started spreading like wildfire through the Jamaat camp on one side and these Afghan returnee mujahideen on the other. Bangla Bhai, Shaikh Abdur Rahman’s JMB or ‘Awakened Muslim Janata’ established a reign of terror in the Rajshahi region during the previous coalition government.
But gradually, when their excesses exceeded the limit of patience, protests started nationwide. Although the then government initially avoided the issue as a ‘media creation,’ they were forced to change their position in the face of massive public demand. In the meantime, the militants showed their strength by simultaneously bombing 63 districts of the country. With that, the epidemic of secret murders began.
The bomb exploded during the Pahela Boishakh ceremony at Batmul in Ramna, Udichi. The country’s traditional judicial system was also attacked. Judge Sohail Ahmed and Jagannath Pare lost their lives in the bomb attack. Prominent journalists Manik Saha and Humayun Kabir Balu were killed. Even the public prosecutor of the Jhalkathi Judge Court was dead on his way out of the mosque after the Friday prayers for handling the case against them.
Mufti Hannan, a militant who was sentenced to death a few days ago, planted a bomb at the meeting ground of the then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina. The JMB’s network collapsed after the Bangla Bhai Bahini were caught and tried in a desperate effort by the law-and-order forces. As a result, they became inactive for quite some time. But inwardly, they began to prepare again for the ultimate blow.
When the tribunal was formed to try organized war crimes during the Great Liberation War of 1971, domestic and foreign conspiracies started to obstruct the justice process. Campaigns continue in different media that the judicial killing of Islamic leaders is going on in Bangladesh in the name of justice. They fell into trouble when the Shahbagh movement was formed on the demand of Qader Mullah. When the mass flow of Shahbagh could not be stopped in any way, they used religion as a powerful weapon again, like in 1971. Mahmudur Rahman’s newspaper ‘Amar Desh’ propagated that the Shahbag movement was a movement of atheists. This one campaign yields incredible results. Extremists organized overnight under the banner of Hefazat Islam. Many of the leaders of this extreme right-wing organization are Afghan war returnees who openly chanted ‘We will be Taliban; Bengal will be Afghan’ on the streets.
Blogger killing started in the meantime. Several young, free-spirited bloggers like Abhijit Roy, Vijay, and Rajeeb Haider were brutally hacked to death. However, the tradition of attacking dissident writers is ancient in this country. Poet Dawood Haider was accused of hurting sentiments for writing a poem soon after independence. He migrated to save his life. Writer Taslima Nasreen also migrated. Unconventional writer Humayun Azad was attacked by Chapati on his way home from the book fair, which eventually led to his death. The Chapati attack gradually spread. Along with bloggers, publishers, temple priests, church priests, Buddhist monks, gay activists, foreign nationals, university teachers, and many others were attacked. But the evasion by the administration makes them bolder.
Finally, when several familiar people, including high-ranking army and police officers, lost their lives while trying to stop the militant activity in Sylhet and Moulvibazar, panic spread throughout the country. In the 1960s, extremism spread similarly in Afghanistan. The poisonous result of this has been going on in Afghanistan for ages.
Since the independence of Bangladesh, foreign powers have been actively creating collateral damage in various ways within this country. Meanwhile, reports on the involvement of Pakistan’s military intelligence agency ISI have been published numerous times in multiple newspapers. That dirty game is not over yet. The vast, peace-loving people of Bangladesh are paying the price.
There is still time to stand up. To say, “My Bengal, my mother, Afghanistan will not happen”. Otherwise, future unborn children may have to pay a more terrible price. For which their curse will return to haunt our generation from generation to generation. Time is very short. The period of adoption is the same. Jihadi organizations began to organize in various countries to establish Pan-Islam.
Al-Qaeda-influenced subcontinental extremist organizations branched out in Bangladesh in the early days, mainly Hizb ut Tawhid, Jamaatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Jihad, Al Islami Bangladesh abbreviated as Huji (B). Both are Al-Qaeda-backed Islamist terrorist organizations based in Kashmir. It is no secret that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies support these Pakistan-based terrorist organizations. Although Huzi (B) is quite active in Bangladesh, an entirely local radical religious organization, JMB, was born out of this organization.
It emerged in the early 21st century with the indifference or tacit acquiescence of the government of the day. JMB’s rise is like that of Frankenstein’s monster, which later spirals out of control. We have seen the implicit patronage behind the increase of JMB and his subsequent role as Frankenstein’s monster. Gradually, the JMB became a burden to the then government. The administration of that time had lost the power to control the JMB. To take action against them, which has caused damage.
Over a dozen local religious extremists have emerged in this country in the past era on the path of JMB. This process is not over yet. Information about new organizations is being published frequently. Although the religious extremists have calmed down a bit due to the government’s actions in the last five years, the efforts of the two extremist organizations of Bangladesh, Huzi, and JMB, are noteworthy.
Although the top leaders of JMB were sentenced to death about seven years ago, its activities did not stop. Currently, the organization is spread in Bangladesh, and the two bordering states of West Bengal and Assam are in different parts of India. Just a month ago, the explosion of explosives (IED) in Burdwan, West Bengal, India, revealed the spread of the Bangladeshi religious extremist JMB’s organization in Assam, another neighboring Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Since the Burdwan blasts, there has been a kind of political tension between the central BJP government in India and the Trinamool government in West Bengal over the issue of terrorism. The Trinamool Congress has been accused of harboring religious extremists, particularly the Bangladesh outfit JMB. However, the NIA did not get as much involvement in reality as much as it got publicity about the participation of Bangladeshis. Among the individuals identified as terrorists by the Indian NIA (National Investigation Agency), only four suspects are believed to be members of the Bangladeshi JMB.
The existence of madrassas in India-Bangladesh border areas without the approval of the Indian government has been reported. Allegedly, these madrassas have links with Bangladesh’s far-right extremist group JMB. The same complaint is made in Assam. However, suppose the full investigation report of the NIA is not published by the Government of India or subject to receipt. In that case, the Government of Bangladesh, detailed information on this matter will not be available.
The presence of Bangladeshi terrorists in West Bengal is not a new thing, but the picture of the widespread presence of Islamist terrorists is relatively new. After the Burdwan incident, the JMB’s presence in West Bengal and Assam, the establishment of training centers, and the disclosure of information about alleged explosive stockpiles have raised many questions. Apart from that, there is an average 20 percent Muslim vote in West Bengal and Assam, which the BJP is now eyeing.
Whatever the dynamics of India’s domestic politics, the reality is that the JMB is on its way to resurgence as the largest terrorist organization in the border areas of Bangladesh and India today. After analyzing the information obtained from the sources and publishing it in the media, the law enforcement forces were able to arrest this organization. However, Huzis dominated Bangladesh in the past, perhaps not to such an extent now. A few other organizations, such as the Ansarullah Bangla Team or Allah Dal, have not achieved organizational strength like Huzi or JMB.
Various sources have revealed that the organizational process of Al-Qaeda in the subcontinent has recently gained considerable momentum. Apart from Huzi, the presence of JMB in two states of India seems logical to link the organization with Al-Qaeda. According to Indian intelligence sources, they believe that the presence of JMB is also in Kashmir. In Kashmir, particularly in Pak-Kashmir, multiple terrorist groups supported by Al-Qaeda have been present for centuries.
However, the cancellation of the Indian Navy’s display of warships at Calcutta harbor is an example of the fact that the threat of Al-Qaeda in the subcontinent is not to be taken lightly. According to the information published in the newspaper, Indian submarines will be deployed to monitor the Kolkata port. Notably, Assam is one of the few states where Al-Qaeda has hinted at potential operations in India. Although the name of West Bengal is not mentioned, there is no doubt that the responsibility of al-Qaeda or like-minded organizations in that state has been given to Bangladeshi militants. According to various sources, Al-Qaeda and its affiliated organizations are preparing to declare Islamic Khilafat Bangla or such names.
Bangladesh is under the threat of religious extremism and extremism for many reasons. It will not be out of place to mention a few of the many reasons. The solution to the political crisis in the country is not yet visible. This type of organization spreads in a situation created by tension between the two big parties.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, the banned organization Hizbut Tahrir in Bangladesh has come to light with various programs. The organization has formally applied to the Ministry of Home Affairs to withdraw the 2009 ban imposed by the Awami League government, citing the role of the streets in the popular uprising. Recently, the organization held a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka and demanded the withdrawal of the ban.
Hizb ut-Tahrir claimed that the workers of the organization were in the field with the student crowd in the movement to overthrow Sheikh Hasina’s government through a mass coup on August 5. The organization’s media coordinator, Imtiaz Salim, claimed in an interview with BBC Bangla that Hizb ut Tahrir is an ideology-based Islamic political organization, not a militant or terrorist organization. It had offices until 2009 and was frequented by various political figures, journalists, and others. The organization claimed that they were banned for distributing leaflets exposing the ‘conspiracy’ of the Awami League government after the BDR rebellion.
