Genealogy of militancy in Bangladesh and some threatening worries

Shimul Chaudhury

Such incidents involving religious zeal had no place in Bangladesh in the past. In no time, Bangladesh became a news headline and different theories were being concocted. As a result, the country terribly suffered both economically and politically.

Bangladeshi expatriates and migrant workers especially those in the Middle East and in countries like Malaysia started to have the brunt of this image injury of their country. They have been looked down upon with a prism of suspicion and distrust. Foreign investment in Bangladesh, especially in garment industries, was halted for a period and still is not as it had been before.

A neighboring country became the immediate beneficiary of the embarrassment that Bangladesh was having. While many Bangladeshi migrant workers were being sent home, those from that neighboring country started to receive special treatment. Their gate to the international labour market became wider.

The above facts should be important in understanding those militant incidents in Bangladesh in the 2005s. Militancy in Bangladesh did not benefit the political parties that were in power at that time or those who do not subscribe to India’s political interest in the region. So it would be a worthwhile investigation to look into the genealogy of militancy in Bangladesh.

In all likelihood, the strong intelligence service of the country that has been the beneficiary of all such negative developments in Bangladesh was behind these incidents, especially in the training of the militants. And in all likelihood, the preparation period of militancy was during the last Awami regime 1996-2001 when some quomi madrasas were allegedly being used for stirring up militancy and for training purposes.

Despite the widespread damage to Bangladesh’s image in the international world, those militant incidents failed to give the neighbouring country and its ally Awami League inside the country the fullest dividend. They failed to establish a link between militancy and Bangladesh Jamaat Islam, a party that refuses to bow down to the Indian political and economic hegemony.

In my opinion, the arrest of the three most prominent Jamaat leaders (Motiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Saidee and Ali Ahsan M. Mujahid) is to wrap up that un-finished task. Members of the intelligence service of the neighbouring country and Awami League ministers are well aware of the huge love and respect that these three leaders command among the rank and file of Jamaat Islam. Tortures on such highly respected people and religious scholars will definitely upset many religious people in the country, especially those belonging to Jamaat Islam. Anger may lead some of them to militancy; few individuals may even take the wrong route of suicide bombing out of desperation. If such things happen, God forbid, Bangladesh will fall to the category of Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the full mission of the neighbouring country will be accomplished with the complicity of the Awami regime. Bangladesh is the last remaining hurdle for this regional power to reap the strategic and economic interests in South Asia.

Awami League and its subcontinental patron are using the sentiment of Bangladesh's liberation war of 1971 for a wrong intention. I hope the people of Bangladesh will wise up to the viciousness of this plot against the country before it is too late, before we find our beloved country turned into another Afghanistan, another Pakistan!

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