After the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Mohammad Yunus is currently leading the caretaker government there. Ever since he has taken charge of Bangladesh, bans on fundamentalist organizations are being lifted one after the other and convicted terrorists are being released from jail. This situation in the neighboring country is a matter of great concern for India.
The interim government led by Mohammad Yunus on Wednesday lifted the ban on the country’s main Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami and its factions. Just two days before this, on Monday, 26 August, it also released on parole Jashimuddin Rahmani, the head of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which has links with the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. ABT has been hatching failed conspiracies to spread terror in India.
Rahmani was serving a sentence for the murder of a blogger
Jashimuddin Rahmani, convicted of murdering a blogger, was charged under Bangladesh’s anti-terrorism laws. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the murder of Rajib Haider on 15 February 2013. Haider was murdered in front of his house in Dhaka, after which Rahmani was arrested in August 2013.
Rahmani’s ABT was banned in Bangladesh in 2015 during the rule of Sheikh Hasina. It later rebranded itself as Ansar al-Islam, which was banned again in 2017.
The release of terrorists increased the tension of India
The release of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) chief Jashimuddin Rahmani is a matter of grave concern for India because Rahmani’s group has been trying to establish a jihadi network in India with the help of sleeper cells. It is obvious that now his group will try to spread its network in India even more rapidly.
Ansarullah’s freedom poses a threat to India
In the past, several terrorists belonging to Ansarullah Bangla Team were arrested in India. Two terrorists belonging to ABT, Bahar Mia and Rarely Mia, were arrested by Assam Police from Guwahati Railway Station in May this year.
ABT is an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a terrorist organisation established to advance the ideology and objectives of al-Qaeda in South Asia, which is banned in India.
How Ansarullah allied with Lashkar
Sources told India Today that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has reportedly tied up with ABT to carry out terror attacks in India’s northeastern states. According to sources, Lashkar’s collaboration with ABT dates back to 2022 when it set up a base in Bengal with the aim of launching attacks in India.
Intelligence inputs from 2022 also indicated that around 50 to 100 ABT cadres were planning to infiltrate Tripura at that time. The Assam Police arrested ABT terrorists on several occasions, foiling the terrorist group’s plan to set up a network in the northeastern state.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that the ABT terrorists were not using any ordinary technology but highly encrypted (technically secure) devices for communication to avoid getting caught.
After Sheikh Hasina, the danger for India increased
As Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina had always been very sensitive to India’s security concerns. Hasina’s rule saw action against anti-India forces in Bangladesh who had made Bangladesh a safe haven during the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami rule between 2001 and 2006.
Now that the Sheikh Hasina regime is out of power following violent nationwide protests, India’s fear is bound to increase.
After the departure of Sheikh Hasina, the terrorists started raising their heads
After Hasina left Bangladesh on August 5, on August 6, an armed mob stormed the high-security prison in Sherpur (northern Bangladesh, bordering Meghalaya) and freed the heads of several terrorist organisations.
During this period, more than 500 prisoners escaped from the jail, among them was Ikramul Haque alias Abu Talha of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) who has been involved in terrorist activities in India.
Abu Talha was arrested in Dhaka in 2023 following intelligence from Indian agencies.
Many such reports from India’s neighbouring country, which is suffering from terrorism and political turmoil, may not make headlines in India but can be extremely serious and worrying for the north-eastern part of India whose development depends largely on a stable, secure and friendly Bangladesh.
Think tank warned
Former IAS Radha Krishna Mathur’s think tank ‘The Society to Harmonise Aspirations for Responsible Engagement’ (SHARE) has also warned India about the threat posed by radicals and terrorists who escaped from jail in Bangladesh.
SHARE has warned that this is a very worrying situation especially for Assam and Tripura, where several modules of ABT and JMB have been busted in recent times. More than 60 members of ABT were arrested from these states between 2022 and 2023, of which more than 30 were from Bangladesh.
This release of fundamentalists and terrorist groups also raises questions on the intentions of the leadership of the caretaker government of Bangladesh.
Ban lifted from anti-India Islamic party too
The caretaker government led by Mohammad Yunus has lifted the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party and one that takes an anti-India stance. This party has been accused of promoting violence and fundamentalism. The Bangladesh government has said that it has not found any evidence against it of involvement in terrorist activities.
Haseena had banned
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government banned the Jamaat-e-Islami party under the anti-terrorism law. The party was accused of inciting violence during student-led protests. Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India after the protests turned violent. Jamaat denied the charge of inciting violence and called Hasina’s ban illegal and unconstitutional.
Jamaat-e-Islami can contest elections
Let us tell you that till now Jamaat could not contest elections in Bangladesh because in 2013 a court had banned it from participating in the elections saying that its registration as a political party is contradictory to the secular constitution of Bangladesh.
But after the change of government in Bangladesh and the lifting of the ban, the party now intends to participate in the elections. The party’s lawyer Shishir Monir has said that she will file a petition in the Supreme Court early next week to restore the party’s registration.
Jamaat-e-Islami gave a message to India as soon as the ban was lifted
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman, known for his anti-India rhetoric and pro-Pakistan stance, said after the ban was lifted that his party wants stable relations with India but he also made it clear in his statement that New Delhi should not interfere in his country’s affairs.
He said the Jamaat supports close ties between New Delhi and Dhaka but also believes Bangladesh should “leave behind the burden of the past” and maintain strong and balanced relations with countries like the US, China and Pakistan.
India was blamed for the floods in Bangladesh
India has also been blamed for the recent devastating floods in Bangladesh which India has refuted with evidence. Therefore, the release of anti-India terrorist Jashimuddin Rahmani is not being seen as an isolated incident but as part of a plan and this is a matter of concern for India.
However, later clarifying the issue of floods, Shafiqur Rahman said that heavy rains can be blamed for this situation but he also said that communication between India and Bangladesh regarding the release of water from the dams could have prevented this terrible situation to a great extent. He emphasized on dialogue between the two countries to prevent such problems in future.
Why anti-India sentiment increased in Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina had cracked down on anti-India forces and this made Jamaat and a section of pro-Pakistan people in Bangladesh suspicious of India’s role in their country. The narrative was set there that Hasina is in power in Bangladesh only with India’s support. Just after Hasina won the election again in January, a movement to boycott Indian goods gained momentum on social media.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)