Son of a war criminal from Chuadanga, Elias Hossain is a paid propagandist who has been using YouTube and Facebook to spread rumours and communal hatred since he fled to the US to escape arrest in Bangladesh for cybercrime charges.
In Dhaka, he used to anchor a crime show on the private channel Ekushey TV. At that time, he was accused of extorting politicians, businessmen and women by blackmailing them. After reaching the US a couple of years ago, Elias started driving a taxi and releasing videos to propagate rumours and hatred in favour of the radical Islamists.
On February 18 last year, fugitive Elias was arrested by the New York Police Department in the Staten Island area of Jackson Heights in a defamation case filed by online activist Jacob Milton and his sister, US BNP leader Niru Nira.
Earlier, Elias was arrested when he went to surrender to the police on February 1. The case said that the video was defamatory and baseless. After that, a US court issued an arrest warrant against the YouTuber.
In January last year, Dhakaโs Cyber Tribunal ordered the arrest of Elias in a case filed by then the chief of the Police Bureau of Investigation, Banaj Kumar Majumder, for his video on the Mahmuda Khatun Mitu murder case in collusion with her husband and former superintendent of police (SP) Babul Akhter, and several others.
Police charged him with making the investigation questionable, spreading false information and using abusive words.
Since the anti-government movement last year, Elias has been working in association with jihadist patrons, pro-Pakistani military officers, and anarchist YouTubers, including Mahmudur Rahman, Pinaki Bhattacharya, and Dr. Kanak Sarwar, to instigate mob violence and online war against the Awami League, India and the Hindus.
In his shows, Elias also brought in al-Qaeda cleric Jasimuddin Rahmani, who got bail after the army-Jamaat-backed interim government took office, Mufti Harun Izhar, a Hefazat-e-Islam leader linked to Pakistanโs Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), and pro-Pakistani army officers like Brig Gen (Retd) Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, Brig Gen (Retd) Mohammad Hassan Nasir, Lt Col (Retd) Hasinur Rahman and Major (sacked) Syed Ziaul Hoque.
Pro-Jamaat officials like Lt Gen Kamrul Hasan, the Principal Staff Officer to the Chief Adviser, and Lt Gen Mohammad Faizur Rahman, the Quarter Master General (QMG), are implementing an ISI blueprint to weaken the Bangladesh Army and the DGFI using the radical forces, while pushing the narrative that those brought to justice for militant activities during the Awami League tenure were Islamic scholars and preachers.
In the past year, the interim government released over 300 top jihadists, including Rahmani and Shafiur Rahman Farabi, while many militants went into hiding after jailbreaks during the July-August riots. Meanwhile, the members and supporters of Ansar al-Islam, Islamic State, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), Jamaโatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Jamaโatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have become active.
Whatโs cooking?
On Tuesday, Elias arranged a show to promote jihadist Zia, a most-wanted al-Qaeda operative hiding since 2012, as a patriot and the army as anti-state, where 17 guests were invited.
The speakers included a self-styled investigative reporter affiliated with Al Jazeera, Zulkarnain Saer Khan Sami, who interviewed Zia in November last year to pave the way for his return to Bangladesh. All spoke in favour of Zia, branding him as one of the bravest patriots in the army, vocal against the Awami League regime.
In the five-part interview with Sami, Zia demanded withdrawal of cases and conviction in the Avijit Roy murder case, reinstatement in the army, and the gallantry award โBir Uttamโ for his role in the coup attempts in late 2011 and 2024. He boasts that some former and serving army officers actively participated in the anti-government movement on the streets and in the cantonments.
Zia also urged the US State Department to withdraw the $5 million bounty awarded for information on al-Qaeda operatives Zia and Akram Hossain, the two death-row convicts on the run.
Brig Azmiโs Dark Plan: Islamizing army, unleashing suicide squads on India
A month later, he returned to Bangladesh with a Pakistani passport and has been pushing the army chief, General Waker-UZ-Zaman, with the help of Brig Gen (Retd) Azmi to obtain a clean chit. Zia, who professes an Islamic army, is the son-in-law of the governmentโs commission for investigating the incidents of enforced disappearance. In December, Zia applied to the government for withdrawal of the seven cases against him, in which he was sentenced to death in three, while four cases are under trial.
Through his lawyer, Zia also applied for cancellation of the Tk20 lakh bounty declared on him by the Police Headquarters.
Since then, he has been active on Facebook and instigating mob violence against the Awami League while threatening jihad in India.
In August, Zia asked the Yunus regime to allow offices for the rebels of Manipur, Khalistan, and Kashmir in Dhaka, after BBC Bangla reported that the Awami League maintains an office in Indiaโa claim rejected by the party. Zia also warned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the Awami League leaders and activists currently staying in India may forge a tie with the BJP before the next elections.
Sources say sacked Major Zia and Brig (Retd) Azmi are working together to provide commando training to the jihadists as suicide squad members. This group will work inside India and carry out sabotage.
On August 28, Zia posted on Facebook that three of his applications filed through his lawyer, M Sarwar Hossain, under Section 401 of the CRPC are stuck in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He said that normal processing had not even started. โNow I have appealed to the Chief Adviser so that all my applications are disposed of quickly.โ
Zia thinks some people in the government were preventing the settlement under the excuse of the US. โIt is heard that the American Embassy is being interceded in this regard. However, I have also talked to the US State Department on my behalf. Their statement is: โIf the Bangladesh government or the court removes my name from the pending case, they will also automatically remove my name from their announcement.โ It was added due to Sheikh Hasina’s Kangaroo Court verdict!โ
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