While the Jamaat-controlled army-backed Yunus regime insists that there are no militants in the country and has released many of them since capturing power last year, now their patrons, who eye Shariah-based rule in Bangladesh, are threatening to break open the prison gates to free the rest of the dangerous killers and instigators.
The rise of extremism, in the form of mob violence and death threats, thus, can be labelled as a state-sponsored effort to destabilise the nation and South Asia due to the inaction of the administration to tame down the militants and radicals working within the state mechanism, the armed forces and mosques-madrasas under the banner of โTouhidi Janataโ.
One of the jihadist patrons is al-Qaeda cleric Jasimuddin Rahmani, who was released on bail last year and has admitted to ordering the series of murders of secularist writers in the last decade. Appearing in YouTube talk shows with expatriate vloggers like Pinaki Bhattacharya and Elias Hossain and in sermons at waz mahfils and mosques, he has been spreading hatred and threatening jihad against the Awami League and India while claiming that they are not militants, but followers of Muhammad.
On August 26 last year, when Rahmani came out of the Kashimpur High Security Jail in a sunroof SUV, he was given a special cordon by the members of the Bangladesh Army, among other law enforcement agencies. He served prison sentence in a case, got bail in another, and two other cases were withdrawn.
On May 9 this year, he appeared in a demonstration in Shahbagh to demand the ban on the Awami League, prompting the government to suspend the partyโs activities three days later in an executive order.
Then he stopped coming to public for several months until September 27, when he spoke at a conference of hardline Islamists in Dhaka. “The lovers of the Prophet who are in prison must be released. Otherwise, such a movement will be launched that the gates and walls of the prison will be broken, and everyone will be freed. For this, the Touhidi Janata must also unite,โ the daily Prothom Alo quoted him as saying.
The vernacular daily mentioned him as a Mufti and refrained from giving more details.
Other top jihadist leaders who addressed the event include members of banned militant outfits, top leaders of Qawmi madrasa-based radical Islamist platform Hefazat-e-Islam, and controversial retired army officers, like Colonel (Retd.) Abdul Haque, the president of RAOWA Club, and Lieutenant Colonel (Retd.) Hasinur Rahman, an ISI agent who had served jail terms on sedition charges and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Hasinur is reportedly working as the second-in-command of war criminal Ghulam Azamโs son, Brig. Gen. (Retd.) Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, to recruit Rohingya refugees staying in Coxโs Bazar camps and the stranded Pakistanis in Dhaka and elsewhere and give them jihadist training.
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The seminar, titled โWhat the Ummah Can Do to Release Oppressed Prisonersโ, was organised by a new organisation named โNon-Discrimination Prison Release Movement (NDPRM)โ at the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Auditorium on Topkhana Road in the capital.
Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Ameer Shah Muhibullah Babunagri, the chief adviser of the organisation, was supposed to chair the event, but he did not appear due to poor health.
The main speaker at the seminar was Mufti Harun Izhar, who is an adviser to the NDPRM, senior Hefazat leader, key member of the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI-B) and a close aide of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
He made the headlines many times in the past year by initiating a greater alliance of Islamist parties, propagating anti-Hindu and anti-India hatred, calling for jihad and establishing Shariah law, announcing to build a mosque beside the historic Chandranath Temple, and meeting with the law adviser, Prof Asif Nazrul, who is better known as an agent of the Pakistanโs intelligence agency ISI, to demand the release of all militants and extremists, labelling them as true lovers of Prophet Muhammad and Islamic scholars. He terms democracy, secularism, nationalism, socialism, and human rights Shirk and Bedaat.
In his speech, Mufti Harun said that Alems and Ulemas, who are also accused in the same case in which BNP leader Lutfuzzaman Babar was an accused, did not get bail. Similarly, Jamaat leaders have also been released. But the Islamic scholars are in prison even though they did not kill anyone. They must be released immediately.
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The Nayeb-e-Amir of the Hefazat, Maulana Muhiuddin Rabbani, issued a one-week ultimatum for the release of the โIslamic scholarsโ who have been facing discrimination even after the ouster of the Awami League government, which was strict against religious extremism.
Reading out the written speech of the Hefazat Amir, Rabbani said that due to the delay in the execution of justice, many innocent people are also imprisoned for years. This is inhuman and against Sharia. It affects not only the person, but also their family.
โIf the court grants bail to a prisoner, it should be implemented immediately. But keeping a prisoner on bail at the jail gate due to administrative interference is not only contempt of court, but also a clear injustice in the eyes of Islam.โ
The written statement further states that many prisoners inside the prison are discriminated against on political or religious grounds, which is against Islamic justice and human rights. This situation needs to change. It is essential to consider these issues as a top priority in the ongoing constitutional reform.
Khilafat Majlish Nayeb-e-Amir Ahmad Ali Qasemi said: “Many Ulema have been arrested and sent to prison in terrorism cases. Many have been in prison for 10 to 15 years. Many have been sent again. They must be released.”
Abu Jafar Qasemi, the Ameer of the Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan, said that thousands of Ulama are still in prison. They must be released immediately.
Retired military officer Col. Abdul Haque, who is accused of corruption in RAOWA, said that those who were victims of oppression did not get justice due to the formation of a weak government after the โJuly revolutionโ. Those who are in jail without a crime should be released.
The seminar was inaugurated by Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Joint Secretary of the NDPRM, chaired by the organisation’s President, Mir Idris Nadvi, and moderated by General Secretary Mufti Shafiqul Islam.
Other speakers included Islamic blogger and Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Shafiur Rahman Farabi, who was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of secularist writer Dr. Avijit Roy in 2015; Hefazat Nayeb-e-Amir Abdul Qayyum Sobhani; Assistant Publicity Secretary Mufti Sharifullah; Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan Nayeb Amir Mujibur Rahman Hamidi; writer Khaled Saifullah Araihajar; writer and publisher Abu Tasmia Ahmed Rafiq; and presidium member of the platform called Intifada Bangladesh Mehedi Hasan.
Also speaking were senior lawyer Ashraf Uz Zaman, lawyer Mohammad Salahuddin, journalist of the pro-Islamist Amar Desh newspaper Abu Sufian, engineer Masrur Chowdhury, member of the Kingโs party NCP Sohel Rana, and executive member of the Private University Students Alliance of Bangladesh (PUSAB) Sakin Shabab.
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