file photo: Home-grown Islamic vigilante foot soldier fugitive Siddiqul Islam alias "Bangla Bhai" (left), leader of outlawed Jamaat'ul Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB)New York based Bangladesh Human Rights Watch has urged Dr. Condoleeza Rice, US Department of State to ban & enlist Jamaat-e-Islami as a terror network outfit in a letter on 23 December 2005.
The petition argues that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is a radical Islamist movement which operates in South Asia- mainly Pakistan and Bangladesh. JI wants to implement Sharia law throughout the Islamic world. JI has been heavily financed by Saudi Arabia and Gulf States and works alongside Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwhan), Deobandi and Wahhabi movements. This combination of Islamist groups has jointly created religious, charitable and educational institutions throughout the world with the aim of forwarding radical Islamism.
Signed by Dr. Mohsin Ali, President, Ratan Kumar Barua, Secretary General, Sitangshu Guha, Director, Mohammed Ali Siddiqui, Director, Fahim Reza Nur, Director, and Paul Bala, Directoralso send copies to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anon, Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Shiekh Hasina, Amnesty Interntional secretary general Irene Khan.
The JI movement is prepared to implement its policies through the use of terrorism and intimidation. The JI both in Pakistan and Bangladesh publicly supported the Taliban regime before the US invasion and also supported them after they had been removed during Operation Enduring Freedom. It has been reported that remnants of the Taliban and its supporters have been getting direct support from the JI. Russian Security Service (FSB) notified their US counterparts that the JI would most probably have been involved in the 9/11 attacks these assertions were proved to be correct when 9/11 mastermind and Mustafa Ahmed Hawsawi, the lead financier of the 9/11 plot were arrested in the homes of JI leaders in Pakistan. Russian and Indian intelligence has directly linked JI to fundraising and training for militants in Chechnya In February 2003, the Russian Supreme Court blacklisted the Jamaat-e-Islami (Pakistan) because of its support and financing of international terrorism, Al-Qaeda leaders and operatives such as Yasir Al-Jazeeri and Ahsan Aziz in Pakistan.
JI leaders have been involved in providing shelter and accommodation to Al-Qaeda and Taliban members. There have been high profile arrests of JI members such as the Khawaja brothers and Dr. Arshad and Dr. Akmal Waheed for directly harbouring and providing aid to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban; which has further consolidated the connection between the JI and terrorism Dr. Alexis debate, a former advisor to the French Ministry of Defence and senior terrorism consultant for ABC News, said that he had been taken to a safe house operated by the JI near Peshawar, Pakistan. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's deputy and spiritual mentor, had been using the safe house for over four years.Debatet also said that there were definite connections between the groups very clear, non-institutional but very clear link between Jamaat-e-Islami all the way down to Al Qaeda.
The student wings of the JI both in Bangladesh and Pakistan are directly involved in militancy. The Islami Chattra Shibir (ICS) is the student wing of the JI Bangladesh and has been involved in terrorism; some ICS members were believed to have been sent to train with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. ICS haven't tried to conceal their links and have rallied in the support of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda chanting such slogan, as "We will all be Taliban and Bangladesh will be Afghanistan," the petitioners said.
The JI also believes in nuclear proliferation and that countries such as India and the US should be countered. Khurshid Ahmed, a senior leader of JI, has stressed that Pakistan should not be stopped from creating nuclear capabilities either for itself or for the Muslim Ummah. He goes on to say that all international conventions concerning nuclear testing and proliferation should be ignored.
Recently Bangladesh has been terrorized by series of bomb attacks launched by the Islamic militants who wanted to implement Islamic Sharia Laws in Bangladesh. Their objectives are same to that of the written manifesto of Jamaat-e-Islami. These Islamic Jihadi's are killing the judges, secular personalities, lawyers and innocent people. They are threatening secular personalities, opposition leaders, schools, colleges and institutions. They are also asking the women of all religions to wear head-to-toe veils and threatening them to death.
On August 17, 2005, about 500 bombs were blasted in 63 districts within half-an-hour apart. Since then there were few dozens of bomb attacks in different parts of the country and about hundred people were killed and a few hundreds were injured. Although Government of BNP-Jamaat arrested several hundreds of bomb attackers and seized many weapons, bombs and bombs making materials, we believe the Government's actions are not enough. These actions are just eyewash to please the people of Bangladesh and the international community.
As we know through the media that hundreds of arrested bombers and their cohorts were released under the pressure of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders as they were directly linked to the Jamaat-e-Islami. Every single arrested bomber and their cohorts claimed themselves to be the former members of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chattra Shibir. Many of them do still belong to these parties. Dr. Galib (leader of Ahle Hadith Movement), Bangla Bhai and Shiekh Abdur Rahman and other terrorist leaders are the former Rokons (District Leaders) of Jamaat-e-Islami. Maulana Zafry, a Jamaat-e-Islami central leader once accompanied top terrorist leader Shiekh Abdur Rahman in a meeting in Bhola district just a few months ago. Many BNP lawmakers are directly blaming Jamaat-e-Islami as the father of all terrorists in Bangladesh.
Therefore, Jamaat-e-Islami should be added to the US terrorism list because of its direct support for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. It should also be listed because of its support for nuclear proliferation. Jamaat-e-Islami poses a direct and serious threat to the United States and its allies.
The social justice activists appealed to Dr Rice and the conscience of the peoples, governments and human rights institutions, including the United Nations, for immediate actions to ban and enlist Jamaat-e-Islami as a militant terrorist organization and eliminate Jamaat-e-Islami by eliminating the sources of its finances and military supports. #
For more information & comment contact:
BANGLADESH HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
23-63 Steinway Street, Astoria, NY 11105; 652 Vernon Avenue, East Meadow, NY 11554
phones: 718-278-8181 work; 631-682-6612 mobile, email: mali1960@juno.com
The proposal of the Bangladesh Human Rights Watch is a commendable and highly appreciable step. I believe the non-communal and general people of the country will have support to this demand as the face of JI has once again exposed. And It is the high time to respond to this demand, if the international community wants to see Bangladesh remain as a liberal democratic and secular country.
ReplyDelete