ON SUNDAY, the British
broadsheet The Daily Mail, reported that Bangladeshi prosecution investigators
connected to the International Crime Tribunals-Bangladesh had finished their
investigations into the suspected war crimes of Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman
Khan. After the Liberation War of 1971, both men escaped the newly formed state
of Bangladesh
looking for shelter in the West. Mueen-Uddin went to the United Kingdom and Khan to the United States.
The pair had allegations of war
crimes, torture and murder hanging over them, however they managed to build
successful lives in their self-imposed exiles. They had both been sucked into
the politics of Jamaat-i-Islami in their youths. They like many others had
fallen under the spell of Maulana al-Mawdudi, one of the most prominent
Islamist ideologues and practitioners of modern Jihad. Mawdudi believed in the
supremacy of his party and their beliefs. Mawdudi believed that all forms of
governance, unless his party were in leadership, were un-Islamic. Khan and
Mueen-Uddin had been active in Jamaat politics in Bangladesh.
When Bengali nationalists led by
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demanded political autonomy and freedom in 1971 the West
Pakistani regime demanded they be quashed. Jamaat was used by the Pakistani
regime to setup paramilitary death squads to punish those that supported
independence. The tribunals in Dhaka believe
that Khan and Mueen-Uddin were the ring leaders in these heinous acts of
barbarity.
In the winter of 1979, a young
Saudi travelled to Pakistan
meet with the Amir, the leader, of Pakistan’s most organised religious
political party, the Jamaat-i-Islami. The Saudi Embassy had sent a message to
Qazi Hossain Ahmed to tell him that a bright, focussed believer was heading
their way. His mission was to bring money and support for the Afghan Jihad. Pakistan and the Inter-Service Intelligence
(ISI) had used Pakistan’s
religious parties for the jihad. The Jamaat-i-Islami had rallied the Muslim
world to the Jihad which was called after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in
December 1979. The young Saudi was called Osama bin Laden and this was the
start of a three decade relationship with the Jamaat movement in South Asia which has had severe implications for the rest
of the world.
After the Soviet Jihad, Bin
Laden tried to help setup the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) with the help of
Jamaat. It was an Islamic coalition designed to stop the rise of the Pakistani
People’s Party (PPP). It has been alleged in Pakistan’s Supreme Court that the
Mehran Bank was used by the ISI to help fund the coalition. Bin Laden became
part of Pakistan’s
political furniture.
Jamaat
leaders also went to meet with bin Laden while he was in exile in Sudan during
the 1990s. Jamaat has publicly rallied for Jihad funds for numerous conflicts.
Jamaat have also been accused of helping to fan conflicts way beyond Pakistan. In
the early 1990’s Jamaat was helping young Uighurs to come for religious
training in Lahore, Pakistan. They were diverted to
militant camps instead. The Chinese, Russian, Iranian and Indian governments
complained about the covert, yet transparent funding of foreign mercenaries by Pakistan
and Jamaat. Russia’s
Supreme Court blacklisted Jamaat for supplying funds to mercenaries and jihadi
fighters.
In 1979, while the Jihad was
raging in Afghanistan,
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, was now living in London,
forging his career with other Jamaati figures that had sought refuge away from South Asia. They setup front organisations such as the
Islamic Foundation in Leicester, United Kingdom Islamic Mission (UKIM), East London Mosque, and
Dawatul Islam. Mueen-Uddin would later play a role in helping Bin Laden and
Jamaat’s relationship to cause more human tragedy in South-East
Asia.
While in exile, Chowdhury Mueen
Uddin build his career in Jamaat’s diasporic politics. He become a trustee and
treasurer of Muslim Aid, the UK’s
largest Muslim charity. He would also become the Chairman of the Islamic
Foundation in Leicester, which was founded by Prof.
Khurshid Ahmed, a Pakistani leader and senior politician in Jamaat-i-Islami.
The aim of the foundation was to stop the secularisation of Muslims that had
moved to the UK
from the Indian subcontinent. It was also used to push the thought of Mawdudi
in Europe.
I have previously written about
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin’s involvement in the financing of an al-Qaeda and Jemaah
Islamiyah front called KOMPAK in Indonesia. KOMPAK helped to setup
military camps, funnel arms and explosives to militants and was visited by
al-Qaeda leaders such as the late Omar Faruq, one of Bin Laden’s key
lieutenants and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the new leader of al-Qaeda. ABC News Australia
commissioned an expose into the links of Muslim Aid and KOMPAK. The Australian
leaders said it was a mistake, however it was later uncovered that Muslim Aid
and Jamaat fronts continued with their financing of the Jemaah Islamiyah
charity.
The financing of KOMPAK by
Muslim Aid had started in 1998. In 2000, Muhammed Hafidz, one of the directors
of KOMPAK came on a European Tour to highlight atrocities committed during the
sectarian conflicts in the Molucca Islands, Indonesia. He also came looking for
donations. He visited Muslim Aid offices, Amnesty International and Muslime
Helfen (Muslim Aid Germany).
Three years later, Hafidz would be arrested for giving safe haven to two of the
Bali bomb makers, Umar Besar (aka. Wayan and
Abdul Ghoni) and Sarjiyo (aka. Zaenal Abidin and Sawad). They were staying in
his apartment building in the Limus Estate in Bogor,
West Java when counter-terrorism officers
raided the premises. Hafidz was arrested as part of the crackdown on Jemaah
Islamiyah operatives in April, 2003. However, he was later released due to lack
of evidence. Some of his fellow directors of KOMPAK weren’t so lucky. They were
charged with terrorism related offences and are still in prison for being
affiliated with al-Qaeda.
It
isn’t the first time Muslim Aid has been accused of supporting Islamic causes
and terrorism. Andrew Gilligan of The Daily Telegraph has chronicled the
charities support for Hamas. This isn’t a surprise as Jamaat politicians and
leaders from Bangladesh and Pakistan have
all professed their admiration for Hamas and other groups. Muslim Aid is
staffed by those affiliated with Jamaat politics, so it couldn’t come as a
surprise when they are accused of funneling money to jihadi causes when their
brothers, leaders even, in Pakistan
and elsewhere are calling for it publicly.
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin case isn’t
just confined to the politics of Bangladesh. His whole career needs
to be investigated fully. His career from suspected war criminal to suspected
terrorist financier needs to be investigated by British authorities as a
priority of national importance and security.
First published in e-Bangladesh.com, October 15, 2012
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