Dhaka attack: How Bangladesh ignored threat of ISIS
The series of raids by Islamic State underlines how quickly its ideology has gained traction in Bangladesh.
The series of raids by Islamic State underlines how quickly its ideology has gained traction in Bangladesh.
Abstract: Despite government denials, Bangladesh has increasingly become fertile ground for al-Qa`ida and the Islamic State.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) has effectively replaced Al Qaeda and its affiliates at the vanguard of the global jihadist movement. Under the leadership of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, the movement remains determined to build upon its powerbase in Iraq and Syria and unite the entire Muslim world under its version of the Islamic Caliphate. In his Ramadan address in October 2014, Baghdadi laid out plans for the expansion of IS networks into what it calls Khorasan – parts of the Indian subcontinent and its near-neighborhood.
Spreading Tentacles: The Islamic State in Bangladesh
Animesh Roul
In an interview with Newsroom Post, Animesh Roul, Executive Director, Society for Study of Peace and Conflict, says that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB) has flourished with the help of local support. Speaking to Newsroompost.com, Roul says that unchecked influx of Bangladeshi Muslims created pockets of influence for political parties in West Bengal.
Newsroom Post: What is your perception of the Burdwan incident?
Key points
Bangladesh faces growing security threats from a range of radical Islamist interests, including entrenched Deobandi militants, newly emergent jihadist groups, and even transnational operations such as Al-Qaeda.
A message from Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in January 2014, the first specifically directed at Bangladesh, will resonate with a number of radical groups aiming to spread jihad within the country.
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) is a transnational Islamic religious-political organization which has presence over 20 countries across the world. HT was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 by Tokiuddin Al Nakhani. HT believes in Ummatic concept. Its website openly declares that: "It aims to revive the Islamic Ummah from the severe decline that it had reached, and to liberate it from the thoughts, systems and laws of Kufr, as well as the domination and influence of the Kufr states.
The political crisis in Bangladesh had deepened further with the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance’s call for “March for Democracy” rally on December 29. More than seven hundred opposition party supporters were detained and many more were arrested at different entry points to Dhaka since December 26. One person died during a clash between opposition party activists and security forces in Dhaka on December 29.
Bangladesh, the world’s fourth largest Muslim country, has recently experienced an intense cycle of massive protest rallies marked by violent confrontations between moderate secularists and Islamic radical forces. The spark for these religious and political confrontations has been the ongoing trials for war-crimes committed by Islamist groups during and just after 1971’s Operation Searchlight, the Pakistani campaign that preceded the Bangladesh Liberation War.
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