by Sheikh Sabiha Alam in Prothom Alo, July 2, 2017
Bangladesh Islamic Foundation has a service offering explanations and information on Islamic issues. A Robi or Banglalink cell phone subscriber can call 8155 to talk directly to the Islamic scholars or alem of the foundation. They offer explanations on preventing and countering militancy. After the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, the most important tool to draw youth away from militancy was ‘counter narrative’.
On 29 June at 5:47 in the afternoon, a call was made to this call centre to ask about the Shia community. The government-appointed alem came up with the glib reply that the Shias were misguided. The alem didn’t reveal his name. When asked if his statement could instigate intolerant youth, he replied, “Not at all. I can give my personal views.” Was he authorised to give such a conclusion? Replying that he could certainly give a reply, the mufti cut the phone connection.
The world over, persons of the Shia faith are the main target of IS attacks. In Bangladesh too, three were killed and over a hundred injured when an attack was launched at the Hossaini Dalan where members of the Shia community were preparing to bring out the Tazia procession during the Islamic month of Muharram. In Chak Kanpur of Bogra, the muezzin of the Shia mosque was hacked to death. Immediately after both the incidents, the police said that neo-JMB, followers of IS ideology, were involved.
Professor of Dhaka University’s department of Islamic studies, Muhammad Abdur Rashid, told Prothom Alo, “There really is no fundamental difference in the beliefs of Shias and Sunnis. Both believe that Allah is the only God and Hazrat Mohammed (SM) is the last and greatest prophet. Both believe in the Quran, fast during Ramadan and perform Hajj. Certain quarters, out of ignorance, try to spread misconceptions about the Shias. Given the present circumstances, no provocative messages should be sent out.”
The director general of Islamic Foundation, Shameem Mohammad Afzal, said he was unaware that the Islamic Foundation had any such ‘service’. He said it was wrong to make such a comment about Shias. He said this could be clever move by Jamaat.
This was a partial picture of counter-militancy in Bangladesh.
On 28 June in parliament, the home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that other than police activities, the religious affairs ministry had taken initiative to spread fatwas signed by 100 thousand muftis and to give anti-terrorism talks before the Friday jumma prayers, the information ministry had made and screened documentary films, short films, ads and video clips, and the education ministry had organised rallies in the various districts.
What anti-terrorism campaign, why and where?
After the Holey Artisan attack, at least 70 militants were killed around the country during successive police raids. Even yesterday, Saturday, an anti-militant drive took place in Kushtia, However, members of the law enforcement agencies, analysts, and two young men who had been inspired by militancy, told Prothom Alo that alongside the anti-militancy operations, government and private initiative was required to involve the youth in constructive work so that they are not drawn to militancy.
The US Security Council’s counter-terrorism committee said that suppression and repression was not enough. The member states would have to avoid activities that instigated militancy. Also, the media, civil society, religious and business communities, educational institutions and cultural organisations would have to work together. In 2014 the committee reached a consensus on these issues.
This is where Bangladesh lags behind, according to sources in both the government and private sector. The anti-militancy drives in Bangladesh were still restricted to surveillance and directives. Educational institutions were being kept under surveillance. The ministry was continually issuing directives to officials in the administration. No one knows what all this has resulted in.
The activities to suppress militancy, and to turn youth away from militancy or prevent them from being instigated, are unsubstantial. In 2007, top leaders of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh were hanged. Two years from them, the state minister for home affairs at the time Tanjim Ahmed Sohail Taj, formed a 17-member committee National Committee on Militancy Resistance and Prevention. Comprising representatives of the home ministry, education ministry, information ministry, youth and sports ministry, cultural ministry and the various forces, this committee drew up some short, mid and long term plans. The state minister for home then said that militancy in Bangladesh was under control, but it was still present.
On 21 June when several officers of the joint secretary and additional secretary level in the home ministry were asked about the progress made on the committee and the committee’s recommendations, they could say nothing.
Eight years since that committee was formed, several officers of the police’s counter terrorism and transnational crime unit told Prothom Alo that they have noted that the North Bengal districts where militancy had spread during Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai’s presence before 2007, were still in the same situation.
What the government is doing, or not doing, against militancy
Secretary of the home ministry’s public security division Mohammed Kamaluddin Ahmed told Prothom Alo that they had taken up extensive programmes against militancy. Various ministries were coordinating in this regard. However, officials of the ministry said that their main partner in the programme was the religious affairs ministry and under the ministry, the Islamic Foundation, as well as the education ministry and the ministry for youth and sports.
At the behest of the religious affairs ministry, a fatwa was drawn up and signed by 100 thousand alems under the leadership of Moulana Fariduddin Masud, the imam who led the Eid prayers at Sholakia, Kishoreganj. But the government didn’t follow up to make this fatwa public. Speaking to Prothom Alo, Fariduddin Masud said, some people took the fatwa from him on personal initiative, but he did not know if any publicity had been done at a government level for this.
After the Holey Artisan Bakery attack, the Islamic foundation drew up a khutba or sermon at the directives of the cabinet committee for law and order, and sent this to various mosques. But this move fizzled out within a month. Accurate interpretations of religious issues are no available online either. No initiative has been taken in this regard so far by the Bangladesh Islamic Foundation, the information and communication technology ministry or the information ministry. This was confirmed by the ICT division secretary Subir Kishore Chowdhury, Islamic Foundation’s DG Shameem Afzal Rahman and a reliable source in the information, remaining anonymous.
Director of India’s Centre for International Security at Gateway, Samir Patel, recently presented a paper at a workshop of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies. He said, the main strength of militant organisations is their round-the-clock presence online. The Indonesian government has a similar strong online counter-narrative.
The anti-militancy campaign of the education ministry in coordination with the home ministry is basically to do with surveillance. If any student is absent for a long period from classes, the education ministry informs the home ministry. A list of 70 educational institutions at risk of militancy has been prepared. The secretary of the ministry for youth and sports, Asadul Islam, has said that work has begun to register all clubs in the country.
However, no specific constructive work involving youth has been undertaken. The mother of one the young attackers at the Holey Artisan Bakery told Prothom Alo, “They could have been involved in medical camps, in tree planting, sports and cultural activities. But nothing was done.”
What the administration is doing in and outside of Dhaka
Instructions have been issued by the cabinet division to the district and upazila administration to regularly monitor the anti-militancy activities. The deputy commissioners are to visit the various educational institutions, to deliver anti-militancy speeches at various meetings and seminars and also to update the cabinet division of their activities in their confidential reports.
The deputy commissioners do send in their regular confidential reports, mentioning that they had delivered anti-militancy speeches, but they hardly eve mention the actual content of the speeches.
A commissioner of a northwestern district, on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo that it cannot be assessed how far militancy is actually being prevented though anti-militancy speeches. No all officials have a clear idea about counter violent extremism or de-radicalisation. It is important to look into why the youth are getting involved in militancy. Jamaat-Shibir and Ahle Hadith have influence in his area. The educational institutions funded by them are performing relatively better than other educational institutions. So even those who are not extremists, are sending their children to those institutions for a better education. They hardly have any cultural activities. On national days the cultural organisations don’t even come to one platform to sing together.
No prison programmes
At a conference of police chiefs held last March in Dhaka, security expert Rohan Gunaratna from Singapore said, it is important for proper religious interpretations to be imparted to convicted militants in prison so that they do not go back to militancy upon their release. And the big business houses of the country should arrange for vocational work within the prisons so that the militants do not remain unemployed or ostracised upon their release or else they may go back to militancy.
One of the top leaders of neo-JMB, Sarwar Jahan, who was also one of the masterminds behind the Holey Artisan attack, had been arrested after the series of bomb blasts on 17 August 2005. Tariqul Islam, accused of killing Khijir Hayat Khan, was arrested on the same grounds. Both of them returned to militancy after ending their jail term and being released.
Officials of the police’s counter terrorism and transnational crime unit said, there is a practice around world to involve those who have served sentences as militants, in anti-militancy campaigns. They are introduced to families whose members have died in their attacks. They can then feel the pain of those who have lost their loved ones. They feel a sense of guilt.
Head of the police’s counter terrorism and transnational crime unit Moniul Islam told Prothom Alo, there are plans to involve the relations of those who have been killed or arrested in police operations, in anti-militancy activities.
However, a young man arrested under the anti-terrorism act, and later released, told Prothom Alo that if the government really wants to use the youth who are involved in militancy to counter militancy, they have to take them into confidence. He said, in most cases the law enforcement picks them up from their homes and keep them hidden for a long spell. Later it is said that they were arrested while in a secret meeting. Sometimes it is said they were arrested during an operation. Unless the trial process is transparent, the results will never be achieved.
Family and society play a vital role
This correspondent recently spoke to two persons who had been arrested under the anti-terrorism act. One of them spent a year and a half in the Kasempur jail in Gazipur. He told Prothom Alo, the families have a significant role to play in the boys of educated and well-to-do backgrounds becoming involved in militancy. Many of the teenagers come from broken homes, where their parents are separated or do not have a good relationship. A large chunk of the youth has no contact with their cousins or grandparents. Their companions and mentors are their peers and the internet. They have no pangs of remorse in leaving their families. He knows of a youth who got involved in militancy while searching the internet for the meaning of dreams. He liked the interpretation offered by a person and began listening to his talks regularly, until he finally left home to join the so-called jihad.
After his one-and-a-half-year stint in jail, the young man who was speaking to Prothom Alo, got a job with big company and a salary over 100 thousand taka. He wants his sons to be tolerant of all beliefs. He takes his son to the mosque as well as to the church. He wants to take his children all around the country. He says just by observing one national day in schools, the government won’t inspire Bengali nationalism. Patriotism is an ongoing practice.
When asked what should be done to counter militancy, journalist and writer Abul Momen told Prothom Alo yesterday, Saturday, education and culture both needed to be practiced. Education devoid of culture was no education at all. A free mind was needed to shun militancy. Arts and sports created free minds. The young mind was full of dreams without restraint. They were ready to sacrifice for any great cause. They needed to be given the opportunity to make their mark in education, culture, politics, in the social system. This could even be in scouting or as a Red Crescent volunteer. http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/152587/No-concern-about-counter-militancy-beyond-police
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