New breeding ground for terrorism
US Congressional Research report on Bangladesh

Bangladesh's political and economic development continues to be hampered by the forces of corruption, radicalism, and partisan fighting. Rivalry between the leaders of the nation's two largest political parties has led to an ongoing series of demonstrations, strikes, and increasingly to politically motivated violence.

The frustration caused by the combination of poverty, corruption, and the lack of good governance due to a stalemated political process has contributed to increasing radicalisation of society and thereby to the recruitment of Islamist radicals to the cause of terrorism.

Bangladesh's form of moderate Islam is increasingly under threat by radical elements. In early 2005 there was increased concern over the rise of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh. Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh National Party (BNP) has coalition partners in Government that have ties to radical Islamist elements that give cause for concern.

Some view the Government's coalition with hardline Islamist coalition members as promoting the spread of violence. The radical Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) is thought to have ties to both Al Qaeda and the Islamic Oikya Jote, which is a coalition partner in the Government. HuJI is on the United States State Department list of other terrorist organisations and is thought to have been behind an assassination attempt on then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in July 2000. HuJI also signed the 1998 fatwa by Osama bin Laden which declared American civilians to be legitimate targets.

Fundamentalist leader Bangla Bhai, who promotes Islamic revolution in Bangladesh, has been accused of having ties to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) which is another coalition partner with the BNP Government. Bangla Bhai fought in Afghanistan and is seeking to install a Taliban-style Government in Bangladesh, particularly in areas bordering India.

His supporters have reportedly terrorised Communists, Leftists, liberal intellectuals, Hindus, Christians, members of the Islamic Ahmadiyya sect and Buddhists in the cause of promoting Islamic extremism. The Government of Bangladesh was criticised by the Awami League for denying the existence of fundamentalist organisations in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Government banned Bangla Bhai's organisation in 2005.

Political infighting is debilitating to Bangladesh. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League survived an assassination attempt in August 2004 when a grenade was thrown at her which killed 20 others. Hasina has accused the BNP Jamaat alliance of being involved in the assassination attempt. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has reportedly stated that there are no Islamic fundamentalists in Bangladesh. Such attacks have undermined political stability in Bangladesh.

Former State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Cofer Black stated that he was concerned over "the potential utilisation of Bangladesh as a platform for international terrorism" when visiting Dhaka in September 2004.

One source reported in September that the number of radical mosques and madarsas in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh had grown considerably and that HuJI continued to maintain several terrorist training camps in the CHT region. Another source also linked the camps to Harkat and indicated that they receive funding from Islamic charities with ties to Al Qaeda. HuJI is thought to remain active in the area south from Chittagong to Cox's Bazar and the border with Burma.

There is concern among analysts that Bangladesh might serve as a base from which both South and South-East Asian terrorists could regroup. There have been reports that up to 150 Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters fled to Bangladesh from Afghanistan in December 2001 aboard the MV Mecca, which sailed from Karachi to Chittagong.

This was evidently not the beginning of Al Qaeda connections with Bangladesh. Al Qaeda had reportedly recruited Burmese Muslims, known as the Rohingya, from refugee camps in south-eastern Bangladesh to fight in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya. An Al Qaeda affiliate, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) was founded by Osama bin Laden associate Fazlul Rahman. HuJI is also on the State Department's list of other terrorist organisations. Rahman joined bin Laden's World Islamic Front for the Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders in 1998.

It has the objective of establishing Islamic rule in Bangladesh. HuJI has recruited its members, thought to number from several thousand to 15,000, from the tens of thousands of madarsas in Bangladesh, many of which are led by veterans of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The organisation is thought to have at least six camps in Bangladesh as well as ties to militants in Pakistan.

It was reported that French intelligence prompted the arrest of 16 Bangladeshis on December 4, 2003, in Bolivia for allegedly planning to hijack a plane to attack the United States. According to reports, they were later released for lack of evidence. Eleven Bangladeshis were arrested in Saudi Arabia on August 14, 2003, on suspicion of planning a terrorist act.

The Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) is the largest organisation representing the over 120,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh. The number of Rohingyas varies depending on the level of pressure they are under in their homelands in Burma.

The Rohingya also speak the same language as Bangladeshis from the Chittagong area. These "destitute and stateless people" have proved to be a "fertile ground" for recruitment to various militant Islamist groups. The RSO has reportedly received support from the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. Afghan instructors have been seen in RSO camps.

There are also reports, based on information derived from the interrogation of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) leader Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand in August 2003, that indicate that he had made a decision to shift JI elements to Bangladesh in response to recent counter-terrorist activity in Southeast Asia. The decision to move operations west may also be evident in the arrest of 13 Malaysians and six Indonesians, including Hambali's brother Rusman Gunawan, in Pakistan in September 2003.

Bangladeshis have been among those arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of being linked to terrorist organisations. JI militants, thought to be from Malaysia and Singapore, would not have made it to south-eastern Bangladesh without some degree of tacit agreement from the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence of Bangladesh.