The six-year-old JMJB and its lynchpin "Bangla Bhai" were unknown to ordinary people until last month when the Islamist operatives went killing the outlaws of the banned Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) to "make the region free from crime".

JMJB's action started in certain upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Natore after the outlaws popularly known as Sarbahara killed four relatives and friends of Deputy Minister for Land Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu and other parliamentarians in six months.

The apparent support of the local administration and local lawmakers to JMJB's cleansing of Sarbaharas shows the ruling parties have links with the unlawful venture.

Local administration and police officers claimed that such organisation as the JMJB or anyone like Bangla Bhai was not involved in outlaw cleansing. They say local people threw their weight behind the vigilante action that left five alleged underground operatives killed since April 1.

But a visit to three northwestern districts shows the anti-outlaw venture is led by the JMJB and directed by Bangla Bhai who gave his real name as Siddiqul Islam.

The presence of JMJB has brought a brief relief to local people from oppression and killings by underground parties. The same people are now frightened by vigilante action of the JMJB.

The fear factor is so intense that even the local administration refuses to talk about outlaw cleansing. Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Aziz Hasan, contacted by The Daily Star, only said: "I don't want to say anything about it."

Villagers and local administrators said some lawmakers, ministers and other BNP leaders adopted a policy of "fighting fire with fire" and turned to the JMJB to combat the outlaws who killed their relatives. The police failure to check the outlaw activities played a major role in it.

Back in November last year, operatives with ties to the underground outfit, PBCP, killed BNP's Bagmara upazila president Abdul Hamid in Rajshahi city. Gunmen killed Sabbir Ahmed Gamma, nephew of Ruhul Kuddus, in Natore's Naldanga upazila in February.

In a couple of weeks into Gamma's death, criminals killed Wahidul Haq Pakhi, an aide to Gamma, in Puthia in Rajshahi. In March, extremists killed Rajshahi's Durgapur municipality ward commissioner Anwar Hossain, a political aide to parliamentarian Nadim Mostafa from Rajshahi-4 seat.

Besides, the red-flag bearing extremist PBCP (Marxist and Leninist) published a leaflet in February, threatening Ruhul Kuddus, Nadim Mostafa and their relatives and aides with death.

Sources said the killings and threats have enraged the lawmakers who feel the banned outlaws are standing in the way of their political domination in the region. This apparently prompted them to turn to the JMJB for outlaw extermination. The police have accordingly been asked to cooperate with the JMJB and Bangla Bhai.

But JMJB's self-styled spiritual leader Mawlana Abdur Rahman denies the ruling party links. "We did not launch this drive under any MP or minister's plan. When we formed this organisation in 1998, we never imagined we would ever launch such a drive. A Sura board meeting at our Dhaka head office decided on the anti-Sarbahara drive, as the outlaws killed some of our leaders and activists in these areas."

Rahman refused to name the leaders and workers who he said were killed by the outlaws. But he admitted to holding meetings with elected public representatives of Pourasabha and Union Parishad and talking to some local parliamentarians by phone. "They supported our drive," Rahman claimed.

"We are continuing this drive with the backing of local people who have united in anti-Sarbahara resistance," Rahman said. "The drive will go on until the monsoon."

Witnesses said the JMJB launched its drive in the Sarbahara-dominated areas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Natore. They roamed Lalpur, Durgapur, Puthia, Bagmara, Naldanga, Atrai and Raninagar and shouted slogans "In the Name of Allah … Allah is Great".

In an attempt to establish a link with the slain relatives of the deputy minister, the JMJB introduced itself as "Gamma Bahini" in some places and "Pakhi Bahini". Elsewhere, JMJB leaders and activists claimed to be al Qaeda, Taliban and Mujahedin members. Bangla Bhai led processions and rallies of all groups.

In the wake of the JMJB drive, an environment of suspicion and mystery has engulfed the northwest.

"There is no one called Bangla Bhai, nor any party is called the JMJB. It's the local people who have forged resistance. I have come to know about Bangla Bhai through newspapers," Rajshahi Superintendent of Police (SP) Masud Mia said.

Later, Masud contradicted his statement, "Bangla Bhai's regime has ended. We have now complete control over the situation. We have isolated the Sarbaharas."

On the other hand, Bangla Bhai who has set up his den in Hamir Kutsa in Bagmara held a meeting with the JMJB amir and other leaders on May 9 at the office of Bhabaniganj Kachari Kotalipara Union Parishad.

Later in the day, the leaders talked to The Daily Star correspondent at the union parishad chairman's office. Police were seen nearby at the time.

Bagmara Police Station Duty Officer Monirul Islam said: "There is no such person as Bangla Bhai in Bagmara. People have built resistance. I have never seen Bangla Bhai whom you are talking about." Officials at the local administration told The Daily Star that they were not interested in talking about it.

When Bangla Bhai roams the area in a microbus, people gather to see him and leave the scene with question in their eyes. The Daily Star correspondent asked them to share with him what they know about Bangla Bhai, but they were eager to know from the reporter rather than telling him.

Ruhul Kuddus denied right away the alleged links to the JMJB operation and said: "I have not deployed any JMJB or Bangla Bhai to fight the Sarbaharas. I don't know them. Nor did I contact them."

The deputy minister said that no outsider organisation entered his constituency to combat the outlaws but asked the people of the locality to resist them with the help of the superintendent of police and the deputy commissioner.

Advocate Nadim Mostafa similarly said: "I did not have any communiqué with any JMJB or Bangla Bhai. I don't know them."

"I have read about them in newspapers. I object to the claim that we have brought them to our area."