"There may be a move nationally or internationally to rear some adventurers or splinter groups to check Islamic uprising," the Jamaat chief told members of the Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh (OCAB) at Jamaat central office.

Nizami, also industries minister, disowned the activities of so-called militant groups, including the dreaded Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and demanded arrest of JMJB operations commander Bangla Bhai.

He said his party should not be blamed for the actions of others.

In reply to a question, he said he came to know from press reports and police about some isolated acts committed by some individuals or groups, but the media is overplaying those activities.

"Perhaps there are some adventurers who could speak in aggressive language…But I don't think they have built up any extensive militant network in the country in the name of Islam," he told another questioner.

Nizami observed the media hype over the activities of these individuals and groups might invite measures against Bangladesh as happened against Iraq and Afghanistan.

Asked about the whereabouts of Bangla Bhai, he said it is the duty of police to track him down and added that no individual or quarter has any right to take the law into their own hands.

Jamaat Secretary General and Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mujaheed denied that police were protecting Bangla Bhai and said if so found, action would be taken against the cops concerned.

"It's not fair to try to implicate Jamaat in the activities of Mujahideen, Harkatul Jihad or others. Jamaat is preaching Islam correctly and rearing honest men," Mujaheed said.

Referring to the incidents of bomb blasts, assassination of Awami League MP Ahsanullah Master and grenade attack on the Bangladesh-born British high commissioner, Nizami alleged a clique is staging such incidents as part of a deep-rooted conspiracy.

"Those who do not want to see democracy and political stability in Bangladesh and want to prove Bangladesh as a fundamentalist communal country through campaigning abroad obviously have a hand in it all," he told the journalists.

Nizami said Islam does not prescribe any extreme policy and the Jamaat-e-Islami has earned public trust as a moderate party as it did not embrace Islamic militancy and extremism.

"Jamaat believes in formation of government, governance and change of power through election… Jamaat does not believe in any terrorist activities or armed politics and does not support imposition of any idea by force," he said.

The Jamaat chief cautioned that all -- the people, the nation, the government and the opposition -- would be in danger if the conspiracy succeeded in showing Bangladesh as a dysfunctional state through creating political instability.