One hundred and fifty-four cases were filed in connection with the August 17 blasts. A total of 698 people have been arrested so far in connection with the blasts. Police submitted charge-sheets in 183 cases while 56 are under investigation. Trial of 17 cases has been completed.

Sources said the investigators have played down the strength of the Islamist militants to the level that they feebly tried to force the government to establish Islamic rule through the bomb blasts that killed around 30 including judges, lawyers and policemen.

The police in the charge sheet of the Jhalakathi judges killing case said the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leaders had decided to attack the judges, magistrates, police and army.

Most of the investigators are of the view that the JMB made attacks on judges, courts and different public places to create among people a distaste for the government so that it accepts their demand of establishing Islamic rule in the country fearing loss of popularity or failure to retain power.

The objective of attacking the army and police was also the same, they believe.

Another section of investigators, however, disagree, saying the militants have proved their strength and had the confidence to attack the army and that there is no scope to undermine their strength.

To overthrow the government, JMB top leaders Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam "Bangla Bhai" planned to weaken it by raising the bomb attacks, said the charge sheet.

But the investigators did not work further on the militants' plan to attack the army or depose the government and form one of their own as they had not found concrete evidence of any such strategy. The government also not even once in the last one year disclosed that the militants decided to attack the army.

"The militants rather worked to force the government to establish Islamic rule," said an investigator.

The investigators of the sedition case filed against seven members of the top policymaking JMB body, Majlish-e-Shura, at Muktagachha are also working to prove that the militants plotted a conspiracy to raise countrywide bomb attacks on August 17 last year to establish shariah law. They have also recorded the statement of seven witnesses in this connection, according to sources.

"We have made significant development to prove the charges in this case and it will be possible to submit the charge sheet now," Golam Mostafa, assistant police superintendent of Criminal Investigation Department, told The Daily Star. He, however, declined to give details.

POLITICAL PATRONS

Although names of some ruling party political leaders, ministers and lawmakers have surfaced since the JMB leaders started operating in the northern districts in 2004, the investigators have shown no move to detect and expose them.

"We have found no evidence in support of the allegation against the ruling party leaders," an investigator said.

Another investigator, seeking anonymity, told The Daily Star that it is rather safe for them just to prove the conspiracy than to go for the political patrons.

FOREIGN LINKS
While refusing to admit that the militants have foreign links, the investigators said a few militants have had training in Afghanistan and Muzaffarabad in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir. An investigator said the militants had training on bomb-making in Afghanistan and used Taliban techniques of the trade in Bangladesh.

Besides his training in Afghanistan, JMB chief Abdur Rahman also had training in Muzaffarabad. The JMB had connection with the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiyeba, which is also active in India, according to intelligence sources.

The investigators have also come to know about the militants' alleged link with several other foreign militant groups but said they do not have any evidence for it. "It is not likely that foreign groups initiated the work to raise the bomb attacks. The Bangladeshi militants have perhaps just received training, logistics and fund from them," an investigator said preferring anonymity.

While smuggling in explosives through India, the militants had meeting with foreign militants in the bordering areas, said sources. But an investigator said the JMB leaders took help of their foreign links to smuggle the explosives. "But we have not found any proof that the foreign groups plotted the bomb attacks in Bangladesh," he added.

Foreigners visited Bangladesh at different times in the name of religious activities and some of them gave training to the JMB men, he said, adding, "But it does not prove that international groups are actively involved with the militants."

Although the law enforcers seized huge quantity of explosives from different militant dens across the country, at least one-fourth more explosives still remain hidden. Investigators would have got all the information about the explosives and training if they could capture Mollah Omar alive. He was killed during an operation in Comilla in March this year.

"We are still looking for 'Boma' Mizan of Jamalpur who can give significant information about all these," an investigator said.

Investigators believe that the JMB has not the strength to regroup for further attacks but an intelligence source said a few JMB ehsar (fulltime) members have held meetings at places, including Bogra and Muktagachha, to discuss reorganising.

The investigators, meantime, also do not have any concern about other militant organisations like Harkatul Jihad al Islami and several hundred others that also received training and fought as Mujahideen for the Talibans in Afghanistan.

"We cannot arrest them unless they hold any criminal activities. We also failed to detect the JMB's militant activities when their work was based in mosques. We could go for them only after they blasted bombs," an investigator said.

"There are many groups but how can we investigate their activities as they work inside mosques and madrasas? It could be easier for us to detect their activities if they met at hotels or other places," he said.