Bangladesh govt’s anti-militancy campaign loses steam

Most school teachers and imams are not following the government instructions to make people aware of the scourge of militancy.

As part of a national campaign, teachers are supposed to brief students regularly and imams to give anti-militancy sermons before the juma prayers at mosques.

Though they are a crucial factor in the government's fight against religious extremism, many of them are unaware of the campaign launched under the Militancy Resistance and Prevention Committee in 2009.

The committee is comprised of officials of different ministries, intelligence agencies and government institutions.

Since 2009, the education ministry has issued several circulars, asking schools to hold assemblies regularly and brief students on militancy.

Islamic Foundation also instructed the imams of all three lakh mosques across the country to give anti-militancy sermons. It even arranged a foundation course for imams to motivate them to get involved in the campaign.

The campaign apparently lost steam as only a small number of schools and mosques followed the instructions, a number of teachers, imams and government officials told The Daily Star.

“More than 84,000 imams attended the course but most of them don't give sermons on the evils of extremism,” said an official at Islamic Foundation, seeking anonymity.

Taher Hossain, director of Imam Training Academy, however, claimed most of the imams were giving sermons before the juma prayers, but it was not possible for them to monitor all five lakh imams across the country.

He said it would take more time to make the imams understand the issue.

In Pabna, some teachers said they didn't get any circulars or directives from the education ministry to talk to students on the issue.

“If we get any ministry circular, we will have discussions with the students about militancy” Robiul Karim, headmaster of a girls' high school in Pabna town, told The Daily Star.

Saidul Islam, a teacher at Pabna PTI School, said there was no specific directive from the authorities to discuss the militancy issue with students.

When it comes to mosques in Pabna, most imams are not following the instructions from the authorities.

“We discussed the issue several times. This is true that we could not talk about it every week as we had various religious issues to discuss,” said Abdul Hannan, Imam of Chapa Bibi mosque in Pabna.

Abdus Samad, deputy director of Islamic Foundation in Pabna, told this correspondent that due to shortage of manpower, they could not monitor whether imams were giving anti-militancy sermons or not.

The situation in Natore is even worse as any school or mosque hardly follows the instructions. Most schools do not hold assemblies, let alone briefing students on militancy.

Abul Bashar, imam of Bangabaria Jam-e-Mosque in Natore, admitted that he never gave any sermons against militancy. “In fact, the issue was never discussed in khutbah.”

Mahbubur Rahman, who offers prayers at different mosques in Natore, said he never heard any anti-militancy sermons.

In Patuakhali, a few imams do give sermons against extremism, but not regularly.

Moulana Abu Syed, president of Patuakhali district Imam Association, said “We seldom do it.”

Imam of Water Development Board Jam-e-Mosque Moulana Motahar Hossain, who did the Islamic Foundation course, said he didn't get a chance to apply what he learnt in training sessions.

The picture at schools in the district was almost the same.

Abdur Razzak, head teacher at Auliapur Adarsha High School, said he never talked to students about the militancy issue.

In Lalmonirhat, Education Officer Moslem Uddin said they had circulated a notice to the schools and madrasas, asking them to brief students on the scourge of militancy during assemblies.

“They [schools and madrasas] started following the instructions but did not continue,” he said.

Our Lalmonirhat correspondent visited 10 schools in the district and found that none of them was following the instructions.

Imam of Juma Para Jam-e-Mosque Hafez Shahidul Islam said he talks to devotees about militancy after the juma prayers. “Militancy has no place in Islam and those who use religion for militancy are actually harming Islam.”

However, Imam of Chouboti Jam-e-Mosque Hafez Md Shah Alam said he had no idea about any campaign against militancy or instructions to give sermons.

Asked, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said there was a clear instruction for schools regarding their role in fighting militancy. Several notices were issued to all schools for making students aware of militancy, drug peddling and stalking.

“I will check whether all of them are following the instructions. If necessary, I will issue fresh directives,” he told The Daily Star, stressing the need for building a social movement against militancy, drug peddling and eve-teasing.

There are more than 70,000 government and non-government primary schools, and 30,300 secondary schools in the country with a total of five lakh teachers.

The education ministry also asked them to organise discussions on the impacts of terrorism and militancy. But that too did not happen.

Identifying militancy as a social problem, the nationwide campaign was launched in 2009, with an aim to tackle it socially, religiously and culturally. But it seems to have lost momentum with the government increasingly relying on law enforcers to combat militancy.

It was not possible to implement steps such as screening of documentaries in rural areas to make people aware of the evils of militancy. Bangladesh Television and a few private TV channels, however, show anti-militancy documentaries occasionally.