Militant groups patronised by some parties

Home Secretary Abdul Karim yesterday said Bangladeshi Islamist militant groups are home grown as they finance themselves domestically and are patronised by particular political parties.
Karim also said the government is now also focusing on dismantling the network of small 'extremist' groups such as Allahr Dal, Hijbut Tahrir and Hijbut Touhid. None of these are banned organisations.
"Weapons or types of explosives that they have used may have foreign origins or [come from] neighbouring countries, but their financing is arranged internally -- not from external sources," Karim said as chief guest at the opening session of a day-long conference on militancy.
The conference, "Trend of Militancy in Bangladesh and Possible Responses", was organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) on the occasion of launching of a report on the state of militancy since August 2007.
He said although the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and the Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) are large militant organisations and widely known, their operations in Bangladesh do not have operational links with international terrorist networks.
However, Karim said, these organisations are heavily influenced by the ideology and strategies of Islamist terrorist networks such as the al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
In his attempt to diffuse the common perception that most militants come from madrasas, Karim said that some of the militant groups are supported by sections of political parties and their recruits are drawn from the cross-section of people.
The home secretary also reported the rise of three small extremist Islamist groups -- Allahr Dal, Hijbut Tahrir and Hijbut Touhid -- who he said are trying to organise themselves around small issues such as banning of particular publications.
Adding a new dimension to the government's counter-terror agenda, he said, "We are trying to destroy the network of small groups too."
He also cited the government's success in reviving a number of languishing cases, resulting in the arrest of a number of people including former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu -- the brother of Tajuddin who is thought to be the mastermind of the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004.
Karim also mentioned the government's enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering Act to prevent terror financing and the formulation of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The BEI report on "Trend of Militancy in Bangladesh: August 2007-2008" stated that during the period, police and the Rapid Action Battalion arrested 104 Islamist militants.
The highest number of the arrestees is from one of the smaller groups, Hizbut Touhid, which comprised 46 percent of the arrestees.
The BEI report stated that in the past six months, militants have been preparing for grenade attacks, regrouping, strengthening their networks, training, engaging in propaganda warfare and abducting people.
One of the ways the militants have been trying to regroup after the government crackdown is to emerge under new names and banners, said the report that was prepared by Zohra Akhter, a BEI research assistant.
The inaugural session was followed by three sessions exploring the role of Islam and education in preventing terrorism and reviewing a case study on militancy in Rajshahi.