Militant patrons stay safe for lax law

Despite repeated pledges made by the interim government early last year to punish the masterminds and patrons of outlawed Islamist militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), no effective measures have been taken so far.
Some high-level officials in the law-enforcement agencies involved in investigations into rise of militancy and its patronisation say the existing laws are not adequate to bring the patrons or masterminds to book.
"We need new laws or amendment to some existing laws to take legal actions against the patrons," says a top official desiring not to be named.
As the issue is sensitive and linked to the policy, the government, though at one stage thought of bringing the JMB patrons to justice, has changed its mindset later.
But eminent jurist Dr Shahdheen Malik told The Daily Star: "Definitely there are sufficient laws. But usually those laws are not applied as our focus has always been on the main perpetrators, not on their abettors, facilitators, helpers or others involved."
Dr Malik however observed, "It's usually difficult to gather evidence about the persons facilitating or helping criminals from distance. This is more because of weakness in investigation and evidence rather than the laws."
The law-enforcement official, on the other hand, reiterated, "The issue is linked to policies of the government. The government must take a decision prior to bringing the patrons to book whether they want to do it under existing laws or after amendment or formulation of new ones."
Meanwhile, the hope of unravelling JMB's foreign links and funding that kept the militant outfit's operations alive for years has also seemingly withered away as the spirit the interim government had initially showed has apparently fainted.
Following the March 2007 execution of JMB kingpins Abdur Rahman, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and four others, the government showed its firm stance to detect the outfit's political patrons and take stern action against them. Earlier on August 17, 2005, the militant group banged to limelight by blasting near-simultaneous 459 bombs across the country.
The patrons of JMB would face the same punishment (execution) if they were found guilty, announced the then law adviser barrister Mainul Hosein at that time.
"The law enforcers are looking for the godfathers. If they are netted and we learn about their roles, they will face the same punishment," he said in March last year.
It's been around 16 months when Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad said: "We have already tentatively identified the patrons of the organisation [JMB]."
Mysteriously enough, no action has been taken against anyone although names of some former BNP-Jamaat-led ruling alliance's political leaders, ministers and lawmakers surfaced as patrons of JMB in the northern districts.
The investigators working at the diktat of the then government high-ups also did not take any move to detect and expose them.
Only some people who were affected by Bangla Bhai's atrocious killing missions in the Rajshahi region have filed several cases against the leading local patrons of JMB in recent months.
These patrons are former telecommunications minister barrister Aminul Haque, ex-deputy minister for land Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu and former legislator Nadim Mostafa.
These leaders patronised JMB operations in the Rajshahi region for their personal and political gains in 2004, although the outfit was operating secretly since late 1990s under different names.
Meantime, quoting police high officials, The Daily Star reported that Bangla Bhai's killing mission in 2004 was launched upon the green signal of former premier Khaleda Zia, her all-powerful son Tarique Rahman and the then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar.
But till date, the law-enforcement agencies have not made any official move to initiate an investigation into that.
Earlier, an investigation by The Daily Star also unearthed that four of the top seven JMB leaders including Bangla Bhai were previously involved with Jamaat-e-Islami.
Police investigations based on interrogation of arrested JMB leaders also revealed the same.
Journalistic investigations show that under the leadership of Shaikh Abdur Rahman, JMB shared the same vision and philosophy of the mainstream Islamic party Jamaat.
The only difference in their goal is that Jamaat wants to come to power through election and JMB through bloodshed.
A large number of political observers believe JMB was an armed front of one or more political parties having the same goal of turning Bangladesh into an Islamic state.
Sources say the task forces of National Coordination Committee to combat corruption and serious crime also started an investigation into patronisation of militancy which got stalled at one stage for reasons unknown.
On militant funding, some investigators say though they had some hints that militants received financial aid from foreign countries or had foreign networks, they failed to unearth it as most of the transaction was made through hundi or in person.
The investigators say they have found out that some individuals and organisations from the Middle East had given financial support to JMB at different times.
But they have failed to confirm the links between JMB and any specific foreign country.
"Though there were some transactions through banks but due to inefficient and improper monitoring system it was not possible for us to prove that the money was transacted for militant activities," says a top official in a law-enforcement agency.
"But from now on we hope we'll be able to identify the militants' bank transactions, if any, as the government has introduced an effective Money Laundering Prevention Act and some other rules and regulations for local and foreign transactions," he adds.
While refusing to admit that the militants have foreign links, the investigators say a few militants have had training in Afghanistan and Muzaffarabad in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Speaking anonymously, an investigator says the militants had training on bomb-making in Afghanistan and used Taliban techniques for their operations in Bangladesh.
The JMB had connection with the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiyeba, which is also active in India, according to intelligence sources.
Besides his training in Afghanistan, the executed JMB chief Abdur Rahman himself also had training in Muzaffarabad.
The investigators have got hints about the militants' alleged links with several foreign militant groups but they say they don't have any piece of evidence to prove that.
"It's not likely that foreign groups were involved in the JMB-orchestrated bomb attacks in Bangladesh. Maybe Bangladeshi militants received training, logistics and funds from them to carry out the attacks," the investigator observes.
Sources say while smuggling explosives into Bangladesh through India, the militants held meetings with foreign militants in the bordering areas.
However, an investigator believes the JMB leaders took help from 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 adds.
"Foreigners visited Bangladesh at different times in the name of religious activities and some of them trained up the JMB men. But it does not prove that international groups are actively involved with the militants."