Pakistan shifts terror base to Bangladesh through al Qaeda

Nahla Abdelmonem

A report by Times Now newspaper said al-Qaeda terrorist organization is currently aiming to strike inside India via Bangladesh, after consolidating its presence there.

During an al Qaeda meeting organised inside a mosque in Rayerbazar, Dhaka on August 2, a decision was taken to break into the Dhaka jail and bring out Moulana Moinuddin, the top al Qaeda leader.

The primary objective was to expand the activities of the organisation in Bangladesh and “finally operate against India from Bangladesh (soil),” the intelligence report said.

Other disquieting reports have also come from Bangladesh. Members of Jamaat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh and the Islamic Chhatra Shibir (ICS) met at the Islampara Jame Masjid of Taraganj Upazila in Rangpur.

The JMB has agreed to provide weapons to jihadis of ICS, which has agreed to organize “motivational program,” induct more members and be ready for action.

Meanwhile, ICS president Mobarak Hussain has selected 200 cadres for weapons training, half of them at Chilchhari, Bandarban in Chittagong and the others, at Naikhongcchari, also at Bandarban in Chittagong.

The newspaper added in a report the role played by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and motives to transfer al-Qaeda to Bangladesh to make it a source of inconvenience and anxiety for India because of the proximity of the two countries to each other.

A study recently published by The Reference says that international events, major conflicts, crises regarding borders and ethnicities have a significant impact on the growth and spread of terrorist groups in more places than others. The study also pointed out that some of the rebel groups that have spread in Southeast Asia have influenced the existence and spread of radical Islamic movements in the region.

Bangladesh has various potential that qualify it to become a fertile ground to embrace all these extremist groups, we for example can find that the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has been spreading since 1941.

The other group, accused by the ISI of helping al-Qaida fund and establish itself, is the ICS, a group of students founded in 1977 and accused of leading violence for political goals.

In addition to these groups that have been spreading for years in the country, Qatar has tried, according to a document published the Weekly Blitz, in February 2019, to exploit refugee camps of Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh to transfer money to radical Islamist groups for political purposes.

In response, extremist groups researcher Hisham al-Najjar says that terrorist groups are always looking to develop their influence and spread to distant lands.

He added in an interview with The Reference that terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS have strong power struggles, so al-Qaeda will seek a foothold in Bangladesh with the help of extremist groups there.

Najjar further said the Pakistani intelligence might have a role in this, especially that transferring fighters and leaders is expensive and organizations that are currently in conflicts cannot afford this without help from international powers with political aims.