Abstract
On 12 June 2018, Bangladesh, the third-largest Muslim majority country of the world, once again figured in the headlines of the international media because of the killing of the secular writer and publisher, Shahzahan Bachchu.
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Notes
- 1.
“Prominent Bangladeshi Writer Dragged Out of Shop, Shot Dead”, NDTV, June 12, 2018, https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/prominent-secularwriter-publisher-shahzahan-bachchu-shot-dead-inbangladesh-1866143.
- 2.
“Founder of ‘Neo JMB’ Held: Police”, The Daily Star, December 15, 2017, http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/neo-jmb-founder-arrested-police-1505236; Shafi Md Mostofa, “Understanding Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh”, Journal of Asian and African Studies (2021), https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096211004630; Shafi Md Mostofa, “Key Drivers of Female Radicalisation in Bangladesh”, Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 12 (2020).
- 3.
Shafi Md Mostofa, “What Does Covid-19 Mean for Terrorism in Bangladesh?” The Diplomat, December 12, 2020, https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/what-does-covid-19-mean-for-terrorism-in-bangladesh/
- 4.
Tipu Sultan, “Rise of Militancy: Part 1”, The Daily Prothom Alo, August 6, 2016, http://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/114967/Rooted-in-mujahids-returning-from-Afghanistan.
- 5.
Moinul Khan, “Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: Why It Failed to Take Root”, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 6, no. 1 (2011): 11.
- 6.
These organisations are either involved with militant activities, or supported militant activities, or supported Islamists who want to establish a sharia-based state. This list also includes officially banned and blacklisted outfits in Bangladesh. Abul Barkat, Fundamentalism in Bangladesh (Political Economy of Extremism: Internal and External Forces) (Dhaka: Mukto Buddhi Prokashona, 2018).
- 7.
Sarwar Alam, “The Genesis of Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh”, accessed May 12, 2018, http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/AlamNY08meeting.pdf; Abul Kashem Fazlul Houque, Religious Ideology and Culture in Politics (Dhaka: Jagriti Publication, 2017); Shafi Md Mostofa, Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: A Pyramid Root Cause Model (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).
- 8.
Bangladesh Enterprize Institute, The State of Terrorism in Bangladesh: 2009–2010 (Dhaka: Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, 2011).
- 9.
“Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent”, Counter Extremism Project, September 3, 2014, https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-aqis.
- 10.
Tasneem Khalil, “Meet the ameer of ISIS in Bangladesh”, accessed May 23, 2018 https://tasneemkhalil.com/meet-the-ameer-of-isis-in-bangladesh-2dab494c4d6e.
- 11.
Ayman Al Zawahiri, “Bangladesh … Massacre Behind a Wall of Silence” (YouTube: 2014).
- 12.
The current Awami League government has been in power since January 2009. Although the current regime has maintained economic growth, it has shown little respect for democratic values. Given its “zero tolerance” policy towards militancy, this has tended to be passed over. Constitutionally born as a “secular state”, Bangladesh did not shy away from using Islam for political purposes. This began with the Mujib government (1972–1975), continued during multiple military dictators (1975–1990), accelerated under democratic regimes (1991–2006), and finally culminated under the Bangladesh Awami League government (2009 onward). Competitive authoritarianism has become part of the fabric of Bangladeshi politics. Shafi Md Mostofa and DB Subedi, “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism in Bangladesh”, Politics and Religion 14, no. 3 (2021): 431–459; Shafi Md Mostofa, “Bangladesh’s Ambiguity on Religion Has Been Expensive for the Country”, The Diplomat, September 8, 2020; https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/bangladeshs-ambiguity-on-religion-has-been-expensive-for-the-country/.
- 13.
“ISIS In Bangladesh: Are We Missing the Forest for the Trees?” accessed June 10, 2018, http://libertysouthasia.org/2015/10/isis-in-bangladesh-are-we-missing-the-forest-for-the-trees/.
- 14.
Other branches of Al Qaeda include the Al Qaeda Central (AQC), the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN) in Syria, the Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and the Al Shabaab.
- 15.
“Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent”, Counter Extremism Project.
- 16.
Bill Roggio, “Al Qaeda Opens Branch in the ‘Indian Subcontinent”. FDD's Long War Journal, September 3, 2014, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/09/al_qaeda_opens_branc.php.
- 17.
“Ansarullah Bangla Team banned”, The Dhaka Tribune, May 25, 2015, https://www.dhakatribune.com/uncategorized/2015/05/25/ansarullah-bangla-team-banned.
- 18.
Ali Riaz, “Who Are the Bangladeshi ‘Islamist Militants’?” Perspectives on Terrorism 10 (2016): 1; Animesh Roul, “How Bangladesh Became Fertile Ground for al-Qaida and the Islamic State”, CTC Sentinel, issue 9 (2016), 27–33.
- 19.
Tipu Sultan, “IS Has Arrived with Atrocities”, The Daily Prothom Alo, August 6, 2016, http://www.prothomalo.com/opinion/article/937357/.
- 20.
Mohammad Istique Rashid, “Online Radicalization: Bangladesh Perspective” (Masters Thesis, US Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth United States, 2014).
- 21.
Roul, “How Bangladesh Became Fertile Ground for al-Qaida and the Islamic State”, 30; “Two Sentenced to Death in Bangladesh for Killing Blogger”, The Irish Times, December 31, 2015, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/two-sentenced-to-death-in-bangladesh-for-killing-blogger-1.2481665; “Two Sentenced to Death for Bangladesh Blogger Murder”, The Guardian, December 31, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/31/two-sentenced-death-bangladesh-blogger-ahmed-rajib-haider.
- 22.
“Ansar Al-Islam Banned”, The Daily Independent, March 6, 2017, http://www.theindependentbd.com/home/printnews/83957.
- 23.
“Bangladeshi Military ‘Foils Coup Plot’”, The Guardian, January 20, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/19/bangladeshi-military-foils-coup-plot; Saleem Samad, “Bangladesh: Coup Bid Against Sheikh Hasina Foiled”, The India Today, January 28, 2012, https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/20120206-bangladesh-coup-bid-against-sheikh-hasina-foiled-757149-2012-01-28.
- 24.
Golam Mortuja, “Al-Qaeda Bangladesh Outfit Resurfaces”, The Daily Prothom Alo, August 12, 2017, http://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/156089/Ansar-al-Islam-resurfacing-again.
- 25.
Shafi Md Mostofa and Helen Ware, “Development of Daesh's Ideology”, Peace and Security Review 8, no. 18 (2019): 12–22.
- 26.
A region of Myanmar where Rohingyas have been living for centuries.
- 27.
“Al-Qaeda calls on Bangladeshi Muslims to wage jihad against Myanmar Army”, The Dhaka Tribune, December 24, 2017, https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2017/12/24/al-qaeda-calls-bangladeshi-muslims-wage-jihad-myanmar-army/.
- 28.
Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent, “Heinous Aggression on the Fasting-Muslim Prisoners in Bangladesh: A Call for the Muslims to Rise-Up”, Al Hikmah Media (2018).
- 29.
Shafi Md Mostofa, “A Study of Al-Qaeda’s Propaganda Narratives in Bangladesh”, Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 11, no. 2 (2019): 1–6; Shafi Md Mostofa and Natalie J Doyle, “Profiles of Islamist Militants in Bangladesh”, Perspectives on Terrorism 13, no. 5 (2019): 112–129.
- 30.
“Internet Subscribers in Bangladesh”, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, January 2019, http://www.btrc.gov.bd/content/internet-subscribers-bangladesh-january-2019; Tarek Mahmud and Ashif Islam Shaon, “Do Militants Generally Come from Madrasas?” The Dhaka Tribune, January 21, 2018, https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/special/2018/01/21/militants-generally-come-madrasas/.
- 31.
Anne Aly, Stuart Macdonald, Lee Jarvis, and Thomas M. Chen, “Introduction to the Special Issue: Terrorist Online Propaganda and Radicalization”, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40, no. 1 (2017): 1–9.
- 32.
Daniel Koehler, “The Radical Online: Individual Radicalization Processes and the Role of the Internet”, Journal for Deradicalization 1: 116–134.
- 33.
Jerome P. Bjelopera, American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat (Washington, DC: Congress Research Service, 2011).
- 34.
Rashid, Online Radicalization: Bangladesh Perspective.
- 35.
Jeffry R. Halverson, Steven R. Corman, and H. L. Goodall, Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism (New York: Springer, 2011), 14.
- 36.
Halim Rane, “Narratives and Counter-Narratives of Islamist Extremism”, in Violent Extremism Online: New Perspectives on Terrorism and the Internet, ed. S. M. Anne Aly, Lee Jarvis, and Thomas Chen (London: Routledge, 2016), 167–185.
- 37.
Samantha Mahood and Halim Rane, “Islamist Narratives in ISIS Recruitment Propaganda”, The Journal of International Communication 23, no. 1 (2017): 17; Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda & Persuasion, 5th ed. (Sage, 2012), 7.
- 38.
Ibid.
- 39.
Ibid.; Halverson, Corman, and Goodall, Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism, 24.
- 40.
Ibid.
- 41.
Alex P. Schmid, Al-Qaeda’s “Single Narrative” and Attempts to Develop Counter-Narratives: The State of Knowledge (The Hague: International Centre for Countre-Terrorism, 2014).
- 42.
Sarah Logan, “Grasping at Thin Air: Countering Terrorist narratives Online”, in Violent Extremism Online, ed. S. M. Anne Aly, Lee Jarvis, and Thomas Chen (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), 151, 165–182.
- 43.
Mohammad Sinan Siyech and Nazneen Mohsina, “Anti-India Sentiments in South Asia: Terrorist Recruitment Narratives”, The Middle East Institute, July 23, 2018, https://www.mei.edu/publications/anti-india-sentiments-south-asia-terrorist-recruitment-narratives.
- 44.
Alaister Reed, “Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent: A New Frontline in the Global Jihadist Movement?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Policy Brief (2016).
- 45.
Shafi Md Mostofa, “Islamist Cyber-Radicalization in Bangladesh During COVID-19”, The Australian Outlook, December 12, 2020, https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/cyber-radicalisation-bangladesh/.
- 46.
Maulana Asim Umar, “The Third World War and Dajjal”, Azan, Issue 1 (2013), 39.
- 47.
Imam Mahdi is an apocalyptic figure who will emerge in the end time. He will once again bring back the prophetic pure religion and reestablish Islam.
- 48.
By ummah, it is meant the whole community of Muslims bound together by ties of religion. Mostofa, Shafi Md, “Islam Beyond Borders: The Umma in World Politics. By James Piscatori and Amin Saikal”, Journal of Church and State (2021): 143–145; Mostofa, Shafi Md, “Islam and Politics in Bangladesh: The Followers of Ummah: By Mubashar Hasan”, Global Change, Peace and Security (2020): 1–2.
- 49.
Howard Brasted, Imran Ahmed, and Shafi Md Mostofa, “Revisiting S.P. Huntington’s ‘The Clash of Civilizations’ Thesis”, in Shahram Akbarzadeh, Routledge Handbook of Political Islam, 2nd ed. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2021).
- 50.
Maulana Asim Umar, “The Third World War and Dajjal”, Azan, Issue 2 (2013), 84.
- 51.
Mohammad Qasim, “On the Road to Khalifah”. Azan, Issue 1 (2013), 15–16.
- 52.
Alastair Reed, “Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent: A New Frontline in the Global Jihadist Movement?” ICCT Policy Brief (2016): 8.
- 53.
Sulaiman Ahmed, “Bangladesh at the Crossroads”, Resurgence, Issue 1 (2014), 80.
- 54.
AQIS, “Code of Conduct” (Shabab Media: 2017), 10.
- 55.
Shaikh Tamim Al Adnani, “Defense Agreement with India: Hindu Domination”, Al Balagh, Issue 3 (2017), 15.
- 56.
AQIS, “Code of Conduct”, 9.
- 57.
Mufti Abdullah Ashraf, “Call to Muslim Ummah” (Al Hikmah Media: 2016), 2.
- 58.
Ahmed, “Bangladesh at the Crossroads”, 80.
- 59.
Siyech and Mohsina, “Anti-India Sentiments in South Asia: Terrorist Recruitment Narratives”.
- 60.
Ayman Al Zawahiri, “Bangladesh … Massacre Behind A Wall Of Silence”.
- 61.
“A Sustainable Policy for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh”, International Crisis Group, December 27, 2019, https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/bangladesh/303-sustainable-policy-rohingya-refugees-bangladesh.
- 62.
Al Qaeda, “Burma”, Azan, Issue 2 (2013), 72.
- 63.
Mohammad Miqdaad, “Adopt the Call of Allah; Say “No” to Jahiliyyah” (An Nasr Media: 2017), 9.
- 64.
Ibid., 6.
- 65.
Shaikh Tamim Al Adnani, “To Help the Oppressed Rohingyas: What Do the Muslim Ummah Do?” Al Balagh, Issue 6 (2017), 17–24.
- 66.
Ashraf, “Call to Muslim Ummah”, 1–3.
- 67.
See, for example, Gary LaFree, and Laura Dugan, “Research on Terrorism and Countering Terrorism”, Crime and Justice 38, no. 1 (2008): 413–477; Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God (London: University of California Press, 2000); Tinka Veldhuis and Jorgen Staun, Islamist Radicalisation: A Root Cause Model (Netherlands: Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, 2009).
- 68.
For JeI’s details see: Shafi Md Mostofa, “Jamaát-e-Islami and Trust-building in Bangladesh”, Journal of Politics and Policy, Wiley and Blackwell (2021), https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12403.
- 69.
The list of their demands was as follows: (1) Reinstatement of “Absolute trust and faith in Allah” in the Constitution of Bangladesh and abolition of all laws which are in conflict with the values of the Quran and Sunnah; (2) Enactment of an anti-defamation law by the parliament keeping the death penalty as the highest form of punishment to prevent defamation of Allah, Muhammad (S.A.W) and Islam, and to prevent spreading hate against Muslims (the highest penalty prevalent for defamation is 10 years imprisonment); (3) Immediate end to the negative propaganda by all atheist bloggers in a leading role in the so-called Shahbag movement who have defamed Allah, Mohammad (S.A.W), and Islam and their exemplary punishment; (4) End to all alien cultural practices like immodesty, lewdness, misconduct, culture of free mixing of the sexes, candle lighting in the name of personal freedom and free speech; (5) Abolishment of the anti-Islamic inheritance law and the ungodly education policy. Making Islamic education compulsory at all levels from primary to higher secondary; (6) Declaration of Ahmadis as non-Muslims by the government and put a stop to their negative and conspirational activities; (7) Stop installing more statues in the name of sculpture at road intersections and educational institutions to save Dhaka the city of mosques, from becoming the city of statues; (8) Remove all the hassles and obstructions at Baitul Mokarram and all mosques in Bangladesh which prevent Muslims from offering prayer. Also stop creating obstruction for people to attend religious sermons and other religious gatherings (9) Stop the spread of Islamophobia among the youth through depiction of negative characters on TV plays and movies in religious attire and painting negative stereotypes of the beard, cap, and Islamic practices on various media; (10) Stop anti-Islamic activities at Chittagong propagated by several NGO’s and Christian missionaries under the guise of religious conversion. (11) End to the massacre, indiscriminate firing and attacks on the prophet-loving Muslim scholars, madrassa students, and the public. (12) End to all threats against Islamic scholars, madrassa students and Imams and Muslim clerics of mosques throughout the country. (13) Immediate and unconditional release of all detained Islamic scholars, madrassa students, and members of the public and withdrawal of all false cases filed against them. Compensation to families of all injured and deceased and exemplary punishment to all those responsible Fahmida Zaman, “Agencies of Social Movements: Experiences of Bangladesh’s Shahbag Movement and Hefazat-e-Islam”, Journal of Asian and African Studies 53, no. 3 (2018): 339–349; Mostofa, Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: A Pyramid Root Cause Model.
- 70.
Atique, “Genocide: Killing of Hundreds of Unarmed Hefazate Islam Activists”, CNN (2013), http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-969381.
- 71.
Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Musharaf Zahoor, “Bangladesh-Pakistan Relations: Hostage to a Traumatic Past”, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 57, no. 1 (2019): 31–51.
- 72.
David Bergman, “Death Sentences for Two Bangladesh Leaders Upheld”, Al Jazeera, November 18, 2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/death-sentences-bangladesh-leaders-upheld-151118055645478.html.
- 73.
Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent, “Bangladesh”, Resurgence, Issue 1 (2014), 16.
- 74.
Ahmed, “Bangladesh at the Crossroads”, 79.
- 75.
Ibid.
- 76.
Al Qaeda, “Bangladesh”, 72.
- 77.
Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent, “Don't Be Frustrated Victory Will Be Yours”, Al Balagh, Issue 1 (2016), 1; M. A. Ashraf, “Call to Muslim Ummah”, 1–4.
- 78.
Ibid.
- 79.
Rashid Mahmud, “Religion Is Personal But Festivals Are for All: An Un-Islamic Slogan”, Al Balagh, Issue 6 (2017), 32.
- 80.
Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent, “Reverse Thinking about Marriageable Age”, Al Balagh, Issue 1 (2016), 39; Liz Ford, “Bangladesh Urged to Combat ‘Epidemic of Child Marriage’”, The Guardian, June 9, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jun/09/bangladesh-urged-combat-epidemic-child-marriage.
- 81.
Shaikh Tamim Al Adnani, “Rape Is on the Rise, What Is the Remedy?” Al Balagh, Issue 5 (2017), 16; AQIS, “What Is the Main Reason Behind the Rise of Divorce, Extra-Marital Relations and Conjugal Dissatisfaction”, Al Balagh, Issue 1 (2016), 40.
- 82.
Ahmed, “Bangladesh at the Crossroads”, 81.
- 83.
Rashid, Online Radicalization: Bangladesh Perspective.
- 84.
Tipu Sultan, “IS Has Arrived with Atrocities”.
- 85.
“Ansar al Islam (AAI) Bangladesh”, globalsecurity.org (2017), https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/aai-b.htm.
- 86.
Animesh Roul, “How Bangladesh Became Fertile Ground for al-Qaida and the Islamic State”, 31.
- 87.
Tipu Sultan, “IS Has Arrived with Atrocities”.
- 88.
Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (London: Hurst and Company, 2004), 1.
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Mostofa, S.M. (2022). Religious Extremism and Terrorist Recruitment: The Case of Al Qaeda in Bangladesh. In: Ahmed, I., Ahmed, Z.S., Brasted, H., Akbarzadeh, S. (eds) Religion, Extremism and Violence in South Asia. Politics of South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6847-0_7
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