Burdwan case: NIA probe exposes efforts to radicalise Bangladesh

Security agencies are alarmed at the probe findings that reveals consistent efforts to radicalise Bangladesh.

Security agencies are alarmed at the probe findings that reveals consistent efforts to radicalise Bangladesh.

“The probe has revealed an alarming picture of efforts to overthrow the Bangladesh government. There are enough indications to show that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and another international Islamist group Hizb-ut Tehrir (HT) are working in tandem in Bangladesh. HT is already banned in Bangladesh and many Arab countries and over a dozen army officers associated with it were found to be behind the failed coup attempt in the Bangladesh in 2011,” said a counter terror official requesting anonymity.

HT, known for its radical and extremist views, works for establishing an Islamic state in countries with a Muslim majority through military coup. It was founded in 1952.

“There is again a nexus of HT and JMB cadres with Islami Chatra Shibir, which is the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a hard-line political outfit there. They are mainly concentrated in Rajshahi division of Bangladesh. The division shares its international border with Nadia, Murshidabad and Birbhum and Malda districts of West Bengal, where the JMB had found many hideouts and training centres for its Indian recruits. Not only that, the NIA also found documents related to al Qaeda’s sharia council in a JMB hideout,” the official said.

(With inputs from Kolkata bureau)