TAREQ RAHMAN : THE SHADOW GOD FATHER OF ISLAMI MILITANT IN BANGLADESH

Tareq Rahman, son of late President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, was born on November 20, 1966 in Karachi. Tareq is married to Zubeida, daughter of the former Navy Chief M A Khan. Zubeida is a physician by profession. They have one daughter- Zaima Rahman. Tareq Rahman took up business setting up a textile mill in 1988 as well as started a water transport business. He actively involved in politics in 1993, becoming a general member of the Bogra unit of BNP. BNP entered into an alliance with two Islamic parties that seek the theocratization of Bangladesh, the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Islami Oikya Jote/Islamic Unity Alliance, as well as with a dissident faction of the secular Jatiya Party. In October 2001 parliamentary elections, the BNP alliance captured 215 seats (BNP: 191, coalition partners: 24) against the Awami Leagues acquisition of only 62 seats. And the son of PM Khaleda Zia Tareq Rahman become the Senior Vice Chairman of the party and become the key person of 4 party alliance. The Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh basically become desperate to have tie with Tareq Rahman and started massacre country wide. The empire built by Tareq and his crony Giasuddin-Al-Mamun was exposed for inspection by the intelligence agencies and their findings started making headlines: bank accounts in Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa, Malaysia, investments in UAE, deals with Subrata Bain and Daud Ibrahim, Khamba Limited, Channel One, Dandy Dyeing, Orion, One Group, commissions, extortions, lobbying. He directly worked for nursing islami militants in Bangladesh during 2001-2006 The rise of violent Islamic militancy in Bangladesh is now a part of South Asia. The desperately poor country with large ungoverned tracts could become a haven for Islamic terrorists, forced to vacate other countries. There is no denying fact that fundamentalism feeds on ignorance and poverty. Ignorance begets fear, lack of judgment, intolerance, cowardice and faith-based, unscientific beliefs. Ignorant people can be misled quite easily, people who live in a perpetual state of poverty understandably turn to faith. Political parties with a Wahabi-leaning have long operated in Asia and Africa with the backing of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, they operate as 'Jamat-e-Islami', in Africa as 'Islamic Brotherhood', in Malaysia and Indonesia as 'Jamaaal-Islam' and in Central Asia as 'Islamic Movement'. In Bangladesh many militant fundamentalist groups and factions function under the umbrella of Jamat-e-Islami. All these groups are anyhow connected with Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam which has a tie with Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Tareq Rahman. No other Muslim country can boast of such a large number of militant groups; not even Pakistan or Afghanistan - the well known breeding grounds for Islamic fanaticism. What explains this is the fact that Jamat-e-Islami has become a partner of the ruling party only in Bangladesh. Even in Afghanistan, Jamat-e-Islami's partner organization could go to power but could not hold on to it for long. Although Jamat-e-Islami is part of the coalition government in the North West in Pakistan, the party comprises opposition in the center. Shortly after the US attacks on Afghan began in October 2001, Jamaat created a fund for "helping the innocent victims of America's war". According to Jamaat, Tk12m (US$210,000) was raised before the effort was discontinued in March. Remaining funds, Jamaat says, will go to Afghan refugees in camps in Pakistan Anti-US rhetoric has
1

continued. In December 2001, Maulana Ubaidul Haq, the khatib (cleric), of Bangladesh's national mosque, Baitul Mukarram, and a Jamaat associate, publicly condemned the US war on terror and urged followers to wage holy war against the USA. "President Bush and America is the most heinous terrorist in the world. Both America and Bush must be destroyed. The Americans will be washed away if Bangladesh's 120 million Muslims spit on them," the cleric told a gathering of hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims which included several high ranking government officials. The 26 October 2005 issue of the Daily 'Sangbad' published a photographic report depicting Jamat-e-Islami's connection with Afghan militancy. The report titled 'Jamat's Afghan connection' carried a photograph of Jamat leader and parliamentarian Maolana Sobhan along with Hekmatiar. Maolana Sobhan had had a meeting with Hekmatiar somewhere in Peshawar, Pakistan. The 7 November 2005 issue of the Daily Star published an investigative report by Julfikar Manik establishing IOJ's connection with al-Qaeda with ample evidence. Inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Mollah Omar, the Bangladeshi Talibans published a bulletin under the same nomenclature in August 1998. The bulletin published an interview of extremist leader Maolana Habibur Rahman from Sylhet who gave an overview of his visit to Afghanistan along with other IOJ stalwarts, his meeting with bin Laden and participation in the war against the erstwhile Soviet Union. In March 1998 a nine-member delegation led by IOJ leader Shaikhul Hadith Azizul Haq visited Afghanistan at the invitation of Harkatul Jihad. The delegation also included former Member of Parliament and BNP leader Maolana Ataur Rahman. The 2001-06 BNP-Jamaat government turned a blind eye to the rise of militancy and corruption. Here I will discuss how it was connected with Islami Militants; Islamists tied to the International Khatme Nabuwat Movement (IKNM) wreaked havoc in Pakistan and Indonesia and are active in many other Muslim-majority countries with the declared goal of preserving the finality of Muhammads prophethood. Throughout 2004 and in 2005, the Khatme Nabuwat (KN), an umbrella organization of Islamist groups dedicated to the preservation of the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad, has threatened the Ahmadiya community with attacks on their mosques and campaigned for Ahmadis to be declared non-Muslim. The KN enjoys links to the governing Bangladesh National Party (BNP) through the BNPs coalition partners, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the IOJ. In March 1999, IOJ chairman Amini told a public meeting: We are for Osama [Bin Ladin], we are for the Taliban, and we will be in government in 2000 through an Islamic revolution . And observed in one of the concluding paragraphs: This BNP-Islamic coalition strengthened countrywide forces supporting the Islamization of Bangladesh and the imposition of the rule of sharia (Islamic law). Many of the leading Islamic radicals active today in Bangladesh came through the ranks of JEIs youth wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) and reportedly continue to maintain contacts with the organization. To be sure, in the wake of the coalitions formation, Islamic militants have increased their harassment of, and attacks on the political opposition, religious and sectarian minorities and secular intellectuals, journalists and citizens. The secular opposition Awami League (AL) is a primary target of Islamic extremists. In August 2004, Islamic militants tried to assassinate AL opposition leader Sheikh Hasina at a political rally. AL politician Ivy Rahman was killed in a grenade attack along with twenty three others, and hundreds of people were injured. In January 2005, a grenade attack on an AL rally killed a former finance minister, his nephew, and three AL activists. Tareq Rahman allegedly masterminded the botched supply of 10 truckloads of Chinese arms to ULFA boss Paresh
2

Baruah with ISI help when his mother headed the BNP-led coalition government. The cache of arms included Chinese made 27,020 grenades, 840 rocket launchers, 300 accessories of rocket launchers, 2,000 grenade launching tubes, 6,392 magazines and 1,140,520 bullets, which, according to a Bangladeshi intelligence official, could have triggered 20 Mumbai type attacks if ULFA had got them. Sources say that Bangladesh Task Force Interrogation (TFI) officials conducting the investigation are all set to frame charges against Rahman. Former Jamaat-e-Islami Amir and Industries Minister Matiur Rahman Nizami, former BNP Home Minister of State Lutfozzaman Babar, who is in CID custody. Paresh Baruah and several others have been charged in the arms haul case. Baruah's whereabouts are not known as he reportedly fled Bangladesh after the crackdown on Indian insurgents by the Hasina government. The TFI has not ruled out the involvement of Khaleda Zia herself in the plot as she headed the home ministry in the absence of a full minister. According to attorney general Mahbubey Alam and additional attorney general M.K. Rahman, who represented the state, Babar, a close confidant of Tareq Rahman and one of the prime accused in the arms haul case will be produced at the Chittagong court on Monday. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Shafiqul Islam, the president of the Awami League, Russia unit, said, "Babar as the state minister for home affairs, was never involved in any serious case without instructions from Tareq, but, fearing revenge, he may not recognise Tareq's involvement." Sources say that Indian intelligence authorities had information about Tareq Rahman's meetings with Baruah at a posh Dhaka hotel. "Hafizur Rahman has confessed before the magistrate (of a Bangladeshi court) that he had met Tareq at Hawa Bhaban along with Ulfa leader Paresh Baruah on April 1, 2004," Bangladesh's state-run news agency BSS quoted a senior police official as saying A Human Rights Watch report, Bangladesh: Breach of Faith (2005), had stated that Khatme Nabuwat had close links to the ruling BNP through the Jamaat-e-Islami and the IOJ, its coalition partners. It was the same Noor Hossain Noorani who had said Tareq Rahman, senior secretary general of the BNP, was their amir and same-aged friend, and had threatened police officials saying Tareq would directly intervene if Khatme Nabuwats anti-Ahmadiyya campaign was obstructed. According to reports, high-up intelligence agency officials had mediated contacts between the ruling party and Khatme Nabuwat. We have discussed this program with Tareq Bhai (an apparent reference to Tareq Rahman) central and local IKNM leaders threatened to turn the capital Dhaka into a bleeding battleground on December 23, if the government does not declare the Ahmadiyas as non-Muslims by then, from a rally attended by about 7,000 people in Sathmatha after Jumma prayers. This is just a warm-up and we are not using the least bit of violence, but if they (Ahmadiyas) are not declared non-Muslims by December 23, we are all-set for a blood-bath in Dhaka, Maulana Noor Hossain Noorani, told the rally. We have discussed this program with Tareq Bhai (an apparent reference to Tareq Rahman) and he has assured us that we will have all-out support from the administration in carrying it out, Maulana Mumtazi said. After the rally, a four-member team of the IKNM lead by Maulana Mumtazi was taken to the Ahmadiya mosque by some police officials. Earlier, they (police and IKNM leaders) discussed and agreed upon a procedure to end the rally peacefully. Police lead by SP Mortaza thanked the IKNM leaders for leading a well-organised rally and offered full-cooperation while thousand of IKNM activists, carrying long-sticks, kept the town under siege. Till filing of this wire (9 pm) police was guarding the signboard in front of the Ahmadiya mosque.
3

At the rally in Bogra, Mufti Noor Hossain Noorani declared that Tareq, the guardian of Bogra, was our Amir and same-aged friend and threatened the police officials with Tareqs direct intervention if IKNMs demands were not met. The riot-gear clad police melted down before the bigots and gave in. Weeks later, a video footage of the statement came into my possession and is now hosted online at my blog (see end of this story for the address). We are part of the alliance-government. We have already consulted with Bhaiya (Tareq Rahman). He offered us full support , with a broad smile on his face a central IKNM leader told me hours before the rally at Sathmatha while a few others smiled and nodded in agreement. We hold regular meetings at the cantonment. Tareq Rahman is our leader, we are part of the government. In fact, whoever opposes us, the so-called civil society are the enemies of the Bangladesh state . Weeks later, copies of a CD containing the video footage (a clip also hosted at my blog now) of that press briefing were circulated in Dhaka and reached the hands of human rights activists and the international community. The intelligence chief was not the only state official exploited by Khaleda Zia and her son in sponsoring the IKNM. Following the footsteps of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Zia-ulHaq of Pakistan who used the anti-Ahmadiya hate groups there to gain control over Islamists in the 1970s, Tareq Rahman wanted to build IKNM as his own army of ultra-right storm-troopers. In engineering the countrywide hate campaigns, Tareq was assisted by the then chief of National Security Intelligence. As local and international fury was building up on the Ahmadiya issue, in late 2005, I was told by one of my sources close to the agency that the an intelligence chief had assigned one of his deputies to pressure the leaders of the Ahmadiya Muslim Jamaat in signing a testimony stating that the Ahmadiya community in Bangladesh were enjoying absolute religious freedom and were not suffering any violence or hate campaigns. A delegation of Ahmadiya leaders who reportedly met four intelligence officials humbly turned down the offer demanding that the government first take steps to free their mosques under occupation in different parts of the country. Tareqs anti-Ahmadiya adventure aimed at gaining political currency with the right was carried out with active participation by two of his most trusted men: then State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar and Mossadek Ali Falu . While Babar made sure that the police assist IKNM with their rallies and mosque defacements, Falu was in charge of coordinating with their leaders and different madrasahs that fed IKNM with a supply of young members. Every time the police obstructs an IKNM program, Babar picks up his phone and showers the officers with obscene threats. Who is going to stand up to the home minister, one of my sources close to the Hawa Bhaban told me in early 2006. The same source detailed earlier in 2004 how Mossadek Ali Falu used madrasah students close to IKNM for casting fake votes in the Dhaka 10 by-election. Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) formed in the late 1990s, the two organizations, said to be sister/twin organizations, seek the violent creation of an Islamic, sharia-based state in Bangladesh. The JMB has been led by a triumvirate consisting of Maulana Abdur Rahman, a former activist of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, also a leader of the JMB, and Muhammad Asadullah al-Ghalib, the chief of another Islamic outfit, Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh (AHAB). Abdur Rahman is considered JMBs spiritual leader, while Bangla Bhai is reportedly its operational chief. The JMB/JMJB leadership suffered a significant setback when
4

Bangladeshi authorities arrested Ghalib in February 2005 and Rahman and Bhai in March 2006. The JMB is responsible for Bangladeshs first suicide bombing attackthe November 29, 2005, attack on two courthouses in Ghazipur and Chittagong that killed nine people and for other suicide bombings since. It specifically targets lawyers and judges in its effort to undermine the non-Islamic judicial system currently in place. The JMB is linked to the global jihad in several ways. It is a sister organization to Jamaatul Mujahideen groups in India and Pakistan. It reportedly procures arms and explosives from militant groups in Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, India, and China. Furthermore, the JMB is said to receive funds from donors in Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. The Kuwait-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, whose assets were blocked by the U.S. and the UN in 2002 for its links with Al-Qaida, has reportedly funded JMB and is suspected of funding the August 2005 bomb blasts. Others NGOs, including Doulatul Kuwait, UAE-based Al Fuzaira, Khairul Ansar Al Khairia, Bahrain-based Doulatul Bahrain, and the Saudi Arabia-based Al Haramain Islamic Institute have reportedly provided, over the years, a generous amount of funding to the organization. JMB is closely linked with the ruling coalitions JEI. Many of its members are drawn from the Islamic Chhatra Shibir (ICS)the JEIs student wing . The JMB is a multilayered organization with finance, public relations, external relations, recruitment, intelligence and military wings. It is said to have terrorist training bases across Bangladesh and about 10,000 full-time and 100,000 part-time members. JMBs first violent act was reported to be the February 2003 bomb explosions in Dinajpur, which wounded three people. In August 2005, JMB claimed responsibility for detonating 459 synchronized bombs across Bangladesh. Bombs went off in 63 of Bangladeshs 64 districts, mainly targeting government institutions and public areas, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others. In leaflets left at the site of the explosions, JMB said: Were the soldiers of Allah. Weve taken up arms for the implementation of Allahs law. It is time to implement Islamic law in Bangladesh. There is no future with man-made law . The leaflets also warned the United States and Britain: It is also to warn Bush and Blair to vacate Muslim countries, or to face Muslim upsurge. On March 30, Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, Shaykh Abdur Rahman and five other JMB militants were hanged in different jails around the country. The mystery surrounding who was the lead sponsor of JMB was never publicly exposed. By now we know about some junior BNP ministers and MPs who aided JMB at the initial stage. However, we are yet to hear the whole story. Just a few days before the executions my chance conversation with a regional commander of JMB opened a new lead on the story. Minister Aminul Haque and Dulu (Ruhul Quddus) used to have regular meetings with leader (Bangla Bhai) in 2003, then in 2004. Then they used to consult directly with Tareq Rahman over Aminul Haques mobile phone. Leader used to inform Tareq before every crucial operation and seek his support, he detailed. Confirming this version, a recent report by vernacular daily Bhorer Kagoj quoted JMB sources who claimed that Bangla Bhai maintained such a close tie with Tareq Rahman that he used to address Tareq as mama (maternal uncle). Even after the August 2005 bombings Tareqs support for the jihadist organizations in Bangladesh continued. On many occasions intelligence officials tried investigating financial links of these terrorist organizations and faced huge pressure from government high-ups. It was Tareq who played the dirty game and derailed investigations, always, one senior intelligence official told me about their frustrations.
5

On March 23, The Daily Star reported: Intelligence agencies may investigate alleged links between arrested Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP Tareq Rahman and Dubai-based Indian underworld don Daud Ibrahim. Communications Adviser M.A. Matin made this comment to reporters yesterday when he was asked about a Kolkata-based newspaper report that quoted Indian intelligence agency officials as saying Tareq had close links with Ibrahim as well as the alQaeda. I saw this in newspapers but this is just a bit of information. Now it is the duty of the intelligence agencies to investigate the matter and find out the evidence, he said. The government will have to check the veracity of the reports claims, he added. A report titled Khaledas son contacted Daud to buy arms was published by the daily Anandabazar Patrika citing an intelligence report of the Indian external affairs ministry. Tareq also established contacts with the al-Qaeda through his involvement in the international money laundering, the report claimed. The newspaper said Tareq and the then Intelligence director general travelled to Dubai in March 2006 to secure a series of deals at a Dubai hotel to buy arms and ammunition in the lead up to the cancelled January 22 parliamentary elections. The report said Tareq also purchased a palatial mansion worth $60 million in Dubai. The two also came to an understanding that Tareq would buy large swaths of land which would be locally managed by Ibrahim, the report claimed. JMBs militant activities are also said to be supported by Pakistans intelligence agency, which also supports other global jihad-linked groups, particularly Pakistani terrorist groups operating in Kashmir. The JMB is said to have links with Al-Qaida. Its leader, Rahman, is reported to have met Bin Ladin in Afghanistan. Rahman fought with the mujahideen in Afghanistan and reportedly told interrogators that he had received training in making bombs, handling explosives, and operating sophisticated firearms while there. In December 2005, Bangladeshi security forces arrested Chittagong leader of JMB, Aman Ullah, who told the media that JMB has close links with Al-Qaida. Major Terrorist Attacks in Bangladesh: 2005-06 January 27, 2005: A grenade attack in Hobijong killed Awami League member of Parliament and former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria. August 17, 2005: JMB militants set off nearly 500 small bombs across Bangladesh that killed two people and injured 100 others. October 3, 2005: Suspected JMB militants killed two people and wounded fifteen when they hurled five bombs at court buildings in three districts outside Dhaka. November 14, 2005: A JMB/JMJB bomb attack on a minibus taking judges to work killed two judges November 29, 2005: JMB attacks on two Bangladeshi courthouses in Chittagong and Gazipur, killing nine people. December 1, 2005: A suspected JMB suicide bomber killed one person and injured ten others in Gazipur. December 8, 2005: In the central Bangladeshi town of Netrokona, a JMB suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded 50. That Tareq Rahman was one of the key sponsors of right-wing militancy in Bangladesh is one of the most under-reported stories of the past five years. Tareq Rahman used to recruite Islami militants directly or indirectly from Madrassah & Rohingas. In an interview with the Karachi-based newspaper, Ummat on 28 September 2001, Bin Laden said: "There are areas in all parts of the world where strong jihadi forces are present, from Indonesia to Algeria, from Kabul to Chechnya, from Bosnia to Sudan, and from Myanmar to Kashmir." He was most probably referring to a small group of Rohingyas on the Bangladesh-Myamnar border. Many of the recruits were given the most dangerous tasks
6

in the battlefield, clearing mines and portering. According to Asian intelligence sources, recruits were paid Tk 30,OOO ($525) on joining and then Tk10,OOO ($175) per month. The families of recruits killed in action were offered Tk100,000 ($1,750). Recruits were taken mostly via Nepal to Pakistan, where they were trained and sent on to military camps in Afghanistan. It is not known how many people from this part of Bangladesh - Rohingyas and others - fought in Afghanistan. According to Asian intelligence reports, many of HUJI's members may also have been recruited from Rohingya settlements in the southeastern corner of the country HUJI is headed by an extremist cleric from Chittagong, Maulana Sheikh Farid, who also maintains links with like-minded groups in Pakistan While we see stories on how he and his cronies used public money and offices to fatten their wallets there seems to be a conspiracy of silence as to his role as the Amir of jihad in Bangladesh. That the story of militancy in Bangladesh is not complete without the details of Tareqs involvement is a fact we must come to terms with before it is too late and it is towards the Dhaka Central Jail that we must look for the answers that only the Prince of Bogra can provide. Between March 6, 1999 and January 27, 2005, militant Islamists killed at least 156 people in Bangladesh.1 Friends of Bangladesh both at home and abroad must wake up and resist this murderous regime. Neither democracy nor the rule of law is safe in the hands of this clique. Bangladesh has been a secular Muslim state since its independence from Pakistan and founding by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971.Its a country of secular democracy. Fundamentalists, whether Jamaat-i-Islami in Bangladesh, Siva Sena or Viswa Hindu Parishad in India, or Islami Salvation Army in Algeria or Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or their Jewish or Christian varieties in Europe or Asia, are threats to peace, progress and stability. Terrorism is their creed. They do not love religion but make use of it to achieve their fascist goals. It is heartening to see that many governments around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the grave dangers of allowing religion to be used for political purpose. We must say No to Tareque Rahman in Bangladesh Politics when it has been clear that he is the greatest patron of Islami Militants in Bangladesh. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References : 1. CRS report for Congress : Islamist Extremism in Bangladesh - Bruce vaughn , Specialist insoutheast & south asian affair 2. Stemming the Rise of Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh - Sajeeb A. Wazed 3. The Genesis of Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh by Sarwar Alam ,Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. 4. **BANGLADESHS ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS AND AL Survey 5. by Dr. Subhash Kapila 6. **Bangladesh Extremist Islamist Consolidation Bertil Lintner 7. **BANGLADESH: The Rise Of Religious Zealotry -by Sumit Ganguly 8. **How extremism came to Bangladesh Foreign funding and bitter politics may have played a role in the recent bombings-By David Montero, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor / September 7, 2005 9. Jamat-e Islami & Islamic Militancy in Bangladesh, Shahriar Kabir 10. ISLAMIC EXTREMISM AND BANGLADESH, Kazi Anwarul Masud -Former Secretary and Ambassador, Bangladesh 11. Islamic Extremism and Terrorism in Bangladesh, Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein 12. Khaleda son ran arms into India - Susenjit Guha, Kolkata 13. Reign Of Terror In Bangladesh, BNP-Jamaat Government Orchestrates Spiraling Political Killings. - Manjurul Imam 14. Religious Extremism and Nationalism in Bangladesh -Bertil Lintner AEDA PRESENCE:A