A militant outfit named Allahr Dol, meaning Allah’s party, has been trying to organise in recent times mainly in the northern parts of Bangladesh.
Local law enforcers said the outfit’s activities have so far spread to Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rajshahi and Dinajpur districts in the north, Khulna in the south-west and Jhalakathi in the south.
They also said the outfit has been getting support, shelter and backup from the local chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami.
In a drive on March 17, the Patgram police in Lalmonirhat arrested 13 members of the outfit and unearthed a secret training camp situation in a jute field just 400 yards from India’s Dangabari border. In the subsequent months, several more top leaders of the outfit were arrested at different parts of the country.
However, all of them are now out on bail. Law enforcers have taken special security measures and kept them under close watch so that they cannot get involved in any untowards incidents, sources said.
Local police said they had first come to know about the outfit back in 2007 after the arrest of a militant named Motin Mehedi. He was later sentenced to three years in jail in 2013 by a Kurigram court. But he had been maintaining a strong network from inside the jail.
Jamaat’s involvement
Among the 13 arrested in March was a man named Aynal Haque Prodhan, 32. Police said he is also a local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami from Rahmatpur area of Patgram.
After the arrest, Aynal was taken on a two-day remand and law enforcers claimed that they had got some sensational information from him.
He reportedly told the law enforcers during interrogation that he had been using the local Jamaat network to recruit members for Allahr Dol. They had been paying regular visits to the poor families and trying to convince them about Allahr Dol’s activities.
Dhaka Tribune has learnt that Anwarul Islam Raju, brother-in-law of condemned war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, is now leading Jamaat’s activities in Patgram.
Currently, he is said to have been coordinating preparation efforts so that they can take immediate actions in case Mujahid is executed.
A local Jamaat leader and former upazila council chairman, Alauddin Islam Fatemi, is now reportedly training up a team and keeping it ready to act as soon as any order comes from the Jamaat high command.
Fatemi, who is accused in at least 17 cases, allegedly led the party’s activities during the violence that preceded the January 5 national elections last year.
Mode of operation
According to TM Mujahidul Islam, chief of Lalmonirhat district police, all the militant outfits in the country have emerged from the same root – Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
“The people who have been organising under the banner of Allahr Dol are all from the JMB. As JMB is banned, they are now trying to reorganise under a different umbrella and are applying new techniques,” the police superintendent said.
Allahr Dol does not yet have any established source of finance, at least not that police know of. They would collect money in the form of monthly donations from their well-wishers and subscription from the members.
The outfit had been mainly targetting and recruiting the unemployed young men with little or no education from poor families. A lion part of the money they accumulate every month is spent for the poor families so that they feel indebted and hence do not object if their children join the outfit.
Some of the money is also spent for arranging and giving militancy training to the recruits.
In August, the Dhaka Tribune reporters managed to contact Rafiqul Islam, father of one of the 13 arrestees named Masud Rana, 19. Their house is located in Rahmatpur area in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat.
Asked why he let his son join a militant group, Rafiqul got angry. “They [Allahr Dol] are not a militant group. They are just God-faring people. But law enforcers are arresting them without any reason. Those who did this [arrested the militants] must get punished for their act.”
Allahr Dol has also been confusing the local poor people by giving striking but wrong interpretations and explanations of Islam.
“For example, they would tell people, especially the illiterate ones, that offering prayers standing behind an Imam in a mosque is wrong because the Imam takes money for his service. They tell people that anyone who works for Islam and spreading the religion does not do it for money,” said Mahfuz Alam, an inspector at the Patgram police station.
Mahfuz also said that they had been running a counter campaign to make people aware that the messages and interpretations given by the Allahr Dol were wrong and so they should not give into their temptations.
Technology
Mahfuz said although one of their top leaders Masud had been arrested, there are hints that the outfit had been maintaining a strong network, mainly using mobile phones.
“After arresting the 13 members of the outfit, we got the mobile phone number of a top leader who is outside. When we called that number, the leader asked for a code and voice regonition.
“We got the code from one of the arrestees but failed in the voice recognition test. Immediately the leader hung up, switched off the phone and had never turned it back on,” Mahfuz said.
“There has not been any visible activities of the outfit over the last two months. But they may still be active underground,” the inspector said.
Lalmonirhat police chief (SP) TM Mujahidul Islam said they had taken special security measures for the foreigners living in the area and also Durga Puja.
“If any sort of untoward incident happens, we will take necessary actions,” he said.