No matter what the government’s senior ministers have been claiming about their “success” in taming militancy, banned outfits such as Hizb ut-Tahrir are openly carrying on with their activities in Dhaka.
This Dhaka Tribune reporter yesterday saw three young men in their late teens and early twenties, standing in front of the Sukrabad Mosque near Dhanmondi, distributing leaflets among people coming out after the evening Maghrib prayers.
Although the group is banned, none of the recipients of the leaflets visibly objected.
Reportedly, such leaflets were being distributed among people after the Friday afternoon’s Jummah prayers near the Uttara mosque as well.
Fazalul Haque, a resident of Sukrabad, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not a new thing in the area. They would come with such leaflets every two days. You will see them every now and then if you keep an eye on the mosque.”
One of those leaflet starts with a message which translates into English as: “Countrymen! Where is that army officer who can say,...Not a single more bullet fired on the countrymen will be tolerated?”
Those familiar with the mode of operation of Hizb ut-Tahrir indicate that the group aspires for a “peaceful” shift towards an Islamic Shariah-based state by pursuing influential quarters such as the elite and the armed forces.
The leaflet that the Dhaka Tribune has collected also directly addresses army officers and people with power towards the end.
The message follows a black panel with words printed in bold white that appeared to be the heading of the leaflet.
“Oppressor Hasina, in order to make you bow in front of her misrule, has come down with bullets and bombs. There is only one way out – urge the duteous officers of the armed forces to remove her and hand over power to the Hizb ut-Tahrir for establishing Khilafat,” the long heading reads.
Referring to both Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the leaflet said it was not the “taqdeer” or fate of the Muslims to be oppressed by rulers like them.
The leaflet also called for an end of what it said was “all kinds of foreign interference in the internal matters of the country.”
It also advises recipients to encourage the army officers among their acquaintances to topple Sheikh Hasina.
At the end of the leaflet, there is another black panel which appears like a “letter tail” with the name Hizb ut-Tahrir written in big fonts in Bangla. It contains the link to a webpage and a Facebook page and an email address. There is a mobile number which it says can be used to contact with the “media offices of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ulaiyah Bangladesh.”
The end panel also has the link to the Facebook page of Hizb ut-Tahrir chief Sheikh Ata’ Ibn Khalil Abu Ar-Rashta.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has chapters in scores of countries around the globe, started its activities in Bangladesh in 2000.
In October 2009, the Home Ministry banned the outfit and law enforcers have rounded up several members of its leaders and activists. Despite the ban, they have also brought out processions in the capital in the past.
When contacted, Abul Kalam Azad, director of RAB’s intelligence wing, claimed that the outlawed group’s activities was totally stalled even until two days ago. But recently RAB have noticed that the outfit have been distributing leaflets in front of various mosques.
Any of the leaflet distributors are still to be picked up because they would stay around in place for a very short time, the RAB director said.
“They are especially targetting the weekly Jummah prayers,” he said.
“We have taken stern actions against the members of the outfit in past and our drive against them will continue. We hope to be able to stop them soon,” he added.