Hefazat-e-Islam’s May 5 rally last year can be remembered as the latest example of how the fanatic and radical Islamist outfits are repeatedly being used as mercenary groups by rightwing communal political parties to serve their motives.
Last year, Hefazat was inducted into a list of mercenary role-players alongside banned outfits Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (Huji-B), Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB).
Before the May 5 rally at Shapla Chattarin Motijheel – the busiest business district of the city – Hefazat said it was for pressing the 13-point demand.
However, pre- and post-rally circumstances and developments made it clear that Hefazat was used as mercenary group by the then BNP-Jamaat-led 18-party opposition alliance to topple the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
Hefazat labelled itself a “non-political” organisation that worked for Islamic religious issues. But, a confessional statement, given to law enforcers by its Secretary General Junaid Babunagari after the May 5 mayhem, revealed how they had been used by BNP and Jamaat for “political” purposes.
Babunagari claimed that on the day of the rally, many leaders of Hefazat had told him that the movement was not only for pressing the 13-point demand but also for ousting the government.
“The 18-party will provide [them with] all sorts of assistance – money, food and water. We have an understanding with the 18-party leaders,” Babunagari claimed to have been told by the Hefazat leaders.
The Hefazat second-in-command also blamed Jamaat-Shibir, Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal activists for the rampage and looting in the Motijheel, Paltan and Baitul Mokarram areas on that day.
The Hefzat men were supposed to leave the Shapla Chattar area in the afternoon after ending their rally. But, out of the blue, they decided to continue their stay.
In the evening on that day,BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, then the leader of the opposition in parliament,asked her party men to extend their support to Hefazat by joining rally.
On the day before the rally, Khaleda warned the ruling Awami League saying: “...we will declare such programmes that you will have to flee or quit power.”
The next day, a Hefajat leader in his speech at the rally issued a similar warning,asking the ruling party leaders to think about where they would hide after that night.
Babunagari also described how they had been given money by the BNP-Jamaat alliance to continue their program for ousting the Hasina-ledgovernment.
Compared to some of its predecessors such as the Huji-B and the JMB, Hefazatis a relatively newIslamist fundamentalist and fanatic outfit.
It was launched on January 10, 2010 by Qawmi Madrasa leaders, many of whom were founders and organisers of Huji-B.
But Hefazat, who had not been in the scene for most of time since its launching,surfaced suddenly after the Shahbagh-based Gonojagoron Moncho in February last year raised a strong demand for ensuring capital punishment for the war criminals of 1971, most of whom are top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami.
A source in Jamaat said although they had an open rivalry with Hefazat, still they decided to hire them to foil the Shahbagh movement.
Hefazat labelled the organisers of the Moncho as atheists. Soon after, Rajib, a blogger and one of the organisers, was hacked to death.
Similarly, radical outfit Huji-B that emerged in 1992, not only carried out several terrorist attacks since then to press its own agenda, but had also been used as a mercenary group.
In August 2004, Huji-B carried out deadly grenade attacks on an Awami League rally with an aim to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, then the opposition leader.
Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman, many of her close associates, and influential ministers and leaders of BNP and Jamaat have been accused for plottingthe attack that Huji-B carried out.
In 2004-2005, notorious Sidduqul Islam Bangla Bhai and his spiritual leader Abdur Rahman’s outfits JMB and JMJB were used as mercenary groups in the country’s northern districts to eliminate political rivals of BNP-Jamaat.
These two outfits were patronised by some influential ministers, lawmakers and leaders of the then ruling party BNP. Even the then administration did not challenge the militant operations.
Many people, who were known for their secular political, social, cultural and intellectual beliefs, have been killed or maimed in the last two decades through planned attacks by these terrorist groups.
