How do you describe an organization that does not observe national days like 'Independence Day', 'Victory Day', 'Language Martyrs Day' etc?
And one that not only opposes the country's Liberation War but teaches opposition to it as jihad?
Or that does not hoist the National Flag on any occasion, nor allows its students to recite the National Anthem inside the Madrassa ?
And many of whose central leaders are also leaders of the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance headed by Begum Khaleda Zia?
All these and more uncomfortable facts about the Chittagong-centered and Qaumi madrassa-based radical Islamist organization, Hifazat-e-Islam (HeI) have been laid bare in a document titled "White paper on 400 days of fundamentalist and communal violence of Hefajat-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami released on November 8,, 2013 in Dhaka.
The White Paper has been prepared by the Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee that had on June 01, 2013 formed a Mass Investigation Commission (Gono Todonto Commission) headed by Former Supreme Court Justice (Retd) Syed Amirurul Islam to find out; (i) how the sovereignty of the country came under threat over the May 5 rally of Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI); (ii) the actual identity of HeI; and (iii) the demands of HeI including its aspirations. The members of the Commission included reputed civil society members including judges, academics, journalists, writers, human rights activists and lawyers
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The White Paper is based on a series of field investigations (extending over a period of five months), interactions with / testimonials of several HeI leaders over their 13-Point demands, interactive surveys done with over one thousand Madrassa students and present/former ground activists of HeI / JeI / HUJI.
The key findings of the White Paper are noteworthy:
First, the White Paper conclusively debunks the allegation of the Hefajat, Jamaat and BNP that several thousand Hefajat men were killed during the protest rally on May 05-06 2013 in Dhaka. It catalogues a total of 39 people killed in clashes centering on the Hefajat rally on May 5-6.
Second, although the Hifazat claims to be a non-political and a purely Islamic organization, it has been found to be a political outfit with most of its leaders associated with political organizations. Thus:
Shah Ahmad Shafi, Amir and founding chairman of Hifazat, was an important leader of Nizam-e-Islam and he played an active role as collaborator of the occupying Pakistani forces in 1971 in perpetrating brutalities on freedom fighters.
Muhammad Junaid Babunagari, HeI's Secretary General took active part in the Afghan jihad along with al Qaeda and Taliban before returning to Bangladesh after fall of Taliban regime. Thereafter he became an important leader of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), designated by the US State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury, Naib-e-Amir of HeI is also an activist of HUJI and head of the Islami Oikyo Jote (IOJ), a constituent of the BNP-led 18 party alliance.
Like Izharul Islam Chowdhury, many central HeI leaders are also leaders of BNP-led 18-Party Alliance. Prominent ones are Mufti Wakkas (Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, Maulana Abdul Hasnat Amini (IOJ), Maulana Ishaq (Bangladesh Khilafat Majlish, convicted on war crimes charges), Maulana Mohammad Habibullah (Jamaat-e-Islami), Maulana Abul Kalam (Islami Andolan) etc.
Third, the White Paper found that the Hifazat has deep terrorist links. Leaders of militant Islamic groups from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Middle East frequently visit these madrassas for recruitment of cadres. Local surveys revealed the establishment of Islamic militant camps in many of these Madrassas which have international linkages and impart motivational and arms training to bring about a Taliban-like Islamic revolution.
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Fourth, the White Paper also establishes the linkages of the Hifazat with banned International Islamic NGOs. Thus, the Kuwait based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) whose bank accounts in Pakistan were seized following the 9/11 attack on 'twin tower', and Saudi based Al Harmain Islamic Foundation which was banned all over the world for its links with Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups, provided funds to these Qaumi Madrassas.
Finally, the White Paper draws a linkage between the 48-hour ultimatum by Khaleda Zia on May 4, 2013 to oust the government and the violence provoked by Hefajat. Khaleda Zia and leaders of Hefajat and Jamaat must take the responsibility of the killings and lawsuits should be filed against them as they were the masterminds, said Shahriar Kabir who moderated the function of the release of the Report.
What the White Paper does is to clearly establish the fact that the HeI has emerged as the B-team of the JEI and the BNP with its roots in the fundamentalist and militant ideology propagated by the mushrooming Qaumi Madrassas in Bangladesh. The HeI has been supplementing the street power of the Jamaat and the BNP in the horrific acts of violence seen in Bangladesh in the past few months.
Now that the truth about the Hifazat and its deep links with the Jamaat and the 18-party alliance is out in the open, Khaldea Zia and the BNP need to look far more closely at its alliance with such anti-national, anti-liberation war and radical Islamic forces. If the BNP thinks they can 'control' such elements after using their street power to incite and foment violence, they are living in a fool's paradise.
The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. Salim Haq.