This terrorist came out of Bangladesh jail, why is it a matter of danger for India after the removal of Sheikh Hasina

New Delhi : Just days after the interim government came into power in Bangladesh, Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, the head of the terrorist organization Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), was released from jail. This could be a major security concern for India as ABT, now called Ansar al Islam, had tried to expand its network in India. Due to this, Indian agencies had to launch a months-long anti-terrorism operation two years ago. Ansarullah Bangla Team i.e. ABT was a terrorist organization linked to Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

Jashimuddin Rahmani came out of jail

According to the Dhaka Tribune report, Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani walked out of Gazipur’s high-security Kashimpur Central Jail on August 27. A day earlier, he/she was granted bail in a 2008 terror case. he/she was among hundreds of terrorists and other criminals put behind bars by the previous Sheikh Hasina government. Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country on August 5 following violent protests and outrage in Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina government took action

Soon after Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, more than 700 prisoners, including several suspected terrorists, escaped from two prisons in Bangladesh. This has created a major security threat in Bangladesh as well as India. Analysts have expressed apprehension that the current political instability may play an important role in radical Islamic elements uniting themselves in Bangladesh. They say that these elements may also get involved in anti-India activities at the behest of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

As soon as Sheikh Hasina left, a fundamentalist organization became active in Bangladesh, a threat to India too, Islamic Caliphate is the target

Who is Jashimuddin Rahmani?

Rahmani was convicted in the 2013 murder of secular blogger Rajib Haider. On the night of February 15, 2013, Haider was murdered in front of his/her house in Dhaka. A city court sentenced two men, Faisal Bin Nayeem and Rezwanul Azad Rana, to death for the murder. A 2016 CNN report said Rana, who is said to be the mastermind of the murder, is absconding and was convicted in absentia. Rahmani and four others were sentenced to jail. Apart from this, Rahmani was accused in four other cases, including cases under anti-terrorism and information and communication technology laws, according to the Dhaka Tribune. he/she was granted bail in a terror case of February 6, 2008, with the other cases against him/her also withdrawn.

How did ABT come under scrutiny?

Bangladesh banned ABT (Ansarullah Bangla Team), a radical Islamist group, in May 2015 for its suspected involvement in the murder of three secular bloggers. The group began recruiting highly motivated and educated university students who were fluent in the English language and social media. According to an assessment done in 2016, ABT was a larger organisation than Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami-Bangladesh (HUJI-B) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). However, it is difficult to mention its absolute strength as its organisational structures are quite different. According to a paper titled ‘Ansarullah Bangla Team: A Major Threat for Bangladesh Democracy’, usually, its members operate in small cells with 4 to 7 people in a unit.

How ABT came together with IS and Al Qaeda

The report further said that ABT was heavily influenced by radical ideologues such as Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2011. Subsequently, the group drew closer to the armed jihadist ideology of al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) to wage a ‘holy war’ in Bangladesh and abroad. According to The Hague-based International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), AQIS was launched in September 2014 with the goal of operating across South Asia. More than a dozen militants, mostly from Pakistan, are affiliated with AQIS, apart from a handful in Bangladesh and India.

Did ABT deploy sleeper cells in other states?

In July 2022, Bengaluru police arrested Akhtar Hussain Lashkar, a 24-year-old food delivery boy hailing from Assam’s Cachar district, a suspect who had been living in the Karnataka capital since 2020. he/she reportedly identified himself as a member of al-Qaeda. he/she was produced before a city court and later sent to jail. Based on information provided by Lashkar, another man from Assam was detained by Bengaluru police in Salem, Tamil Nadu. The series of arrests indicated that ABT/AQIS had prepared several sleeper cells in Assam and other states. Senior police officials had then said that modules of ABT/AQIS had entered Assam via West Bengal where they could easily converse in Bengali language to radicalise local youth.

Why are these terrorist organizations of Bangladesh a threat to India?

According to analysts, AQIS and Islamic State were expanding their networks in Bangladesh and the surrounding region mainly to raise funds. There was also competition with each other for this. However, their efforts to recruit Indian youth into their organization were not successful due to the anti-radicalization action launched by the security agencies. Assam, which has been grappling with the problem of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh for decades, has attracted the attention of jihadist terrorist organizations in the wake of the Supreme Court-monitored exercise to update the National Citizen Register (NRC) and the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA. The NRC prepared specifically for Assam was aimed at weeding out foreigners living illegally in the state. The CAA provides citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.