Among these groups, ten are India centric.  Three are Myanmar focused. One group is targeting both Bangladesh and India mostly as a foot-soldier of LeT and al- Qaeda, interrogation of detained foreign and local militants has revealed.

Besides the LeT, the India centric terror groups are Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami-Kashmiri (TJI), Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehad-ul- Islami (HuJI), Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), Hezb-e-Islami, Jamiat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JuMB), Harkat-ul -Ansar, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF).

The Myanmar-based militant groups that have found safe hideouts in Bangladesh are Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and National United Party of Arakan (NUPA). Hill areas of Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar are their havens.

Bangladesh became favourite destination for foreign militant groups since the end of Afghan war. HuJI acted as the local host in the initial days.

Investigations show that militant groups operated in Bangladesh almost undisturbed for some twelve years though not in one stretch. The period from 1991 to 1998 favoured these groups. Again between 2001 and 2006 they found the going good; the authorities did not disturb them; instead they either remained passive or lent a helping hand from behind the scenes.

It was this benign dispensation, interrogations revealed, that facilitated the ‘arrival’ of several operatives in Bangladesh from Pakistan with well crafted plans to target India under their belt. The ‘infiltration’ became a two-way process with groups sneaking into India to create terror and the new recruits from India crossing the porous border to go to Pakistan for training in arms and explosives.

‘During the BNP-Jamaat rule activities of the foreign militants marked a serious rise under the nose of the administration. Some of them were held and later given a safe passage’, the Daily Star reported on March 30, 2010, quoting a  law enforcer who requested anonymity.

Confessional statements of terrorists nabbed by authorities in recent days indicate that agents of a Pakistan Agency, mostly ISI coordinated the in-bound and out-bound traffic and provided them with a ‘purse’ and ‘passports’, which are mostly fake.  

These days, the ‘Agency’ is using some militant groups as conduits for ‘marketing’ counterfeit Indian currency, generally in the denomination of Rs. 500. The modus operandi is quite simple. ‘Indian’ currency manufactured in Pakistan is first sent to Dubai. From there it is transported to Bangladesh (some times Nepal also). The last mile operation is left to syndicate of militants and criminals handles. These syndicates are also pushing fake greenbacks.

There are said to be at least three such syndicates in action – one headed by a Bangladeshi, and the other two by Pakistanis. The Bangladeshi is identified as one Mr. Majumdar. The Pakistan gang leaders go by the name Sarfaraz and Mohammad Danish though it is not clear whether these are their real names.

Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Hassan Mahmood Khandkar is quoted by a leading Dhaka daily as saying that Bangladesh is ‘no more a comfortable place’ now for local or foreign militants. ‘We constantly remain vigilant and go after militants upon instructions of the government’, Khandkar said.

But the arrest of Pak militant Rezwan Ahmed shows that the terror tap is still working. The give away to the identity of this Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) activist, Rezwan was transfer of some funds from Pakistan through the international money transfer route. When brought before the media, Rezwan admitted that he had been assigned the role of coordinator for JeM activities in Bangladesh.

Like wise, the arrest of two Indians, Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Monsur Ali, has brought to surface the presence of ARCF and its ‘job works’ for the LeT.  That HuM is active has become clear from the sustained interrogation of Abdul Majid alias Abu Yusuf Butt. This Kashmiri militant was arrested last year but he has opened up only recently.

JMB chief, Abdur Rahman, who was hanged to death for his role in the August 21, 2004 serial bomb blasts that had targeted Sheikh Hasina, had confessed to the police that he had visited Pakistan more than once and that he had received Pakistan funds.

Bangladesh police and other security agencies have had some breakthrough in unraveling the militant mystery, according to a dispatch in the Daily Star. The report said analyses of interrogation statements of several militant leaders showed how widespread the HuJI net work is in the country.

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

War Crimes Fact Finding Committee (WCFFC), a research organization, has handed over documented evidence to the seven-member investigating agency Hasina Government has constituted recently to bring to book the perpetrators of 1971 genocide.

WCFFC Convener Dr MA Hasan presented the documents to Chief Investigator MA Matin at his Old High Court Bhaban office in Dhaka on Sunday, April 4.

The documents contain names and addresses of 1,775 war criminals of whom some 400- 500 are still alive. Accounts of their crimes were recorded in 18 volumes. A sketch map of mass killing grounds in Dhaka, and forensic exhibits like bones, earrings and parts of dresses of victims were also handed over to the investigators.

‘Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) leaders including its chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, former chief Golam Azam, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid and Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam figure in the list of war criminals, WCFFC convener  Hasan told reporters.

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, BNP leader, figured amongst the suspected war criminals, he told a questioner.

Chief Investigator MA Matin said that they would file a case with the International Crime Tribunal after completing their work.

The United Nations (UN) has assured technical assistance in the trail of 1971 crimes. The world body may send its observers once the trial gets
underway.