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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| US sez HuJIB is an al-Qaeda group |
| 2005-05-02 |
| The US has named Bangladesh based Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI-B) as a "terrorist group" with links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. According to The Daily Star, the US State Department has in a report titled "Country Reports on Terrorism for 2004" listed the group in the list of "selected terrorist groups". The report mentioned HUJI-B's leader Shauqat Osman and the group's suspected involvement in an attempt on Sheikh Hasina life earlier last year. The group has also been accused of masterminding explosions at cultural programmes as well as maintaining affiliations with Pakistani militant groups who all maintain contacts with the al-Qaeda. "The mission of HUJI-B, led by Shauqat Osman, is to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh. HUJI-B has connections with Pakistani militant groups Harakat ul- Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI) and Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM), which advocate similar objectives in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir. These groups all maintain contacts with the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan. The leaders of HUJI-B and HUM both signed the February 1998 fatwa sponsored by Osama bin Ladin that declared American civilians to be legitimate targets for attack," the paper quoted the US report as saying. "HUJI-B was suspected in the assassination attempt in July 2000 of the then Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The group may also have been responsible for indiscriminate attacks using improvised explosive devices at cultural gatherings in Dhaka in January and April 2001," the report added. The report said that the group was also maintaining many camps in the country, with most of the recruits coming from madrassas in Bangladesh. "The group operates and trains members in Bangladesh, where it maintains at least six camps. Funding of the HUJI-B comes primarily from madrassas in Bangladesh. The group also has ties with militants in Pakistan that may provide another funding source," the report further added. It said that though Bangladesh supported the global war on terror, various factors like weak institutions, porous borders, limited law enforcement capabilities, and debilitating in-fighting between the two major political parties, were undermining its ability to ability to combat terrorism. Also the country's long practice of moderate Islam was increasingly under threat from extremists, who were offering an attractive breeding ground for political and sectarian violence. "Endemic corruption, poverty, and a stalemated political process could further contribute to the type of instability and widespread frustration that has elsewhere provided recruits, support, and safe haven for international terrorist groups," the report said, adding that "there was an increase in political violence" using explosives in 2004. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |