Bangladesh Fights Back Islamist Mayhem, Deflates “Bangla Spring”; Suffers $7B Economic Loss – OPED

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OPED By: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

From July 18, 2024, Bangladesh was cut off from the rest of the world as the evil nexus of Islamists and militants began countrywide jihadist mayhem with the notorious goal of unseating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and establishing Sharia rule, thus turning the country into a neo-Taliban state.

During these days, Islamists and militants continued massive rampage targeting key-point installations such as Bangladesh Television – state-run TV station, as well as major infrastructural projects such as metro-rail stations, toll-plazas of elevated expressways, police stations, government offices as well as national data centers, which resulted in the collapse of internet service in the country.

Public and private properties worth billions of dollars have been rampaged and set on fire, while during the mayhem, which began on July 18, the BNP-Jamaat nexus, as well as its Islamist and jihadist cohorts, brutally murdered several members of Bangladesh Police as well as Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Their cruelty was so intense that the dead bodies of the members of law enforcement agencies were hung on flyovers in Dhaka as well as other parts of the country. It was such a horrific situation that cannot be described in words.

Meanwhile, Islamists and militants attacked Narsingdi Jail – in the eastern part of the country, killed prison guards, looted weapons and ammunition, and released 834 convicted prisoners, including 6 members of Ansar Al Islam – a local franchise of Al Qaeda.

According to official sources, attackers looted 56 Chinese rifles, 19 shotguns, and over 8,500 rounds of ammunition. Until now, over 770 convicted prisoners, including 7 members of Ansar Al Islam and 2 members of Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) are at large.

It is anticipated that these jihadists may try to enter India by crossing the border as Ansar Al Islam has several secret camps and bases in West Bengal. It may be mentioned here that these militancy outfits are connected to Al Qaeda and Islamic State, respectively.

In other prisons in Bangladesh, various militancy outfits including Ansar Al Islam, Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI) were preparing for this gruesome terrorist act for months, while despite publication of report in the media, prison authorities did not take any measures against such dangerous activities.

Taking advantage of an internet outage, members and activists of Al Qaeda-connected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Hizbut Tahrir, and jihadist forces in several countries, including the United States, Britain, EU nations, Malaysia, and the Middle East began spreading disinformation on social media with the ulterior motive of misleading Bangladesh expatriates as well as international communities.

To give credibility to such gruesome propaganda and disinformation drive, culprits also circulated photoshopped or doctored photographs of front pages of local dailies with concocted information, thus generating confusion and fear among Bangladesh expatriates and others.

Meanwhile, according to several credible sources, at least 350 well-trained terrorists entered Bangladesh during the holiday of Eid Ul Adha with the target of joining subversive and terrorist acts throughout Bangladesh, which they codenamed ‘Bangla Spring.’

These terrorists were secretly trained by the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) within various training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). A significant portion of these trained terrorists belong to Stranded Pakistani Biharis in Bangladesh, who were sent to Pakistan for training under the supervision of BNP and Jamaat.

The source further said that some of these terrorists are given special commando training while there also are experts in making explosives. It said at least one dozen Stranded Pakistani Biharis in Bangladesh are suicide attackers.

Another source said from the first week of June, under the direct instructions of convicted terrorist and acting chairman of the Al Qaeda-connected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), leaders of this party, including members of its executive and advisory committee, donated BDT 1.5 million to 50 million each in the “special fund” for “implementing anti-government movement” and “unseating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.”

The party’s jailed chairperson, Khaleda Zia’s former press secretary, has been working as coordinator of this fund collection while collected funds were handed over to a BNP leader who owns a private television channel. While receiving donations from party leaders through Khaleda Zia’s press secretary, the owner of the private television alone has donated over BDT 150 million. He also arranged temporary shelter for the ISI-trained terrorists in different parts of the country.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina at the inauguration of various projects in Bangladesh, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Source: PIB)
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina at the inauguration of various projects in Bangladesh, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Source: PIB)

According to the source, alongside BNP and Jamaat, members, trained armed cadres of outlawed militancy outfit Hizbut Tahrir took part in destructive and terrorist activities throughout the country since July 17, while hundreds of its activists began massive propaganda through social media platforms, especially Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and ‘X.’

It said in London and New York City, dozens of BNP members also joined online propaganda by spreading disinformation and instigative content. A very large number of the members of Dhaka’s entertainment industry, including those who have received numerous types of benefits from the Awami League government during the past fifteen years, also joined online propaganda against the ruling Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and circulated extremely offensive posts as well as images and video contents of social media.

Meanwhile, sitting in prison, a death-row prisoner and senior officer of the Bangladesh Army started communicating with several officers by using encrypted communication apps and circulated provocative materials with the call for a “sepoy-officer revolt” against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League government.

As Bangladesh successfully fought and foiled this Islamist blueprint of turning the country into a neo-Taliban state, with the active participation of the members of law enforcement agencies alongside the Bangladesh Army, the defeated Islamist nexus has now mobilized a large number of cyber terrorists, including David Bergman, Shahidul Alam, Tasneem Khalil, Lt Col (sacked) Shahid Uddin Khan, Pinaki Bhattacharya,  Zulkarnain Saer Khan Sami and others in spreading vile propaganda alongside doctored images and deepfake videos on social media with the ulterior agenda of misleading the international community, including media outlets.

  • Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an internationally acclaimed multi-award-winning journalist, writer, research scholar, and Editor, Blitz. He regularly writes for local and international newspapers. Follow him on X @Salah_Shoaib
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