Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh
Encyclopedia
Jāgrātā Muslim Jānātā Bānglādesh (Awakened Muslim Masses of Bangladesh), also known by the acronym JMJB, is an Islamist
organisation based in Bangladesh
, especially around the country's north-western region. The Government of Bangladesh has classified JMJB as a terrorist
organisation. It is reported to be affiliated with al-Qaeda
though there have never been any proof or confirmations of this claim. The organisation was the feature of a January 2005 New York Times article based upon the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bangladesh. It was also responsible for a series of suicide bombings in Bangladesh.
The group is led by Siddiqur Rahman
, also known as "Bangla Bhai", and Shaykh Abdur Rahman
. Both of them are wanted by the Bangladesh Government for terrorism. Several lesser leaders, for example, the head of the military branch, have been captured.
Formed in the late 1990s, JMJB came into spotlight through its murder spree in the North-western region of Bangladesh. Soon after, in 2004 the organization was banned by the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party
-led government and measures were taken to eradicate its missions and presence. Its captured activists have stated that they were trained and hoped to join their Jihadist comrades in Afghanistan and Iraq
in fighting against the U.S.-led coalition and the democratic political establishments in place within those countries.
Their leaders include Bangla Bhai
, Shaykh Abdur Rahman
. The JMJB is extremely critical of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which it deems as heretical due to the latter's participation in the Bangladeshi political establishment and patronization of secularism
and sacrilege
of Islamic values and principles.
After the Government of Bangladesh proclaimed a large prize for the capture of Bangla bhai. On 6 March 2006, Bangla bhai was captured by police and Rapid Action Battalion
in Mymensingh District
Reports indicated that the JMJB is supported by certain members of the ruling Bangladesh National Party (BNP). The former Deputy Minister for Land, Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, was allegedly linked to the outfit. The first rally of the JMJB was reportedly addressed by Bagmara's BNP Joint Secretary, Besharat Ullah, indicating the degree of support that the vigilante outfit enjoys within the ruling coalition.
According to the New Nation
, while the Cabinet Committee on law and order led by Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiya ordered the arrest of Bangla Bhai for taking what they said law in his own hands, the three ministers belonging to Rajshahi – Aminul Haq, Fazlur Rahman patal and Ruhul Kuddus Dulu – opposed the police action saying the JMJB were on a ‘pro-people mission’ freeing the northern region from the left-wing extremists.
JMJB also enjoyed support among certain sections of the Police. For instance, Noor Mohammad, Divisional Inspector General of Police in Rajshahi, reportedly told Daily Star on 5 May 2004, that Bangla Bhai and his operatives were assisting the law enforcers in tracking down the left-wing outlaws. According to him, "We've asked police stations to support them whenever they go to catch outlaws." Reportedly, he justified such an action by indicating that "You know Sarbahara [left-wing extremists] men have been quite active in the region for many years and it is not possible for the undermanned and under-equipped police to hunt them down. Aziz [Bangla Bhai] is now helping us."
The JMJB chief Maulana Rahman is known to have visited Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has allegedly secured help from Saudi charities to build some mosques and seminaries, from where the group is known to operate.
Media reports also indicated that the JMJB is akin to JMB that fought with the police from a secret training camp at Khetlal in Jaipurhat district in August 2003. After the gun-battle, a number of its cadres fled, leaving behind many documents indicating the outfit's subversive plans. Although police could not then arrest Rahman, they detained his brother Ataur Rahman Ibne Abdullah and 18 other militants. A few days later, police released the militants and the higher authorities allegedly transferred several police officials involved in the Khetlal operation. Rahman was quoted in The Daily Star
on 17 May 2004, as saying, "our workers from Bogra, Jaipurhat, Rajshahi, Rangpur and other adjacent areas gathered in Khetlal to attend a meeting. But conspirators misled the police saying militants have gathered there. Police raided the place on wrong information. But they did not find any firearms."
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
organisation based in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, especially around the country's north-western region. The Government of Bangladesh has classified JMJB as a terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
organisation. It is reported to be affiliated with al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
though there have never been any proof or confirmations of this claim. The organisation was the feature of a January 2005 New York Times article based upon the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bangladesh. It was also responsible for a series of suicide bombings in Bangladesh.
The group is led by Siddiqur Rahman
Bangla Bhai
Siddique ul-Islam , known popularly as Bangla Bhai , also known as Aziz ur-Rahman Azizur Rôhman, was a Bangladeshi terrorist and the military commander of the Al Qaeda affiliated radical pseudo-Islamist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh , known in popular usage as...
, also known as "Bangla Bhai", and Shaykh Abdur Rahman
Shaykh Abdur Rahman
Shaykh Abdur Rahman, also known as Abdur Rahman Shaykh, was the spiritual leader and the administrative head of the banned terrorist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh ....
. Both of them are wanted by the Bangladesh Government for terrorism. Several lesser leaders, for example, the head of the military branch, have been captured.
Formed in the late 1990s, JMJB came into spotlight through its murder spree in the North-western region of Bangladesh. Soon after, in 2004 the organization was banned by the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party , commonly referred to as the BNP, is the mainstream center-right political party in Bangladesh. BNP ruled Bangladesh total 18 years since her independence, the longest than any other party in Bangladesh...
-led government and measures were taken to eradicate its missions and presence. Its captured activists have stated that they were trained and hoped to join their Jihadist comrades in Afghanistan and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in fighting against the U.S.-led coalition and the democratic political establishments in place within those countries.
Their leaders include Bangla Bhai
Bangla Bhai
Siddique ul-Islam , known popularly as Bangla Bhai , also known as Aziz ur-Rahman Azizur Rôhman, was a Bangladeshi terrorist and the military commander of the Al Qaeda affiliated radical pseudo-Islamist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh , known in popular usage as...
, Shaykh Abdur Rahman
Shaykh Abdur Rahman
Shaykh Abdur Rahman, also known as Abdur Rahman Shaykh, was the spiritual leader and the administrative head of the banned terrorist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh ....
. The JMJB is extremely critical of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which it deems as heretical due to the latter's participation in the Bangladeshi political establishment and patronization of secularism
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
and sacrilege
Sacrilege
Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things...
of Islamic values and principles.
After the Government of Bangladesh proclaimed a large prize for the capture of Bangla bhai. On 6 March 2006, Bangla bhai was captured by police and Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion or RAB is an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh Police constituted amending the Armed Police Battalion Ordinance, 1979. Under the command of Inspector General of Police it consists of members of Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy,...
in Mymensingh District
Mymensingh District
Mymensingh is one of the districts of Dhaka division, Bangladesh, and is bordered on the north by Meghalaya state of India and Garo Hills, on the south by Gazipur district, on the east by districts of Netrokona and Kishoreganj, and on the west by districts of Sherpur, Jamalpur and Tangail...
Linkages
Not much is known about the outfit’s external linkages although Maulana Rahman claimed in an interview on 13 May 2004, that "My travels abroad are no secret. We don't have links with any foreign organisation." He also added that "We don't have direct links with the Taliban either. The Taliban wanted to establish the ideals of Allah. They did their part with courage."Reports indicated that the JMJB is supported by certain members of the ruling Bangladesh National Party (BNP). The former Deputy Minister for Land, Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, was allegedly linked to the outfit. The first rally of the JMJB was reportedly addressed by Bagmara's BNP Joint Secretary, Besharat Ullah, indicating the degree of support that the vigilante outfit enjoys within the ruling coalition.
According to the New Nation
New Nation
This article is about the British newspaper, which is not to be confused with the Apartheid-era New Nation published in Johannesburg, South Africa or the satirical publication in Singapore....
, while the Cabinet Committee on law and order led by Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiya ordered the arrest of Bangla Bhai for taking what they said law in his own hands, the three ministers belonging to Rajshahi – Aminul Haq, Fazlur Rahman patal and Ruhul Kuddus Dulu – opposed the police action saying the JMJB were on a ‘pro-people mission’ freeing the northern region from the left-wing extremists.
JMJB also enjoyed support among certain sections of the Police. For instance, Noor Mohammad, Divisional Inspector General of Police in Rajshahi, reportedly told Daily Star on 5 May 2004, that Bangla Bhai and his operatives were assisting the law enforcers in tracking down the left-wing outlaws. According to him, "We've asked police stations to support them whenever they go to catch outlaws." Reportedly, he justified such an action by indicating that "You know Sarbahara [left-wing extremists] men have been quite active in the region for many years and it is not possible for the undermanned and under-equipped police to hunt them down. Aziz [Bangla Bhai] is now helping us."
The JMJB chief Maulana Rahman is known to have visited Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has allegedly secured help from Saudi charities to build some mosques and seminaries, from where the group is known to operate.
Media reports also indicated that the JMJB is akin to JMB that fought with the police from a secret training camp at Khetlal in Jaipurhat district in August 2003. After the gun-battle, a number of its cadres fled, leaving behind many documents indicating the outfit's subversive plans. Although police could not then arrest Rahman, they detained his brother Ataur Rahman Ibne Abdullah and 18 other militants. A few days later, police released the militants and the higher authorities allegedly transferred several police officials involved in the Khetlal operation. Rahman was quoted in The Daily Star
Daily Star (Lebanon)
The Daily Star is a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut. It was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of the Arabic daily Al-Hayat to serve the growing number of expatriates brought by the oil industry...
on 17 May 2004, as saying, "our workers from Bogra, Jaipurhat, Rajshahi, Rangpur and other adjacent areas gathered in Khetlal to attend a meeting. But conspirators misled the police saying militants have gathered there. Police raided the place on wrong information. But they did not find any firearms."