As Bangladesh stood poised on the cusp of Eid festivities, an ominous pronouncement by Army Chief Waqar Uz-Zaman cast a shadow over the jubilations. With the gravitas befitting his station, he forewarned the nation of an imminent terrorist strike, alluding to intelligence reports that hinted at an insidious conspiracy brewing in the nation’s underbelly. This revelation, however, was neither unheralded nor unprecedented; it merely underscored the prescience of his earlier exhortations, wherein he had urged the polity to desist from internecine strife, cautioning that such acrimonious discord not only debilitates national unity but also imperils the very sovereignty of Bangladesh. His trepidations, as it now transpires, were not misplaced.
The eminent New York Times, in a recent exposé, corroborated his forebodings, asserting that Islamist hardliners were emboldened by the nation’s prevailing political lacuna and were making audacious forays into the public domain, unabashedly seeking to resurrect their ideological dominion. Indeed, this resurgence is but a macabre reprise of Bangladesh’s long and troubled entanglement with Islamic extremism, which first took root in the twilight years of the twentieth century.
The radical outfits operating within Bangladesh have, over the decades, drawn sustenance from transnational terrorist syndicates, most notably the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and, more contemporaneously, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Their nefarious machinations, invariably, orbit around a singular and unrelenting objective—the imposition of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a nation whose constitutional secularism stands in stark opposition to their theocratic aspirations. In pursuit of this ignoble end, their targets have been carefully calibrated: secularists, religious minorities, and any entity or individual whose existence or expression is perceived as inimical to their rigid dogma.
The annals of Bangladesh’s contemporary history bear grim testament to their ruthlessness. From the turn of the millennium, the nation has been buffeted by a series of sanguinary terror attacks, each meticulously orchestrated to instill fear and assert dominion. The apogee of their savagery, perhaps, was the ghastly carnage perpetrated at the Holey Artisan Café in 2016. The grisly hostage crisis that unfurled therein claimed twenty-two lives, the majority of them foreign nationals, and indelibly etched itself into the collective consciousness of the nation. What rendered this atrocity particularly disquieting was its modus operandi, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the tactics deployed by ISIS. This harrowing episode marked the first incontrovertible indication that ISIS’s baleful influence had penetrated Bangladesh’s borders, dispelling any lingering skepticism regarding its reach.
The digital realm has, unsurprisingly, proven to be a fecund battleground for the dissemination of extremist propaganda. With an astuteness that belies their medievalist ideological underpinnings, ISIS operatives have harnessed the far-reaching tentacles of cyberspace, employing indigenous linguistic mediums to indoctrinate and recruit. The dissemination of their pernicious rhetoric in Bangla—a language spoken by nearly 99 percent of Bangladesh’s populace—has served to extend their tentacular grip into the remotest corners of the nation. This calculated exploitation of cyber radicalism has precipitated a perceptible ideological shift among Bangladesh’s homegrown extremist factions, who now increasingly subscribe to the doctrinaire vision of an Islamic Caliphate—a vision assiduously cultivated and propagated by ISIS.
A glaring exemplar of this ideological metamorphosis is the trajectory of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a militant conglomerate that initially operated under the aegis of al-Qaeda. Formed in 2007, this nefarious syndicate orchestrated a series of targeted assassinations against secular bloggers, writers, and activists between 2013 and 2015. However, in the aftermath of ISIS’s ascension to prominence on the global jihadist stage, ABT unequivocally pledged allegiance to its cause, a testament to the latter’s magnetic pull in radicalizing impressionable minds.
While the erstwhile government had, to a considerable extent, managed to curb the proliferation of violent extremism, the political upheaval engendered by the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in August last year has catalyzed an alarming re-emergence of these insidious forces. In the wake of her departure, a disquieting lawlessness has permeated the polity, affording these extremist factions an unprecedented opportunity to reassert themselves.
Of particular concern is the resurgence of Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh, an organization that has long been proscribed in the country due to its seditious proclivities. Notorious for its abortive coup attempt in 2011, this transnational jihadist outfit has ideological congruence with ISIS and has now re-emerged with newfound fervor. The immediacy of its resurgence—mere days after Hasina’s deposition—raises perturbing questions about the efficacy of state mechanisms in preempting such resuscitations. In recent months, its adherents have mounted vociferous demonstrations, brazenly demanding the rescission of the ban imposed upon them and clamoring for the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in Bangladesh. The most conspicuous manifestation of this effrontery was the ‘March for Khilafat’ protest in Dhaka, an event that saw a congregation of ‘Conscious Teachers and Students’ bearing flags uncannily reminiscent of ISIS’s insignia and chanting incendiary slogans. That such a spectacle transpired within the nation’s capital—drawing participation from sections of the educated elite—ought to serve as a dire warning of the extent to which cyber radicalism has permeated urban echelons.
This resurgence of Islamist militancy is not merely an ephemeral phenomenon; it constitutes a structural threat to Bangladesh’s democratic fabric. The re-emergence of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which remains proscribed in thirteen nations, should serve as a cautionary tale. The situation is further exacerbated by the unsettling decision of the interim government, helmed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, to release several individuals previously convicted of terrorism-related offenses. Such a move, particularly against the backdrop of a deteriorating law and order situation, rampant mob violence, and escalating cases of sexual aggression, augments the prevailing atmosphere of apprehension.
The interim government’s apparent apathy towards this burgeoning menace has not gone unnoticed, least of all by the military establishment. Army Chief Waqar Uz-Zaman’s palpable discontent is emblematic of the growing dissonance between the state apparatus and the armed forces, particularly as Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) purportedly amplifies its covert operations on Bangladeshi soil. Should this inertia persist, the Army Chief’s cautionary pronouncement may well transmute into a catastrophic reality—one that Bangladesh may find itself ill-equipped to surmount.
