According to press report Bangladesh getting regularly millions of dollar. So we have another easy source of foreign exchange earning, but so damaging for the country.
It was found in 2015 that funds are coming from abroad for establishing mosques and madrasas, or as aid to so-called NGOs working for the welfare of persecuted Rohingya Muslims, but in reality they are earmarked for terrorism. A detailed investigation by special anti-terror agencies revealed that militants are taking advantage of the poor Muslim families while recruiting new members.
Militants used to collect funds from different sources, including “well-wishers” – those who believe in similar ideologies. Funds also came from outside the country. Some of the detainees said they consider money and valuables kept in banks are “war spoils”. The official further said the arrestees believe that most of the banks in the country do not operate in accordance with the principles of Islamic Shariah and, hence, looting those is not a religious offence.
Even earlier, in 2014 November, the police nabbed Myanmar sectarian outfit Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) Bangladesh Chapter’s top leaders Salamatullah and Shafiullah, also an Awami League leader of Naikhyangchhari upazila in Bandarban; and Global Rohingya Centre (GRC) Vice-President Mohammad Alam, also a Pakistani national, among five for funding militant groups.
A local daily reported in 2014 that from London, a Pakistan national had sent 1.5m pound sterling (about Tk. 20 crore in Bangladeshi currency) to a bank account in Chittagong. The account was opened using forged signatures of the members of Maizvandar Sharif Shah-e-Jame Mosjid Directors and Development Committee. Committee President Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandari, also a lawmaker of Fatikchhari, said that they had taken legal action against two members of the committee for forging signatures and inspiring radical Muslims.
Meanwhile, after the arrest of banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh’s Chittagong district Commander Ershad Hossain alias Mamun in March 2015, it was reported that the members of outlawed militant groups – JMB, HuJiB, Hizb-ut Tahrir and Ansarullah Bangla Team – were working in concert to establish an Islamic State with the help of international terrorist group Islamic State by 2020.To implement their agenda, four IS members visited Chittagong in October 2014 and sat with the top leaders of the four banned outfits.
So it appears that flow of funds for militants from outside is very easy if the report is to be believed.
The common question: Why some elements among us in Bangladesh who have been peace-loving all along, became too eager to lead a risky life of terrorism? The government has no knowledge so much, yet terrorism is spreading. So where is the success of the government other than concentrating more arbitrary power in the hands of police denying justice under rule of law and keeping persons imprisoned?
Many believe the government is pursuing a wrong policy making lives of our people unsafe and miserable with police restrictions. Not only that the country’s economy is being crippled. Everybody is affected, and how this situation helps the government is not known to us. Against terrorism the government has to succeed to give people safety.
