New Delhi: Days after being released from prison by the interim government of Bangladesh led by Muhammad Yunus, Jashimuddin Rahmani, chief of Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) has sought help from Pakistan and Afghanistan in the fight for ‘independence in Jammu and Kashmir’.
Rahmani, a vocal supporter of the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda and its offshoot in the Indian subcontinent–AQIS–has also promised to aid in the dissolution of India with support to Khalistan and urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to declare independence from “Modi’s rule”.
His incendiary remarks made from what looks like a hospital room, has been circulating on social media and posted on YouTube.
ThePrint has not independently verified the authenticity of the video. Rahmani and his outfit, however, in the past has promoted jihadist ideology and published manuals on carrying out terror attacks.
“I am warning India…Bangladesh is not like Sikkim or Bhutan. It is a country of 18 crore Muslims…If you take a step towards Bangladesh, we will tell China to close the chicken’s neck [Siliguri corridor]. We will tell the Seven Sisters [Northeastern states] to join the freedom movement,” said Rahmani in the video published Friday on YouTube.
Rahmani further threatened India saying, “Tell Kashmir to get ready for freedom. Pakistan and Afghanistan together will help Kashmir gain independence. We will work for the freedom of Kashmir. We will tell Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal to free Bengal from Modi’s rule and declare independence.”
“I will tell the Sikhs that your time has come, now call for freedom; to those Sikhs who are Khalistanis, in every province of India, your time has come,” he added.
Rahmani since 2013 had been lodged in the Kashimpur High Security Central Jail, in Gazipur, after being arrested and charged with abetting the 2013 murder of the atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.
He was blamed for a number of targeted killings against atheist bloggers in a three-year time span–2013 to 2016–which his outfit ABT claimed responsibility for. In December 2015, Rahmani was convicted of abetting the murder of Haider and given a five year jail term. He had five other charges linked with terrorism indicating that he would have to remain in jail.
The interim government has been freeing or withdrawing charges against a number of individuals that were made during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year term at the helm of the country.
Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia–leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)–too was released within days of Hasina’s resignation after being convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018.
The Yunus-led interim government also lifted the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JI) and its student outfit Islami Chhatra Shibir. The two organisations were branded ‘terrorist outfits’ and banned by the previous Sheikh Hasina-led government.
According to reports, Rahmani’s outfit ABT draws its members from the Islami Chhatra Shibir. The JI collaborated with the Pakistani government during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and was accused of committing war crimes, especially against Bangladeshi Hindus, between March 1971 and December 1971.
In the YouTube video that has surfaced now, Rahmani explained that Bangladesh does not want any conflict with any country in the world, including India, China, Europe and the US, but will retaliate if challenged or neglected.
“If we are challenged, if we are neglected, if chaos is created in our country, then the Tawhid population of Bangladesh, just like it has risen against [Sheikh] Hasina, to protect the freedom of Bangladesh, to protect Islam in Bangladesh, the Tawhid will unite to face you in the field,” said Rahmani.
He added: “The day is not far when your country too will be broken and the flags of the Tawhid will flutter above Delhi.”
Rahmani’s past conviction and links to Al-Qaeda
Officers investigating the murder of Haider found that private university students had decided to kill the atheist blogger after being inspired by Rahmani’s books and sermons. The firebrand preacher reportedly issued sermons every Friday stating that it is legal to kill anyone who is against Islam or the Prophet Mohammed, especially atheists.
Between 2013 and 2016, a number of bloggers including Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Ananta Bijoy Das and A.K.M. Shafiul Islam–a professor at the Rajshahi University–were killed in Bangladesh. Rahmani’s ABT took responsibility for all these murders.
Rahmani and eight other ABT members were indicted in November 2016 by a metropolitan judge for plotting to carry out an armed jihad across Bangladesh–with the aim of gaining control of large parts of the country.
Early members of the ABT were inspired by the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-Yemeni jihadist and a leader of Al-Qaeda. Al-Awlaki, a citizen of the US, was killed in an airstrike carried out by the US armed forces in Yemen in 2011.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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Ms. Mamata Banerjee would be too happy to collaborate with this dreaded terrorist.