INDIA-SRILANKA-MALDIVES

B’desh: War Crimes Trial- JEI Gamble

As Sheik Hasina government is getting ready for trial of liberation war crimes, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) has adopted a three pronged strategy to protect its flanks and to secure the interests of its cadres. Its leadership has sensitized several local and foreign lawyers with its brief. More than one hundred barristers in London have been sounded and are asked to standby. Top brass of the religious-political party, who were de-facto rulers in Dhaka in the run up to the surrender of Pakistan army in December 1971, are in constant contact with Pakistan and with well-wishers in West Asia seeking ‘guidelines on how to counter the trial’, according to Bangladeshi daily, Janakantha.  

Strangely, the government and the Awami League don’t seem prepared to meet the JEI challenge head-on. Yet to be announced is the name of any internationally renowned lawyer to prosecute the war criminals. While the JEI is ready with a war chest of Tk 100 crore, the government has made a budgetary provision of just Tk 10 crore for the war crimes tribunal.

JEI game plan is straight and simple. It wants to remain an active and established player to achieve ‘Islamic’ Bangladesh. The party was not taken by surprise by the Awami League led government’s resolve to try war criminals. For more than a year, it is mentally resigned for the trial which, when completed will decimate its carefully built structure and send its leaders to gallows.  Since it is well neigh impossible to avert the ‘catastrophe’, JEI is working over time to minimize the fall-out. So, like every time it found itself at cross roads, now also, the Jamaat in conjunction with its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), has gone to the town projecting India as the real villain. Their campaign theme: ‘India is the main culprit for all our ills as a nation. Awami League is the fifth columnist working for India’.

JEI is also maintaining liaison with Pak based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Jehad (HuJ) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Bangladesh based Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT). Either in the event of inevitable show down with the government or when the War Crimes Trial gains full momentum, these radical outfits will be unleashing a wave of subversive activities and let loose destabilizing forces in Bangladesh.

The Jamaat has, over the years, built up huge resources that generate substantial income. It has interests in financial, transport, health, education and NGO sectors. The amount of income generated is a closely guarded secret but Prof Abul Barkat of Bangladesh Economic Association estimated (2005) that JEI makes a net profit of Tk 1200 Crore annually.  While earnings from internal resources are said to be higher than income from overseas assets, most of the JEI related or affiliated institutions generating this fund are closely connected with organizations and individuals based in West Asia and the Gulf.

The brain behind JEI’s financial and Business Empire is Mir Kasem Ali, a low key leader. He is one of the founders of the infamous Al Badar militia which was directly involved in the 1971 killings. Immediately after Bangladesh became independent, Kasem was jailed. He came out in 1974 under the general amnesty announced by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.  

There is general agreement amongst analysts that the Islami Bank constitutes the backbone of JEI’s finances. It also has control directly or indirectly over 14 other banks. Other important JEI managed financial institutions include the recently established Far Eastern Islamic Insurance Corporation and the Islamic Bank Foundation.

The Islami Bank of Bangladesh, which ranks among the top three banks of south Asia, is floated from Saudi Arabia and about 60% of its shares are owned by Saudi individuals and institutions. The bank is associated with the Al Razee Bank of Saudi Arabia. It was started in 1975 at the initiative of the then Saudi Ambassador in Dhaka, Fuad Abdullah Al Khatib, and his wife. UAE, Kuwait, Qatar are also share holders of the bank.

The Saudi based Rabeta-al-Alam-al-Islami, Islamic NGO, is one of the important sources of JEI funding. Others NGOs enriching JEI include Kuwait Relief Fund and Al Nahiyan Trust of UAE. Their funds are routed mainly through the JEI controlled financial and charity institutions. An important charity organization of the JEI is Al Hera Samaj Kalyan Foundation. Set up in 1982, it is engaged in preaching Islam, publication of religious books and journals, running madrasas, orphanages, charitable dispensaries, disbursing loans and assistance to the poor. It distributes books on Islamic resurgence and scriptures free of cost. The Foundation is also engaged in manpower export to the Gulf and West Asia. JEI has around 30 such institutions.

Financial institutions provide JEI a cover to launder money from abroad and also channel unaudited funds to other Islamic groups under its control. Funding to militant organizations from abroad comes mainly through JEI controlled Islamic financial institutions. Ahle Hadis Andolan Bangladesh (AHAB) chief Prof. Galib is one of the main conduits for receiving and distributing funds from abroad to other such radical groups.

The JEI owns a number of publishing houses, newspapers and a think-tank, the Center for Strategic and Peace Studies (CSPS). Naya Diganta, established in 2005 with a corpus of Tk 100 Crore, is one of the largest circulated dailies with a print order of around 125000 copies. The Daily Sangram, JEI mouthpiece, is also one of the oldest dailies in the country. Youth Voice is its exclusive magazine for the youth. Adhunik Prokashoni and Shatabdi Prokashoni are amongst the JEI backed publications. Booklets and Islamic literature are regularly brought out and sold to generate funds.

The Bangladeshi Jamaat has made inroads in the education sector mainly through the Islamic Training Centers which caters to needs like electronic repairs and car repairs. The Darul Islam Coaching Centers that have establishments in all the sixty four districts have sponsored private universities. Notable amongst them is International Islamic University in Chittagong, which had come up with the help of the Saudi based International Islamic Relief Organisation (IIRO). Education in the Darul Islam Centers lays stress on technical skills that guarantee livelihood. These institutions play a crucial role in strengthening JEI’s network among the youth in a planned manner.
 
JEI has been receiving funds from organizations like the Qatar Charitable Society and UK based Institute of Islamic Political Thought and Muslim Aid. Money is received through many covert channels including traditional non-banking channel, Hundi. JEI counts on Resalah Courier Service as its own. Mujibur Rahman Mandal, a former chief of JEI student wing, heads the Dhaka headquartered courier service.

The party is providing jobs to unemployed youth in Saudi Arabia against donation. A former JEI leader Al Haj Md Habibul Islam, who is staying in Jeddah, has helping in placements. Twelve JEI run coaching centers (their 35 branches) generate around Tk 40 crore annually. One such centre, Retina Coaching Center, prepares students for admission to medical and engineering colleges. It is the biggest such institutions. Set up in 1980, Retina has 15 branches spread across the country.

Today, notwithstanding the ‘threat’ from war crimes tribunals, JEI stands as a party with significant financial muscle and penetration through NGO net works in the countryside particularly amongst the lower middle class and the poor. It expects this section to rally in its rescue when chips are down and the trial of war crimes commences. It may turn out to be its biggest gamble to date.

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