Bangladesh government has banned Islamist organisation, Hizb-ut Tahrir , saying it posed a threat to peaceful life in the country. It tops the list of about 12 groups suspected of plotting subversive acts in the country.
This is for the time an Islamist group whih has not been implicated in any terrorist acitity has been outlawed.
Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar said the government decided to ban Hizb-ut Tahrir because they are against the interest of law and pose a threat to public security.
The head of Hizb-ut Tahrir in Bangladesh, Professor Mohiuddin Ahmed, denied his organisation was involved in terrorist activities. He condemned the ban and pledged that they wouldn’t be be silenced by a government, which in his view, is guilty of a ‘pro-imperialist stance’.
Hizb-ut Tahrir, which is banned in at least 20 countries, has been active in Bangladesh for the past eight years.
Nearly 40 members of the organisation were arrested earlier in the year after they were alleged to have distributed leaflets in support of a mutiny by border guards in which over 50 army officers were killed.
The home secretary said that intelligence agencies would continue their surveillance of Hizb-ut Tahrir to make sure it did not re-emerge under a different name.
Established in 1953 by a scholar – jurist Taqiuddin an-Nabhabi as a global Islamic Party, Hizb-ut-Tahrir stands for ushering in Caliphate State, and adopts methodology employed in setting up the first Islamic State in Madinah. It has a presence in 20 countries including some erstwhile Soviet Republics. Presently its global leadership is headed by Ata’ Abu Rashta.Hizb
-ut-Tahrir is also active in Pakistan. It has been mobilizing the people against military operations in Waziristan.
