The political intention behind Chhatrashibir’s implication is clear; Massive discrepancies in the report; Question raised, who had prepared this intentional report The terrorism list of Jane’s: Politics of panic in Bangladesh Gautam Das Published in Daily Sangram on 4th March, 2014 On last 24th February, IHS Jane’s has published a list of world’s top 10 most active non-state armed groups in 2013 including Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in the 3rd position. As per their claim, the list has been made observing the activities of last year only. But what is the basis, cause or reasoning behind such numbering is not found anywhere. So the inclusion of Chhatrashibir in the list could be intentional. The political intention behind such initiative is also very vivid. But what is more important is the mechanism of including an organization in the terror list in this so called era of war on terror. There is no doubt that, strong lobbing and pressure had also been enforced behind the initiative. Though the report enlisted top 10 platforms but surprisingly put the top one in the 9th position. The preface of the report of the Jane’s centers also acknowledges that Terrorism spike seen in Arab Spring countries; Attacks in Syria almost double in one year. That means, the vicious aspect of terrorism has been found in the Arab countries that experienced Arab spring. Number of terror activities in clearly 2 times more in Syria. Accordingly, it should place the Syrian group of Jabat Al Nusra in the top position. But stunningly it has been placed in the 9th position. It means, whatever it claims in the preface, reflected adversely while preparing the list. 1. Barisan Revolusi Nasional (Thailand), 2. Taliban, 3. Islami Chhatra Shibir (Bangladesh), 4. Communist Party of India - Maoist, 5. Al-Qaeda in Iraq, 6. Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (Al- Shabaab), 7. FARC (Colombia), 8. New People’s Army (Philippines), 9. Jabhat al-Nusra (Syria), 10. Unified Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist. Though South Asia is not placed in the Key Attack Index, but it has named a Bangladesh organization in the terrorist list. a) Global: Significant rises in global militant and non-militant fatalities b) Arab Spring countries see attacks spike c) Syria: Attacks almost double between 2012 and 2013 d) Iraq: Suicide attacks quadruple and Al-Qaeda in Iraq re-enters the top five most active non-state armed groups in the world e) Sub-Saharan Africa: Terrorism fatalities rise. The first of the 5 has been brought in forth from global perspective. Rest of the 4 had been made on regional perspective. The regional divisions are Arab spring affected countries excluding Syria and then come Iraq and finally Sub-Saharan Africa which refers from Somalia to Mali and Nigeria. So the entire picture shows that in the activities of the last year, there was no country from South Asia. Afghanistan and Pakistan are not existed in the list. Rest of the names are not that much mentionable. Then from which source, they got the name of Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir? It sounds that, a massive irregularities took place while preparing the list. In brief, the report has no similarity between the Key Attack Index and the Top 10 most active non- state armed groups. If we consider the index as a medium of assessing an organization then Bangladesh or Shibir can no way be included in this list. Though South Asia or Bangladesh has not been mentioned as a place of terror affected area, in such condition, the inclusion of Bangladesh or Islami Chhatrashibir is unjustified. It has no significance but ill political intention. The criterion of listing the top 10 terror organizations is baseless as it tops Barisan group of Thailand. Who comes in the list respectively, its reasoning is not clear. I am going to highlight some unbelievable anomalies of the report now: a) It is established and the report also acknowledged that, Al Qaeda linked groups in different countries are at the top of the terror activities worldwide, such as Jabhat al-Nusra (Syria), Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al Shabaab of Africa or Pakistani or Afghani Taliban etc. There can be dispute which one of these 4 has performed more notoriously in past year. Dismissing the disputes, this very report is claiming that, Al Nusra of Syria was at the top. Then why Barisan of Thailand got top position in this report? Though Al Nusra was more active than Taliban, but surprisingly the report placed Taliban in the second position, while Al Nusra at the 9th position. b) Excluding the Taliban, the top 3 organizations are Jabhat al-Nusra (Syria), Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al Shabaab. But the report placed these organizations in 9th, 5th and 6th respectively. While, it placed Chhatrashibir in the 3rd position. Is the report indicating that, Chhatrashibir carried more terror activities even than the Jabhat al- Nusra (Syria), Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al Shabaab. This claim is nothing but dream and fiction of a lunatic man. c) The report is full of errors. Such as, it has placed FARC of Colombia in the 7th position. This organization emerged in the 80s. But recently, it has been negotiating with the Colombian government under the mediation of the Cuban authority. Their military activities have been postponed for years as well. The people who regularly watch Al Jazeera are quite update about this organization. Then why it has been brought in 7th position? While being an active organization, why Al Nusra is placed at 9th? Is this referring that, FARC was more active than Al Nusra in past year? Is it believable at all? d) Almost similar error has been made while treating Maoist of Nepal. It has been placed at 10th position. But this organization is no more active now. Its major faction has surrendered under UN mediation, activists have been rehabilitated and top leaders had run the Nepal government. Very recently the party had been divided. Despite that, we do not know about the military link of its faction. Would they come back to violence? May be. There is possibility. But the list of the Jane’s center is not made based upon probability. It has been made on the basis of active performance. So Nepal’s Maoist cannot be come in the list of the terror organization. The readers can also understand that how much inconsistent it is! Now let’s talk about the contemporary politics of Bangladesh that often reminds us about the fact of making cocktail or crude bombs inside the house. Every movement has its own aspect. The confusion that has been created about the violent form of politics, that has been created due to ill campaign of some ruling party backed media. The purpose of making homemade crude bombs is to create panic and refraining police from performing its baton charge for a while. The people had undertaken the strategy due to massive oppression of the Bakshal government. As the autocratic government ordered the police to shot fire upon protesters just at sight. The only way to resist such violence is to allow the political parties to hold procession. But some government backed media are not focusing on the government’s anarchy. Instead of that, they are frequently terming that people’s just movement as violence and terrorism. If we go through the list of the Jane’s center, we will see that, amidst of the listed organizations, Islami Chhatrashibir is the only social organization. Islami Chhatrashibir is not banned as well. We had not seen any use of fire arms by this student organization during past one year’s movement. Rests of the 9 organizations of the list are weapon based platforms. Despite that, how Shibir has been placed with those organizations or how it secured the 3rd position is also wondering. The report poses of the credibility of the Jane’s center as well. Jane’s center was formed in 1959 to produce catalog. Gradually, it set focus on the military activities and arm strength of different countries and organizations. Its major clients are various intelligence agencies. There sources of information is not indifferent. There should be a method of assessment while collecting information related to intelligence or military strategies. On that note, Jane’s is not the only source. So if its report is treated as biased or if it prepares any unprofessional report as per the instigation of any other agencies that may put the credibility of Jane’s at stake. Jane’s is a registered company in the New York stock exchange. So it would not take much time to fall the price of its share. State security issue is not a joke. Though the western countries particularly US has refined the issue of terrorism by bringing the issue of Al Qaeda in forth. Their continuous propaganda has compelled many countries to reshuffle its security structure in order to defend from terrorism phenomena. Bangladesh is not free from its worst influence. Global capitalism has connected one country with other more intimately than other time. So obviously, the policy of one state influences other. So the powerful countries have a scope to instigate the developing and small countries to adopt the same policy of war on terror. Following the 5th January election, has accelerated the repression and torture massively. They are also using the issue of militancy once again. The government has increased the malpractices of torture, repression and abduction and tried to color it as a strategy of countering militancy. There is no real definition of terrorism. Most of the times, those organizations are being colored as terrorist organizations, which had been marked by the western countries as terrorist. Sheikh Hasina, Indian intelligence agency RAW and the bureaucrats are mulling many conspiracies to keep Sheikh Hasina in power, the government which had been rejected by the people already. But this conspiracy is suicidal. Out of such conspiracy, many vested quarter got privileges, some got money but ultimately the state and the people suffer worst. Such as, Awami League secured victory in 2008, but the people lost. We are in the same crisis once again. It is really pathetic to witness the subservient role of Awami League before the mastermind of Delhi. It is also tougher for Awami League to wipe out this stigma from its forehead. It will not be possible for them to wipe out this blackish spot by branding Islami Chhatrashibir as terrorist organization. Such campaign was effective earlier, but it will not work anymore. (The writer is a researcher and political analyst. The article has been published in the Bengali daily Dainik Sangram on 4th March,
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 04:58:52 +0000
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