Burdwan Blast: Role of Jamaat-e-Islami Sympathisers in Ruling TMC Exposed
By New Age Islam Special Correspondent
Kolkata, 17 October 2014
The blasts in a rented house in Burdwan’s Khagragarh on 2nd October have raised serious questions. Muslims of the district are shocked as well as perplexed over the incident. They are not able to understand how any terrorist group can hatch any conspiracy in a district which is a safe haven of the Maoists.
The economically backward districts of Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia are infested by Maoist and Naxal groups who have committed a number of acts of violence in the state in the near past. The notorious Maoist leader Kishen Ji was killed by the West Bengal police in this state. The western half of the district of Burdwan is industrialized while the eastern part is underdeveloped and economically backward. The under developed area of this district is infested by Maoist and Naxal groups. Therefore, any subversive act by the Maoists and Naxals in this district would not have surprised many and the incident would have been ignored by the media and the government as normally happens.
Maoist violence of any degree is taken by the administration and the media as a commonplace incident. But the involvement of Muslims in a bomb blast in a house in Burdwan instantly raised many an eyebrow and attracted media attention. The Bengali media which showed commendable pragmatism while dealing with similar cases outside Bengal in the past went overboard and disappointed the Muslims of the state with their biased reporting and assumptions trying to divert the attention of the investigative agencies. One Bengali newspaper, in its report, even wondered why the police registered the case under general clauses of the IPC and not under the TADA because the case was a conspiracy against the state. The reporter and the editor of the Bengali newspaper perhaps were not aware that TADA has long been repealed and has been replaced by UAPA.
The investigations have not yielded any solid clues so far. The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has ruled out the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen and has been looking at the possibility of the involvement of SIMI in the case. SIMI was the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami which was very active in the state in the 80s.
The sitting Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP (Rajya Sabha) from West Bengal and the editor of Bengali daily Qalam (pen) Ahmad Hasan Imran (closely associated with Sharda) was the co-founder of SIMI. Later he claimed that he left the SIMI in 1984. The Bengali daily Anand Bazar Patrika had last year published a report hinting at Ahmad Hasan Imran’s close links with the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh alleging that he channelled Sharda funds to Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP to organize large scale demonstrations against the Awami League government that has set up War Crimes Tribunal against the war criminals of 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War during which Jamaat-e-Islami Razakars and leaders co-operated with the Pakistan army in the genocide of Bangladeshis.
During the protests in Bangladesh last year which was mainly organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami as some of its leaders were convicted and hanged for the involvement in the genocide, the sympathizers and cadre of Jamaat-e-Islami in West Bengal were very active in condemning both the Bangladesh government and the West Bengal Chief Minister. They condemned the Shaikh Hasina government for killing and incarcerating their leaders who were great Islamic scholars and exegetes of the Quran and criticized Mamata Banerjee for not doing anything to save the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders of Pakistan who were proved to have been rapists and killers by the War Crimes Tribunal.
Last year, 15 Islamic outfits had held a rally in West Bengal where speakers from West Bengal Jamaat-e-Islami openly expressed solidarity with the war criminals of Bangladesh who had fought against the Indian army during the operation. They had even threatened the Indians who would support the Hasina government with dire consequences. They criticized Mamata Banerjee for having good relations with Hasina government despite the fact that Sheikh Hasina was cracking down on Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and proscribing the party in Bangladesh.
Ahmad Hasan Imran is also a Bangladesh born journalist who crossed over to Bengal in 1970 or 71 and was affiliated to Jamaat-e-Islami. Therefore, Jamaat-e-Islami’s grudge with Mamata Banerjee’s government was evident from the beginning, though some of the sympathisers of Jamaat-e-Islami like Ahmad Hasan Imran were close to TMC. Therefore, the BNP-Jamaat nexus might have planned to teach Mamata Banerjee a lesson by organising the execution of a number of blasts in her state to malign her image and weaken her government.
Presently, her government and a number of leaders of the party are under the CBI scanner for their involvement in Sharadha scam. The house where the blast occurred was the property of TMC leader Abul Hasan Choudhury. He had rented the house to one Shakil Ahmad of Nadia district for a rent of Rs 4,700 a month as Shakil wanted to run a garment factory in the house. Shakil stayed there with his wife and two other men. Two of them died in the blast while the third is critically injured and is under treatment in Burdwan Medical College and Hospital. No traces of any garment were found there. Shakil was from Nadia while Subhan Mondal was from Murshidabad.
News reports in Bangladesh had already suggested that the Jamaat had built bases in Kolkata and other districts of West Bengal with the help of TMC leadership as a number of its leaders were sympathizers of Jamaat-e-Islami. Abul Hasan Chaudhury of Burdwan also seems to be a Jamaat sympathizer who rented his house out to a suspected terrorist. Shakil had earlier rented a house in Beldanga under the pretext of running a Burqa (veil) factory. A board at the house read ‘Borkha Ghar’ (A house of Burqas) where Naseerullah would stay with him. Naseerullah is said to be the brother of Bangladesh Jamaat ul Mujahideen leader Asadullah. Naseerullah is absconding after the blast. Naseerullah lost one of his hands in a blast while making bombs in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government had earlier communicated its concerns over the activities of its nationals in West Bengal.
Only 15 days before the blasts, a report in the Hindu had given clear hint of the spreading tentacles of Jamaat linked militants in West Bengal which borders Bangladesh. An excerpt from the report is reproduced below:
“Fazle Hossain Badsha, MP from northern Rajshahi, bordering West Bengal, who is also general secretary of the Workers Party, an ally of the Awami League, said his party had expressed serious concern when the Jamaat last year procured “gun powder” and funds from across the border ahead of the January 5 elections. “We raised concerns because without consent from the ruling party there, the Jamaat would not have got such help to carry out violent anarchy,” he said. Mostafa Lutfullah, Awami League MP from Satkhira, said “We have enough evidence to prove that Jamaat militants, when chased or injured during clashes with police, crossed the border into West Bengal.” Satkhira, on the border with West Bengal, was the centre of widespread Jamaat-sponsored violence during last year’s anti-election agitation. “We have also information that the leaders of the Trinamool Congress gave them shelter,” he said. He alleged that Jamaat leaders and workers worked for the Trinamool during the recent Lok Sabha elections.”
Last month, the Sheikh Hasina government had ordered a probe into the allegations of links of Ahmad Hasan Imran to the Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh. A CPM leader Goutam Deb had earlier alleged that Imran had links with the top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh including those convicted and executed for war crimes.
It can be said that a large network of sympathizers of Jamaat -e-Islami within the TMC kept Mamata Banerjee in the dark about the growing network of Bangladeshi militants in West Bengal who planned to punish Mamata Banerjee for her friendly ties with Sheikh Hasina who broke the backbone of terrorist outfits of her country after coming to power. The Jamaat sympathizers in West Bengal do not want good relations between India and Bangladesh while Hasina has a secular outlook and is pro-India while Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh is anti-India and has a communal outlook.
The West Bengal government ignored the intelligence reports and reports from Bangladesh government about the growing bonhomie between Jamaat of Bangladesh and some leaders of TMC hailing from the bordering districts of West Bengal.
Therefore, it is not too late as the network has been exposed in the beginning. Both the centre and the state government should tackle the menace by taking appropriate steps to cleanse the state of the radical outfits of Bangladesh and West Bengal without victimizing and framing innocent people. The media too has to play a positive role while reporting such incidents. Only a sincere and unbiased approach can help fight the growing scourge of Islamist terrorism in the country.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/burdwan-blast-role-jamaat-e/d/99574