How much concern is the incident of explosion in Madrasah and Jazeera in Keraniganj

The police have arrested three people from outside Dhaka as associates of the main accused Sheikh Al Amin. According to police case sources, there is a case against them for involvement in religious extremism in the past.

The statement of the case mentioned that the arrested accused were supporters of the banned militant outfit Jagrat Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), the interrogation yielded such information. Arrested Shaheen alias Abu Bakar alias Musa alias Diba Sultan has been arrested several times for carrying out militant and terrorist activities, it is also mentioned in the statement.

Police suspect that four cocktails were recovered from Shaheen as an accomplice, which may have been made in Keraniganj.

It has been mentioned in the statement that during the interrogation by the police, the arrested persons admitted that they had planned to sabotage different areas of Dhaka with improvised bombs.

Human rights activist Noor Khan Liton has worked on militancy and religious extremism for a long time. He told BBC Bangla that such incidents should be seriously investigated.

“One thing is clear that they are conducting dawa activities and preparing in various places recently. This is the recent bomb incident we saw in South Keraniganj, the destructive power it has, it is clear that those involved in extremism, whom we call quote unquote ‘militants’ have had a breathing time since August 5 till now. During that time they are organizing themselves, they are fixing targets, maybe we will have some application of this in the future. I’ll see.”

After August 5th in Bangladesh, many accused in militancy cases were released on bail. Many have escaped from prison. According to Noor Khan, there is no reason to think that there is no religious extremism in Bangladesh. Noor Khan Liton also expressed fear that foreign organizations may be in contact with many of them.

“I have seen many cases starting from Holy Artisan. There is no reason to think that it is only within the country where they are connected. They have a connection with many countries around the country. They think that they are participating in Jihad activities. And in that case, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, or the Middle East countries, there may be a connection with them. The fraction of ISI or Al Qaeda that still exists, they are still with some of them. The association is more likely to have direct or indirect contact.”

A case has been registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act in connection with the explosion in the Kereniganj Madrasa. On December 29, the case was transferred from the South Keraniganj police station to the Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of the police.

Superintendent of Police Mahfuzul Alam Russel of ATU’s Media and Awareness Division told BBC Bangla that a police inspector is investigating the incident. He refused to comment on what information was found in the preliminary investigation and interrogation of the detained persons.

Mr. Russell said, “Operations are underway to arrest the main accused. As the investigation is ongoing, we don’t want to say it for the sake of the investigation. But we will bring whoever is involved in the terrorist act to justice. The investigation is at a very early stage. There should be no comment at this time. We want a thorough investigation and we want to actually present what we get after the investigation.”

On January 8, three people were killed when a bomb exploded in a house in Shariatpur’s Jajira. After this incident, joint forces recently conducted an operation in Bilaspur Union of Jazeera. During the operation, 45 fresh cocktails and different tools for making bombs and indigenous weapons were recovered with the help of dog squad by searching the houses of the village in various bushes.

Jazeera has a long history of conflict over dominance in Bilaspur. Bilaspur Quddus Bepari High School Headmaster BM Shahjahan Kabir told BBC Bangla that the struggle for supremacy between the two groups is almost two decades old.

“This cocktail is fifteen and twenty years old. Before that there were slopes and roads. The fight was two hundred years ago. Nothing more than dominance.”

Locals said that a chain of making hand grenades has been created in this area. Making cocktails is a very common occurrence in this area. Locals said that many people in the area have become involved in making cocktails.

A local man told BBC Bangla on condition of anonymity that he stopped making cocktails three years ago. He used to make cocktails to raise money.

In his words, “many people can make it. Literally everyone can make it. If you have the tools, you can make it in five minutes.”

There are fears that the cocktail made in Jazeera may spread to different areas. It is said that one who was recently arrested with a cocktail in front of the NCP office was from this Jazeera area. There are also fears that the cocktails here are being prepared and stocked to create unrest ahead of the elections. However, it is said by the district police that the matter of making and stocking this cocktail is limited to the two parties in the dominance spread.

Md Tanveer Hossain, Additional Superintendent of Police of Shariatpur’s Crime and Operations Branch, told BBC Bangla that the initial investigation showed that it was a local matter. He claimed that extremism has nothing to do with it, even in view of the elections, it is not happening.

“If you look at the frequency of bombings, it doesn’t actually target an election. They’re mainly targeted for sectarian reasons. It’s a culture that has been created in the area between two groups. Our operation against them is going on.”

However, bringing forward the overall law and order situation and the two blasts, Noor Khan Liton said that any moment can lead to major incidents. According to him, the public is worried whether the riots will increase before the elections. Noor Khan Liton believes that the fear is increasing rather than reducing the anxiety among people.

“At a time when the law and order situation is so fragile, all kinds of criminals can actually take advantage. They can organize themselves. It can be for dominance. It can be for ‘Jihad’. Then it can be for conducting various criminal activities. That’s why there is an urgent need for government action, law enforcement action and proper direction.”