SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 10, No. 16, October 24, 2011

BANGLADESH	PAKISTAN

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HuT: Extremist Spectre
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

The Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT, ‘Party of Liberation’), a global Islamist organization seeking the imposition of Shariah (Islamic Law) across the world, is growing into a major focus of concern in Bangladesh and Pakistan over the past years. Colonel T.M. Jobaer, Director of National Security Intelligence (NSI), Bangladesh, thus argues, “Of all the Islamic outfits, Hizb-ut-Tahrir is currently the biggest threat... The organisation is strong because it has a strong international agenda -- it wants to establish a Khilafat (the Islamic Caliphate) in many countries”.

On October 12, 2011, nine HuT cadres were arrested in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, while they were trying to bring out a procession in front of the city's Baitul Mukarram, the National Mosque, demanding the release of the outfit's top leaders and the establishment of Khilafat rule in the country.

On June 21, 2011, the Pakistan Army arrested Brigadier Ali Khan at Rawalpindi over his alleged links with HuT. He had been picked up for questioning on May 6, 2011, but the arrest was announced on June 21. Pakistan's military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, when asked to confirm, stated, “Yes, it is correct that he is under detention over his alleged links to the militant group Hizb-ul-Tahrir and an investigation is going on”.

A study conducted by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute claimed that HuT was slowly gaining ground and was currently the strongest force in anti-state activities in Bangladesh.

According to the partial data collected by the Institute for Conflict Management, a total of 278 HuT cadres have been arrested in these two countries since March 10, 2000 – 207 in Bangladesh and 71 in Pakistan. Some of the significant arrests included:

September 30, 2011: Three cadres of HuT were arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel in Dhaka, when they were distributing leaflets in front of Baitul Mukarram.

September 14, 2011: RAB-2 personnel arrested two cadres of HuT, identified as Towhidur Rahman (22) and Tariqul Hasan Ashiq (18), from a house in the Hajaribagh area of Dhaka city.

July 27, 2011: RAB arrested Mahmudul Bari, adviser of HuT (Bangladesh), from Shahjalal International Airport while he was trying to leave for Malaysia.

July 2, 2011: 18 HuT cadres were arrested from Paltan area in Dhaka City. RAB also arrested four from Jhikatola and Mohammadpur in Dhaka District.

July 3, 2011: Senior HuT member, Professor Dr. Sheikh Tawfique, was arrested in Dhaka.

June 6, 2011: RAB personnel arrested 27 cadres of HuT form Barakaw village of the Kaliganj Sub-district of Gazipur District in Bangladesh. They also recovered anti-State posters, leaflets and magazines, as well as books on jihad.

April 18, 2011: Police arrested 18 HuT cadres from Qartaba Chowk in Lahore, Pakistan. They were carrying out a protest march criticizing the United States (US) and Pakistan Governments.

July 8, 2010: The Detective Branch of Bangladesh Police arrested a Professor of Dhaka University, identified as Syed Golam Maola, who introduced the HuT into the country, from Dhaka's Elephant Road area. Maola was accused in three cases filed with the Uttara Police Station in Dhaka, under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009.

April 20, 2010: Police arrested HuT Bangladesh ‘chief coordinator’ Mahiuddin Ahmed from the capital, Dhaka. The HuT 'second-in-command' was also arrested by the Intelligence Wing of RAB, from his Mohammadpur house in Dhaka.

October 19, 2009: The Margalla Police raided the HuT office in Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad, and arrested 35 persons. The Police claimed to have recovered ‘sensitive’ material from the office.

May 4, 2009: Former Commanding Officer of Shamsi Air Force Base, Colonel Shaid Bashir, a retired Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Squadron Leader, Lawyer Nadeem Ahmad Shah, and US-educated mechanical engineer Awais Ali Khan were arrested for their connections with HuT and for leaking sensitive information to the outfit.

March 30, 2007: Police arrested 22 HuT cadres in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area. The arrested militants were holding a secret meeting at a house on the third floor of a five-storied building at Aziz Mohalla in the area. Police recovered leaflets, posters, compact disks (CDs) and books from the house.

September 16, 2004: Three cadres of the HuT were arrested during separate raids in Lahore. The arrested activists, identified as Abdul Waheed, Bilal Saleem and Hakeem Yasir Rehman Jigranvi, were reportedly accused of distributing anti-state material.

HuT in Pakistan and Bangladesh are parts of the global Sunni political party, established in Jerusalem in the year 1953 by Taqi al-Din al-Nibhani, a Palestinian religious cleric, with the aim of replacing the then colonial regime of Jordan with Islamic rule. The current global leader of HuT is Shaykh Ata Abu Rashta, a Palestinian civil engineer.

At the global level, HuT has extended its presence into 45 countries. However, it is banned in virtually all Arab nations in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and in Turkey; in South Asia in Pakistan and Bangladesh; in all the former Soviet States in Central Asia, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan; and also in Russia. In Europe, it has been banned in Germany and in the Netherlands. The Governments of United Kingdom (UK) and Australia are also under pressure to ban the outfit.

HuT claims to be a non-violent organization, seeking

• to establish a community of like-minded HuT members in its host countries
• to build public opinion in one or more host countries to facilitate change of Government
• to establish a new Government based on the Shariah as a political entity under an international Caliphate in all Islamic and non-Islamic countries.

The HuT in Pakistan and Bangladesh have established themselves as well-known Islamic political outfits. As a part of the international Islamist brigade HuT has gained widespread support, not only from religious clerics and elements within the military, but also among doctors, teachers, lawyers and businessmen, on the political platform against the prevailing ‘un-Islamic’ and corrupt political set-up. HuT claims it seeks to establish ‘clean’ politics in these countries, but has not been averse to provoking political skirmishes between its cadres and other political formations.

A typical feature of HuT is the presence of western educated cadres in the organization, who help propagate anti-government and pro-Islamist ideas through their writings, try to attract young students from various colleges and universities. In Pakistan, HuT sponsored protest activities have attracted students of Punjab University, the University of Karachi, and other prominent colleges and universities. HuT-Bangladesh cadres from Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, among others, have been involved in various anti-State demonstrations and protests. 

Notwithstanding its claims to be a non-violent organisation, HuT does have a clandestine violent face. In June 2001, in its Arabic language magazine, Al-Waie, (‘Consciousness’), published from Beirut, HuT stated clearly that it is acceptable to carry out suicide attacks with explosive belts. In an article on “Martyrdom Operations”, HuT gave its own fatwa on suicide attacks:

Articulating the organisation’s wider ideological position, on December 17, 2010, HuT-Pakistan issued an open letter titled "O Muslims! Deliver This Letter to All the Sincere Ones Whom You Know in Pakistan's Armed Forces," accusing Pakistani rulers of bowing before the U.S. and India. The letter stated, "But rather than working to end the oppressive Hindu rule, Pakistan's traitor rulers have worked to strengthen it, for the sake of America, who seeks to woo India into its influence, to counter China and any Khilafah that arises.”

Similarly, on April 3, 2010, the official website of HuT-Bangladesh stated, “O Muslims! Sheikh Hasina is handing you over to crusader America and polytheist India; overthrow her treacherous government before she succeeds… Crusader America and polytheist India reached a compromise whereby America will instruct the rulers in the region (especially Pakistan and Bangladesh) to solve the long standing issues with India which will free India’s hands and then these two enemies of Islam can develop their partnership to consolidate their foothold in the region.”

Terrorist connections and proclivities to armed violence are also visible in the HuT’s global operations. On October 17, 2011, a provincial court in Tajikistan sentenced four men to prison terms after finding them guilty of HuT membership. The court sentenced Yakhekhon Rakhmonkhujaev and Abdunabi Abdulkodirov, said to be leaders of the organization in northern Tajikistan, to 20 years in prison. The two other defendants were sentenced to 22 years in prison because they were arrested along with weapons and narcotics. Earlier, on February 7, 2011, eight alleged members of the HuT had been detained in Kyrgyzstan's southern region of Osh.

It was reported on May 14, 2010, that the Russian Federal Security Service uncovered an underground terrorist cell of HuT, which had links with Chechen militants.

On April 15, 2010, Golam Mostafa a Bangladeshi-born British citizen and the UK Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) unit chief, was arrested in Sylhet in Bangladesh for his involvement in financing extremist groups and attempts to reorganize terrorist formations in the region. Later, Mostafa admitted to interrogators that he maintained contacts with Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) and HuT leaders to inquire about funds he sent for Islamist militancy.

On September 29, 2008, Daily Star received a fax dated September 18, 2008, sent in the name of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) that apparently acknowledged HuT as its ‘front organisation’ and asked the Government and all law enforcement agencies to refrain from harassing its leaders and activists.

The four Pakistani origin London subway suicide bombers of July 7, 2007, were reportedly indoctrinated in London by extremists belonging to militant groups including Al-Mohajiroun and HuT. Asif Mohammed Hanif, the terrorist who blew himself up in a cafe in Tel Aviv (Israel) on April 29, 2003, and his accomplice and would-be bomber, Omar Khan Sharif, were British-born Muslims affiliated with HuT.

In 2003, the HuT was accused of being involved in an assassination attempt against former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf. On August 21, 2011, Dawn quoted a former HuT man, Majid Nawaz, as stating that the HuT does not discount the use of violence through ‘converted’ military men (won over by HuT ideologies) in its goal of toppling the Pakistan Government and the military’s top leadership to ‘establish a Khilafah state’.

The HuT formally arrived in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the year 2000, with 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan acting as a catalyst to get a strong hold in these countries. Pakistan’s chapter of HuT was formally founded in November 2000, although a number of Pakistanis had joined the group outside Pakistan over the preceding decades. The founding members of HuT-Pakistan were mostly Pakistani expatriates from relatively successful families. According to some reports, the founders of HuT-Pakistan, included Imtiaz Malik, a British youth of Pakistani descent, Dr. Abdul Wajid and Dr. Abdul Basit Shaikh. Imtiaz Malik is presently considered to be the underground leader of HuT-Pakistan. Naveed Butt remains the public face of the group in the country, and is assisted by two youth, Imran Yusufzai and Shahzad Sheikh.

HuT-Bangladesh was established under the leadership of Syed Golam Maola, along with Nasimul Gani and Kawsar Shahnewaz, each of whom had a British education. Nasimul and Shahnewaz, after returning to Bangladesh in 2000, set up an office at a coaching centre at Dhanmondi in Dhaka, for the organisation’s Bangladesh chapter, and launched the group’s activities under Maola’s leadership.

Meanwhile, HuT’s covert linkages with the Pakistani and Bangladeshi military have also in failed efforts to orchestrate military coups. In July, 2009, HuT-Pakistan was reported to have been preparing a coup to topple the Government of President Asif Ali Zardari and to establish a Caliphate under strict Islamic code. On July 5, 2009, The Sunday Times noted,

The arrests of Armed Forces personnel in connection with HuT also demonstrate the gradual percolation of HuT ideologies in the Pakistani military establishment. In Bangladesh, during the Pilkhana Mutiny of February 2009, HuT tried to capitalise on the discontent among Army personnel caused by the killing of 57 Army officials at the hands of Paramilitary troopers during the mutiny. Investigators disclosed that HuT operatives distributed leaflets bearing Jaago Muslim Senabahini Jaago (‘Rise up the army of Muslims') slogan in and around the Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters after the February 25-26 mutiny.

On October 22, 2009, HuT was banned in Bangladesh by the Sheikh Hasina Government. Home Minister Sahara Khatun stated, “The organization (HuT) has been banned as it has been carrying out anti-State, anti-Government, anti-people and anti-democratic activities for long in the country”. However, since the ban followed a bomb-blast (on October 21) in Dhaka City, there was immediate speculation that the outfit was directly or indirectly involved in the incident.

HuT-Pakistan was banned on November 11, 2003, by the then President Pervez Musharraf regime. The Interior Ministry of Pakistan banned HuT following the attempt to assassinate General Pervez Musharraf on December 25, 2003. The ban in Pakistan has been under dispute for long. A petition was filed in Lahore High Court by HuT-Pakistan spokesperson Naveed Butt in early 2006, challenging the ban. HuT has maintained that the notification issued against it was illegal and should be set aside “as members of the political organisation and their families are being harassed, detained and framed in fake criminal cases”. The petition was to be taken up for hearing on September 12, 2011. However, no further details are available. Meanwhile, on August 2, 2011, authorities in Pakistan’s Punjab province barred 23 banned organizations, including HuT, from collecting donations for their activities. The Punjab Government warned that those found providing donations or aid to the banned organizations would be charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

HuT is a global Islamist organisation with strong regional linkages in South Asia. Apart from its presence in Bangladesh and Pakistan, it is increasingly visible in India. Surprisingly, the major financial support for HuT in South Asia comes from the expatriate Muslim population residing in UK. While sustained action by the Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh appears to have stalled HuT expansion, at least for the time being, the organization continues to flourish in Pakistan – feeding on strong sectarian antipathies and the cumulative radicalization of the population over decades. In India, its roots appear to be strengthening in the absence of political clarity and a clear mandate to security and enforcement agencies regarding how the group is to be tackled. HuT’s radical ideology, the propagation of hatred against ‘infidels’ and ‘deviants’, and the flirtation with violence and terrorism hold significant potential dangers within the far from stable South Asian environment.

INDIA

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Assam: Splintering Threats
Veronica Khangchian
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On September 22, 2011, Security Forces (SFs) raided and destroyed a Karbi Peoples Liberation Tiger (KPLT) base camp in Hujunglangso Rongkhin village under Bokajan Police Station of the Karbi Anglong District. The camp was the operational office of Nilip Inghi, ‘general secretary’ of KPLT, who, along with his close cadres, was present at the time of attack. However, they managed to escape unhurt, taking advantages of darkness.

Earlier, in a joint operation, State Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops, on August 10, 2011, shot dead an unidentified KPLT militant during an encounter at Kuli Gaon under Bokajan Police Station.

KPLT was, in fact, formed only on January 8, 2011, and came under SF pressure almost immediately.

Six KPLT militants have been killed and another eight have been arrested since the group’s creation. Some of the significant operations against KPLT include:

August 26, 2011: SFs arrested a top KPLT militant, identified as Amar Rongpi, from Diphu in Karbi Anglong District.

July 12, 2011: SFs killed two KPLT militants, including 'commander-in-chief' Angpang Engti and his bodyguard Ading Rangpi and injured another militant, at Upper Deihori Rangpi Kro village in Karbi Anglong District.

March 28, 2011: SFs killed one KPLT militant in the Koilamati locality under Bokajan Police Station in Karbi Anglong District.

March 5, 2011: A KPLT cadre, identified as Andrew Terang, was killed in an encounter with the SFs at Samelangso under the Dokmoka Police Station in Karbi Anglong District.

February 13, 2011: SFs shot dead an unidentified KPLT militant in Bokajan sub-division in Karbi Anglong District.

KPLT was earlier the Karbi Anglong North Cachar Hills Liberation Front – Anti Talks (KLNLF-A), which had been formed on September 17, 2010. Several SF operations had targeted the KLNF-A as well, including:

December 29, 2010: SFs neutralized a KLNLF-A camp south of Dalamara in Karbi Anglong District and recovered some arms and ammunition.

October 9, 2010: One unidentified KLNLF-A militant was killed during an encounter with the Assam Police and the Army at a hill top near Tarabasa of Uttarbarbil Outpost under Howraghat Police Station of Karbi Anglong District.

September 25, 2010: An unidentified KLNLF-A militant was shot dead in a joint operation by the Assam Police and Army at Napak Ghat under Dakmuka Police Station in Karbi Anglong District.

The KPLT is believed to have split towards the middle of 2011, when some of its members formed a new group, the Karbi National Protection Force (KNPF). This new outfit also faced the SFs’ brunt:

October 15, 2011: SFs arrested four KNPF militants, including ‘vice president’ Mongal SingTokbi, at Diphu in Karbi Anglong District.

October 16-17, 2011: A youth, identified as James M. Sangma, was abducted by KNPF at Guwahati. However he was rescued by the Police on October 17 from Diphu in Karbi Anlong District.  The SFs also arrested two KNPF militants, identified as Sanjib Teli and Grading Mara, in connection with the case, from Diphu. The rescue and the arrests were made on the basis of statements by KNPF cadres arrested on October 15.

October 17, 2011: One KNPF militant, identified as Sanjay Taro, was arrested by SFs in Borjan area in Golaghat District.

Seven KNPF militants have been arrested so far.

KPLT, formed with an objective of carving an Autonomous Karbi State (AKS) out of Assam, is headed by Jing Hanse, deputy 'commander-in-chief' and Nilip Enghi, the ‘general secretary-cum publicity in-charge’ of the group. The KPLT, has its base in Dima Hasao District of Assam and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, and has pledged to fight until the AKS is formed.

The KLNLF-A was a breakaway faction of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF), which had laid down arms on February 11, 2010. The KLNLF, in turn, was earlier known as United People’s Democratic Solidarity-Anti Talks (UPDS-AT). The UPDS had been formed in March 1999 with the merger of two terrorist outfits in the Karbi Anglong District – KNV and Karbi People’s Front (KPF). Karbi National Volunteers (KNV) had been floated in the eighties with the objective of using violent means to secure a separate State of Karbi Anglong. KPF was formed in 1994. Since 1995, KNV and KPF had targeted the Citizens Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC), an umbrella organsatioin of non-Karbi people, including the Marwaris, Biharis, Nepalis and Bengalis, in Assam. The ‘war’ against ‘outsiders’ started in earnest in March 1999, when KNV and KPF merged to form UPDS. The UPDS later raised the demand for a Karbi Anglong Territorial Council (KATC).

UPDS signed a cease-fire agreement for one year with the Union Government on May 23, 2002. This led to a split in the UPDS with one faction deciding to continue with its subversive activities while the other commenced negotiations with the Government. On May 16, 2004, the UPDS-Anti-Talks rechristened itself KLNLF, and called its armed wing the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Resistance Force.

The UPDS held six rounds of peace talks with the State and Union Government representatives between 2002 and 2006, but on September 11, 2006, announced a suspension of talks. However, it said that it would continue with the cease-fire. Later, on December 23, 2010, the Union Government agreed in principle to the UPDS demand for an ‘upgraded’ KATC with more powers than the existing Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC). On October 18, 2011, UPDS agreed to sign a peace agreement with the Centre and Assam Government on three conditions. Firstly, the demand for statehood to be pressed in a democratic and peaceful manner; secondly, whenever the State Re-organization Commission (SRC) or any commission to examine the Statehood demands of various organisations is constituted by the Government of India, the Karbi Anglong demand for statehood shall also be included as one of the terms of reference; the third condition was that, immediately after concluding this settlement, the present KAAC would be dissolved to make way for the UPDS to lay down arms, and its nominees would form an interim body to manage and supervise a substantive re-organization of the KATA within the framework of the amended Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.  Some of the key points of the proposed agreement that was scheduled to be signed on October 24, 2011, include:

• Present KAAC will be replaced with a new territorial entity to be known as Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territory (KAAT) under the revised provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The proposed territory shall have three revenue and administrative Districts— East Karbi Anglong, Central Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong, with headquarters at Koilamati, Singhason and Hamren, respectively.
• The proposed territory will be governed by the Karbi Anglong Territorial Authority (KATA).
• KATA shall have 55 seats of which 45 will be reserved for Scheduled Tribes, five will be open, and five seats will be filled through nominations.

However, on October 21, both the Union Home Ministry and Assam Government rejected the demand for dissolving the KAAC. Later in the day, the UPDS said that it would not sign the proposed tripartite agreement scheduled for October 24 unless the ‘agreed formula’ was ensured.

Earlier, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Joint Secretary (Northeast) Shambhu Singh had stated, on August 12, 2011, “Government is of the view that the KLNLF should also sign the same agreement.” KLNLF is also under cease-fire, but has not signed any agreement on its demands, of which the core is the formation of AKS. Singh also said that the Government did not recognise KPLT as a representative of the Karbi people, that the members of the outfit were indulging in unlawful activities, and were criminals. The MHA recognized UPDS and KLNLF as representative of the Karbi people.

Nevertheless, KPLT has emerged as a new threat. Significantly, Jing Hanse, on the outfit’s Foundation Day (January 8, 2011), had declared that his party would continue subversive activities if their demands were not met. Out of 81 fatalities that have taken place in Assam in 2011, KPLT has been involved in 14. Significantly, five of the 26 civilians killed in Assam have been victims of KPLT violence, while the number for SFs killed by KPLT cadres was three out of a total of 14. The most significant acts of violence engineered by the group include:

October 22, 2011: A local Congress leader, identified as Langtuk Killing, was shot dead by suspected KPLT militants in Karbi Anglong District.

August 13, 2011: A truck driver, Nandu Mathu, was killed and 11 others, including six Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) activists, were injured when suspected KPLT militants opened fire on vehicles on National Highway 37 at Panbari near Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat District.

June 7, 2011: Narendra Kiling, member of the KAAC and a Congress youth leader, was shot dead by KPLT militants at his residence in Diphu District.

April 26, 2011: One civilian, identified as Bordeka Kro (55), was shot dead by KPLT militants at Karuna Singnar Gaon near the New Life School in Karbi Anglong District.

April 2, 2011: KPLT militants killed three CRPF personnel and injured four others in an ambush near Rongshuli village in Karbi Anglong District.

January 27, 2011: A senior Congress leader and President of the Karbi Jutang Chingthur Asong (KJCA), Mohen Ingti, was shot dead allegedly by KPLT cadres, in the Bokajan sub-division of Karbi Anglong District.

January 25, 2011: Five passengers suffered bullet injuries when a Manipur bound inter State bus coming from Guwahati and heading towards Imphal was attacked by cadres of KPLT at Deopani under Golagat Police Station of Karbi Anglong District.

The splintering of militant groups in Assam over the issue of talks has resulted in the persistence of violence in the State, despite significant advances towards a negotiated settlement. In the present case, SF operations have kept the KPLT outfit under continuous pressure. It can only be hoped that the scheduled signing of a peace accord between UPDS, the State Government and the Union Government, which would realize the KPLT’s ‘core demand’, may encourage the group to give up the gun. KPLT had earlier promised that it would “forgo arms if the talks between UPDS and the Government prove successful”. If the KPLT leadership stands by its commitment, Assam may see another major source of conflict brought to an end.

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

INDIA

Assam

Jammu & Kashmir

Meghalaya

Left-wing Extremism

Bihar

Chhattisgarh

Jharkhand

Maharashtra

Odisha

Total (INDIA)

PAKISTAN

Balochistan

FATA

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Sindh

Total (PAKISTAN)