How Ansarullah Bangla Team’s jihadist revival in Bangladesh is a threat to India

Since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina and the subsequent installation of a caretaker government of Mohammad Yunus, Bangladesh has been experiencing increased Islamist radicalisation and vicious defiance towards the religious minorities of Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists. The various terror conglomerates are running an open show, flexing their jihadi muscles. One such terror outfit, the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), has come to the forefront because of the state support and is also posing a threat to India’s internal security.

Lately, there has been a series of incidents involving the ‘release from prison’ of ABT militants under the aegis of Yunus’s government:

On December 24, an ABT operative, identified as Al Amin, was released from Kashimpur Central Jail Part-2 in Gazipur District of Dhaka Division.

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On the same day, Harun-ur-Rashid from the same organisation was released from Chapainawabganj jail in Chapai Nawabganj District of Rajshahi Division.

On December 23, another ABT terrorist, identified as Iqbal Hossain, was released from prison in an unspecified location after getting bail from the court on December 17, 2024.

On December 21, a convicted operative of ABT, identified as Jikrullah, was released from Kashimpur Central Jail in the Gazipur District of Dhaka Division. He was convicted for the murder of blogger Wasikur Rahman Babu in 2015, as part of his extremist mission. He exited the prison compound and was escorted by armed ABT operatives to an undisclosed location.

From India’s security point of view, an ominous development was reported on December 18: ABT is trying to train up a few people and send them to India to indulge in acts of violence. A large number of Rohingya are now taking shelter in Bangladesh after they were displaced from Myanmar. ABT is also trying to train up a few of the Rohingya and send them to India to remain as sleeper cells. Such sleeper cells can be activated whenever required to indulge in acts of violence.

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Concurrently, on December 30, the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF) arrested two persons suspected to belong to ABT from Nowda in the Murshidabad district. A day earlier, on December 29, a combined team of Assam Police STF and Kokrajhar Police arrested an operative of ABT, identified as Gazi Rahman, accused of anti-national operation, from Kokrajhar district of Assam.

The operations have targeted areas across Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts of Assam, dismantling sleeper cells and preventing potential terror attacks. The primary objective of the sleeper cells was to encourage local youths in anti-national activities and recruit them. They were also arranging arms and ammunition. The sleeper cells were primarily active in districts of Murshidabad and Alipurduar. An unnamed IPS officer stated, “Their prime target was the Siliguri Corridor, or Chicken’s Neck, which serves as the gateway to the northeastern states.”

Earlier, on August 26, ABT ‘chief’ Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani was released on bail from Kashimpur High-Security Central Jail in the Gazipur District of Dhaka Division. He had been sentenced to five years in jail in 2015 for inciting the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider through his sermons. Deputy Jailer Mohammad Farhad Sarkar stated that Rahmani was released because there were no objections from the court or prison authorities, despite the four cases against him.

After being released from prison, as reported in the early days of September, 2024, Rahmani threatened India, calling for Pakistan and Afghanistan’s support in Jammu and Kashmir’s independence and urging regions like the northeastern states, West Bengal, and Khalistani Sikhs to join freedom movements. Rahmani stated, “I am warning India… Bangladesh is not like Sikkim or Bhutan. It is a country of 18 crore Muslims… If you take a step towards Bangladesh, we will tell China to close the Chicken’s Neck [Siliguri corridor]. We will tell the Seven Sisters [northeastern states] to join the freedom movement.”

He further threatened India, saying, “Tell Kashmir to get ready for freedom. Pakistan and Afghanistan together will help Kashmir gain independence. We will tell Mamata Banerjee to free West Bengal from Modi’s rule and declare independence." He added, “I will tell the Sikhs that your time has come; now call for freedom, to those Sikhs who are Khalistanis, in every province of India, your time has come.”

ABT has always been indoctrinating and recruiting jihadi elements among the youth. Its main target group for recruitment is highly motivated and well-educated university students, especially those familiar with the English language and active on social media. However, ABT also recruits from the poorer and more conservative sections of society as well as from the Islamic political organisation Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its youth wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Though banned by the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina on May 26, 2015, ABT came into the forefront more than 10 years back when it first hit headlines with the assassination of anti-Islamist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, an architect by profession, on February 5, 2013, in Dhaka city. Later in May, 2013, it issued a list of 84 “atheist bloggers” in Bangladesh on the grounds that “All of them are enemies of Islam (sic).” The bloggers were ruthlessly murdered with the intention of silencing moderate and secular voices within Bangladesh.

ABT operatives with Information Technology (IT) skills were managing fake Facebook pages and using accounts to hunt down “atheists” so that the group’s armed cadres could attack them. Moreover, in 2015, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) also joined ABT in threatening rational and secular minds. In a message posted on justpaste.it, AQIS declared in the wake of blogger Ananta Bijoy Das’s killing (‘hacked to death’ in 2015): “We want to say to atheist bloggers! We don’t forget, and we will not forget others who insult our beloved Prophet Muhammad and Allah. Another file closed! Stay tuned for the next target.”

ABT started its Islamist extremist activities under the banner of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Research Centre for Unity and Development, way back in 2004. The group follows the ideals, policy, and strategy of al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based terror outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It has an ulterior motive of gaining control of a part of the country (Bangladesh) and conducting armed jihad from there to make Bangladesh a Sharia-based Islamic State.

There have been earlier reports of the arrest of ABT militants in India. In 2022, it was reported that Lashkar-e-Taiba was collaborating with ABT, as they established a base in West Bengal with the aim of launching attacks in India. Along with Bangladesh, ABT has been banned in India, the UK, and the US. Intelligence inputs from 2022 also indicate that around 50 to 100 ABT cadres were planning to infiltrate Tripura. Moreover, between 2022 and 2023, more than 60 ABT operatives were arrested from Tripura and Assam, of which more than 30 were from Bangladesh.

Nevertheless, since August 2024, the Islamist tentacles of ABT, along with various other Jihadi organisations, are more visible in Bangladesh, with newfound strength and confidence. The situation is not only alarming for Bangladesh, which has been completely devoid of its secular fabric, but the anti-terror operations in India are also very much indicative of a growing percolation of Jihadi mobilisation, posing a threat to Indian democracy, within many states.

The writer is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.