Italian Muslim Association asks Bangladesh to release Salah Uddin Shoaib
Choudhury

As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmat-Ullahi wa barakatuH.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Brother Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, a pro-dialogue anti-fundamentalist
Muslim journalist from Bangladesh, was arrested at the airport while
leaving for Israel and is presently detained. We attach the text of a
recent article of his and ask all of you to support our courageous brother
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury with your supplications.

The Board of Governors of the Italian Muslim Association asks the
authorities of Bangladesh for the immediate liberation of our detained
brother.

Wa-s-salamu `alaykum wa rahmat-Ullahi wa barakatuH.

Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi

Director,
Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community
http://amislam.com
mailto:info@amislam.com

Muslim Co-Chairman,
Islam-Israel Fellowship,
Root & Branch Association, Ltd.
www.rb.org.il
===

INCUBATING ULTRA-RADICALISM

By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

Bangladesh is known as a 'moderate Muslim country' and its people have the
reputation of 'moderate Muslims,' free of rancor against other faiths.
However, our society, like many others, is being subverted by the efforts
of Muslim extremists.

We must admit that most of the people of Bangladesh still lack the
opportunity for modern, scientific education and are therefore open to
persuasion by religious extremists. In recent years there has been a strong
upsurge in activities of religious extremist groups in a number of
countries, including Bangladesh. Recently, law enforcement agencies in
Bangladesh have captured members of quite a number of such groups in
various parts of the country. These were operating under the umbrella of
"Islamic Kindergarten Madrassas" or madrassas financed by Afro-Arab
organizations. Islamic Kindergarten Madrassas are supposed to be innocent
institutions where young boys learn the elements of Islamic faith, but
these madrassas have a different program.

In the capital city of Dhaka, even now such organizations are quite in
evidence and have large memberships. Promoters of these organizations hire
huge buildings in posh areas and target boys from the semi-affluent middle
class. Previously, madrassa education was mostly confined to lower income
and less affluent groups. However, following the emergence of these
so-called Islamic Kindergarten Madrassas in Bangladesh, the students are
drawn from richer segments, and even include boys of the richest class.

One of the accused arrested from one such institution confessed to
Bangladesh police that they were planning to have an Islamic revolution in
the country, and that they were anxiously looking for boys from the
affluent class since they mostly control politics. The accused admitted
that they were heavily funded by a number of African and Arab countries.

The arrest and statement of the accused have been widely carried by local
press. According to these reports, these belligerent people under the
covering of various 'Deen' (true path) training organizations intend to
coach a section of ill-educated and prejudiced people to be their
followers. . Through their clandestine campaigns they are plotting to wage
a 'Holy War'. As instruments to induce rage and delude people, they are
using different recorded tapes with extremist provocative speeches and
songs. They also include messages from Osama Bin Laden.

A few months ago a Syrian teacher was arrested. He had belonged to a
similar organization named the 'Al-Haramine Institution'. According to
records of police intelligence in Bangladesh, members of this organization
use the kindergarten madrassa as camouflage. They regularly communicate
with various underground-armed groups in the country and even recruit
locals and send them to Palestine as guerilla fighters. Each recruit gets
US$ 1500-2000 as an up front payment for their 'new job'. Later family
members or legal representatives or spouses of these guerilla fighters will
receive US$ 150-200 per month as salary. If any of them were killed during
the war, their family would get US$ 5,000 as compensation.

According to the police report, Al-Haramine Institution maintains a secret
training camp inside the compound of its kindergarten madrassa. The
recruits are given theoretical and practical training for seven weeks
before they proceed to their destination. During training, they are given
an elementary idea of their responsibilities and a practical knowledge
about some of the weapons used by Palestinian fighters and other extremist
groups.

Al-Haramine Institute is gradually spreading its wings in other parts of
Bangladesh too. Recently they have established their offices in eastern and
southern Bangladesh. One of the main objectives of this organization is to
sell the idea of jihad (in the sense of violent holy war) to the masses.
The organization maintains very good relations with some extremist news
dailies including Inqilab, Ittesal, Al-Mujadded, and Sangram etc. Owners of
these dailies are regularly compensated by this organization and in
exchange, these newspapers give quite open support to its activities.

Al-Koran Academy is another such organization run by one Hafez Munirul
Islam. He was a teacher in a local madrassa with the monthly salary of US$
75 only. Just recently an office of Al-Koran Society has been established
in Bangladesh with Hafez Munirul as its Executive Director in Bangladesh.
Office of the organization is located at city's top most posh area costing
US$ 2000 per month. Hafez Munirul also receives US$ 1000 as a monthly
salary. This organization claims that its main activity is printing and
distributing the Koran. However, in fact, Al-Koran Academy is mostly
engaged in providing political coordinators for various mosques in
Bangladesh. The local tax department raised questions about the sudden
change in fortunes of this poor madrassa teacher, and investigated the
sources of the funding. They found that most funding for this organization
comes from the Middle East.

The Daily Inqilab acts as a mouthpiece of the fundamentalists in
Bangladesh. . It is an extremist sort of provocative newspaper spreading
the theme of jihad amongst the local population Inqilab was initially
funded by Iraq's deposed autocrat Saddam Hussain and presently it receives
regular cash support from a large number of hidden organization in
Bangladesh and abroad. One of the owners of this daily is based in Dubai
where from global activities of this organization continues. It is believed
that Inqilab enjoys very close contact with Osama Bin Laden, and it has
extremely good relations with a large number of small and medium ranking
organizations and parties in Bangladesh. Some of these organizations are on
the regular pay role of the daily.

Pressure to conform to extremist opinion is intense. Since my newspaper,
the Weekly Blitz, published several articles that were favorable to Israel,
we have been subject to various threats from local fanatics as well from
the Palestinian ambassador in Dhaka. Our newspaper was black listed by some
of the local companies financed by the Islami Bank, another organization
that patronizes and nourishes extremist groups here. There were a number of
applications to the Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka to cancel the registration
of our newspaper. Hackers entered our Web site and tried to disrupt it, but
were foiled by our technicians.

I received numerous threats from the local extremists and from the editor
of an extremist daily, and in one case I had to lodge a written complaint
with the local police station. Under the instructions and inspiration of
Islami Bank, Ibn Sina Trust and some other religious extremist groups, I
was thrown out of a private television company where fanatics suddenly
acquired the major portion of the stock. Until now I have not been paid the
price for my 20 percent share in that company.

Destruction, fanaticism and terror are not the way to bring about positive
changes in the minds of people or in any society. Such attempts have always
met a grim fate in the past, whether perpetrated by organizations or states.

World leaders, government and various organizations have started to make
people aware of vicious designs of the extremists and to combat them.
Governments, along with the law enforcing agencies should strengthen their
efforts to isolate these destructive elements before it is too late.
Various media can also serve to disseminate messages to counter extremist
propaganda, to generate awareness, and to organize people in favor of peace
and against all sorts of religious and other extremism.
___________

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is editor of the Weekly Blitz in Bangladesh,
online at http://www.weeklyblitz.com.
This article has been put online by Mideast Web Page on October 19, 2003:
www.mideastweb.org