Sudden political spurt in BD after al Qaeda message

Faruque Ahmed

Suddenly the al-Qaeda Issue has flared up in the country’s politics with the discovery of a so-called audio message of al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in which he is reported to have urged the Bangladeshi Muslims to wage jihad against the secularist enemies of Islam meaning the government.

The message titled ‘massacre of Muslims against the wall of silence’ sent the wave of shock and surprise to the nation to find that the nation is drifting towards a total chaos in the hands of unknown people.
Meanwhile, RAB has arrested a young blogger, who is also a student of Tangail Textile Institute from Tangail town on February 17 for circulating the audio. He has not denied the fact and said that it landed on his web when he was browsing another website. He also admitted that he had interest in Islamic websites and circulated it to some others. He did not however download it to any facebook or U-tubes, he said.
The tendency is that he may be identified as the al-Qaeda linkman in Bangladesh as some newspapers have already tried to pass on. But the conspiracy behind the audio-message does not end here. The question is who the people are behind the deep rooted conspiracy and it must be unearthed.

How did it reach?
Experts say the message was originally uploaded at Arizona in the USA in November and then it was circulated to the websites from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.
The young blogger is unlikely to be at fault for taking interest in it and circulating it to others. Other media also picked it up like him and they may be equally held responsible for circulating it and printing it in newspapers or telecasting to the nation.
The matter of the fact is that the audio has far reaching objectives whoever has created it and put to the portals. The message is highly dangerous on two reasons. If the message is correct, which remains unproven because the voice does not appear to be Zawahiri’s; his portrait was still and not live in the audio giving the impression that it may be a handmade audio message to hit political targets.
But it has the potential to catapult Bangladesh at the center stage of global war against terror which the US government is now carrying at different countries and keeping watch on other potential centres. If al-Zauahiri’s message is proved to be incorrect, the magnitude of conspiracy would be shocking. One has to wait to ascertain it.
Analysts suggest that whatever may be the game plan it is extremely dangerous and reflect a deep rooted conspiracy against the independence and sovereignty of the country. This is because Bangladesh is known as a moderate and tolerant Muslim nation where religious extremism does not work.
But this appears to be difficult for the anti-religious forces who want to characterize Islamist forces in the country as extremist, and clearly this audio is an attempt to show their links to the al-Qaeda outfits to secure global, especially the US support in their fight against Islamist in Bangladesh. The question is who they are the people promoting the battle line to destroy the peace and stability of the country.

All deny links
The alleged audio tape narrates the alleged atrocities committed against Islamist groups by the government security forces and is full of anti-democracy rhetoric. But in response of the message, the Bangladesh government has immediately denied the existence of any al-Qaeda operation inside Bangladesh.
The Home Ministry denied it at first and then State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam also ruled out any such possibility. But politics did not stop here. He said though the government has no proof in hand, he suspects BNP-Jamaat’s hands may be at work to destroy the image of the government abroad.
He said the suspicion arises because he finds similarities between of the contents of the alleged message with the BNP-Jamaat paraphrasing of the May 6 night’s security forces firing action on the Hefazat-e-Islam gathering at Motijheel city center.
BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir however lost no time to deny any connection with al-Qaeda saying in fact the government is trying to gain support from USA by playing the al-Qaeda card against the opposition as the world has rejected the Jan 5 elections.
He pointed finger at the ruling party for orchestrating the game at a time it is facing a hostile global public opinion for holding a voter-less election. Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir also denied of any links with al-Qaeda in a statement. Hefazat-e-Islam too denied its involvement in a statement saying “We do not know who is circulating this message and what their intention is. We suspect it’s a new conspiracy against the country’s sovereignty and the Muslims”.
A US State Department spokesperson meanwhile, told a Bangladeshi news agency that the US rejects al-Qaeda’s characterization of Bangladesh, which is a moderate, tolerant Muslim society that rejects the kind of extremism espoused by al-Qaeda.

No al Qaeda fan here
Apparently, none in Bangladesh is a big fan of al-Qaeda when it is also suffering from a credibility and identity crisis all over the world. Additionally, contradictory narratives regarding this issue are coming from different stakeholders. The news was first published by a local news agency on February 15 without naming any actual website or link.
Two other Bangla newspapers reported that the alleged al-Qaeda audio tape was available online since January 14. That was also on the hold of several TV channels. So why the issue became suddenly hot after about a month of its first appearance in local online portals.
Meanwhile, some people also allege that conspirators are at work to damage Bangladesh’s image as a moderate Muslim nation. But by doing so they are also trying to create chaos and destroy the nation’s stability. They also allege that this is a conspiracy and suggest that it may be taking place both from within and outside the country.

Source: Weekly Holiday