Press Trust of India Posted online: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 at 1545 hours IST Updated: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 at 1623 hours IST
New Delhi, January 13: With pressure mounting on Dhaka to act against North Eastern insurgent camps there, media reports say that there were at least 48 camps across Bangladesh to impart arms training to Islamic militants, some of whom are known to be close to al-Qaeda and Taliban.
"So far, security agencies have reportedly identified 48 training centres across the country. The names of 13 militant organisations are known, but only a few of them have created news," an article in the Saturday Tribune of Bangladesh said.
The known outfits include Shahadat-e-al-Hikma, Jamaat-ul-mujahid-ul-Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Yahia trust, Hizbut Tawhid, al-Harakat-ul-Islamia, al-Markaj-ul-Islami, Jamaatul Falaiya, Tawhidi Janata, world Islamic front, Jumaat-as-Sadat, Shahadat -E-Nabuat, Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami and al-Khidmat, it said.
"Whatever their actual number or present capabilities, as well as the limited influence they have on the general population, these Jihadis have started causing alarm in democratic circles, and unless they are effectively contained, may become a real and extraordinary danger in the imminent future," senior Bangladeshi journalist Haroon Habib said in the article "Islamic Militancy: Is Bangladesh following the Pakistani example".
It said that there were also frequent allegations about "a mysteriously soft attitude" adopted by the Bangladesh government towards these outfits "as none of the arrested militants have, so far, received any punishment, nor have there been any meaningful investigation into their funding and support structures".
