Re: INCUBATING MUSLIM ULTRA-RADICALISM

Where is Bangla who ?.

Kurt Knoll.
=
"Leonard Pulver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> 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 roll 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,
>  http://www.weeklyblitz.com.  This article has been put
> online by Mideast Web Page on October 19, 2003:
> www.mideastweb.org