Home >> Europe >> Great Britain  Email  Print British love for Islamist militancy Sunita Paul - 3/27/2009 Britain-based NGO Green Crescent, which runs the madrasa-cum-orphanage in Bhola that turned out to be a mini-ordnance factory March 24, had plans to set up two more training centres for militants in Doulatkhan and Lalmohan upazilas of the district in Bangladesh.
Local security force the Rapid Action Battalion said today it had found arms, ammunition, walkie-talkies and army uniforms in the compound.
Four people have now been arrested, including a teacher and three caretakers.
The head of the charity, a British citizen allegedly named Dr Faisal Mostafa is believed to be on the run.
Mostafa ran the charity even though he was twice cleared of involvement in alleged bomb-making factories and terror attacks in Britain.
It has emerged that Mostafa was also given a suspended sentence for trying to board a plane with a pistol in his suitcase last year.
The arrests came after a raid on the Green Crescent madrassa and orphanage on the remote island of Bhola.
Lt Col Munir Haque, said: “We found small arms – about nine or ten in total – plus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices and four sets of army uniforms.
“We also found enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Bin Laden.”
He said there were about 11 children between the ages of seven and eight at the compound during the raid, but no other adults.
Locals told the officers the madrassa, or Islamic seminary, was a British charity financed by “Faisal”, who they said had lived in Britain for 25 years.
Green Crescent’s website shows it is involved in projects in Bhola and several others around Bangladesh and at least one in Pakistan.
The charity, which is registered in the UK under the number 1099233, was founded in 1998 by students in Britain and Bangladesh, and is based in Stockport, outside Manchester.
K.M. Mamunur Rashid, another officer involved in the raid, said the charity had plans to build two more madrassas.
"It is a big madrassa and we have so far gathered that this whole compound is being used for militant training,” he said.
Bangladeshi media reported security forces suspected the compound was being used by Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned militant group.
Authorities have previously pinpointed madrassas as potential recruiting grounds for militant groups such as JMB.
Ashraf, a trainee teacher in the Manchester area, said he helped set up Green Crescent's website and had organised a number of events for the charity. He said he was dismayed to hear that police had found weapons at the school.
"I'm absolutely shocked and very upset," he said. "No one is really sure what's going on. I've helped organise events with the charity about helping Muslims assimilating and integrating into British society so to hear there might be weapons there is shocking. I've seen DVDs and presentations of what the charity does out there and they seem to do some very good work, educating kids and helping poor Bangladeshis get access to doctors."
A relative of the charity's founder Dr Mostafa, who declined to be named, also confirmed he had been arrested. A mobile phone owned by Dr Mostafa went unanswered.
The charity's website says it was founded in 1998 by students "from the United Kingdom and Bangladesh who believed that individuals with vision are capable of changing society in a positive way and decided to do whatever possible to make life that much better for those who have very little".
One of the charity's trustees is Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, a Muslim convert academic who delivered a lecture at Birmingham University on March 25 entitled "Sharia law: Barbaric or Misunderstood?".
When reporters drew attention of Bangladesh’s foreign minister Dr. Dipu Moni on the issue of militancy base inside British funded madrassa in Bangladesh, she said, “militancy is not a big challenge for the country right now as a non-communal alliance came to power through a landslide victory in the national election.”
She said, militancy is not Bangladesh's problem alone. It exists all over the world. But businesses and investments were not affected in the countries that fell victim to militant attacks.
Dr. Dipu said, militancy might hamper the country's image if it escalates.
The world leaders should come forward to find the root of militancy to tackle it.
Let me put here a very important point! When some reporters from India, in presence of minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee remarked that Bangladesh was a ‘buffer state’, she remained silent. This was taken by many as severe naiveness of the Bangladeshi minister in understanding many of the diplomatic terms. But, when British connection to Islamist militancy is already a proven fact in the country, the naïve minister turned extremely experienced in passing remarks to cool-down the degree of seriousness and potential threat on country’s security and stability.
Britons special attitude towards Islamist militancy is nothing new. Few years back, an organization named Al-Koran Academy started functioning in Dhaka under UK funding, which in the name of Koran research in reality continues to patronize religious militancy.
Hizb Ut Tahrir is another Britain based terror group, being banned in a number of nations. Bangladesh is yet to ban this notorious terror group. A number of British funded NGOs in Bangladesh, although very critical on militants and Islamists, remain very cool on passing any comments on outfits like Hizb Ut Tahrir.
Tahrir opposes democracy and existing judicial system in Bangladesh. Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) was also opposing the judicial system. According to facts, there are some British funded NGOs in Bangladesh, which are, in the name of social service, creating counter-judicial system in the country. One such NGO, owned by a controversial but eminent lawyer’s kins is gradually replacing Bangladesh’s existing family courts. Through such activities, although it is indirectly challenging country’s judicial and legal system, government is yet to put any focus on the activities of this group, for unknwon reason.
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