Allah’r Dal banned in Bangladesh

The government has outlawed militant Islamist group, Allah'r Dal, as its activities are deemed to pose a threat to public security in Bangladesh.

The home ministry's Public Security Division announced the ban on Tuesday. Mallika Khatun, deputy secretary of the ministry, issued a gazette in this regard. 

Allah'r Dal is the eighth Islamic extremist group in the banned list, which includes the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Shahadat-e al-Hikma, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh or HuJI-B, Ansarullah Bangla Team and Ansar al-Islam.

Meanwhile, another seven Islamic extremist groups have been blacklisted by the Special Branch of the Bangladesh Police –Ulama Anjuman E Al Bayyinat, Neo-JMB, Dawlatul Islam Bangladesh, Hezbut Tawheed, At-Tamkin, Tamiruddin-Bangladesh and Towhidi Trust. 

What is Allah'r Dal?

They do not pray in the mosque behind an Imam. They even disagree with the name of the last prophet associated in the Kalema.

Still, they wish to establish the "rule of Allah" as suggested in the name of the group they formed.

Recently, the jihadi militants have emerged to seek the attention of law enforcers and the media with a new name, Allah'r Sarkar.

Earlier in August this year, eight of their members were arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the capital. During interrogation, they provided astounding information about their plan to organise their activities countrywide.

They told RAB officials that the goal of the Allah'r Sarkar is to establish an Islamic government in Bangladesh, based on the rules and regulation of the religion.

From Allah'r Dal to Allah'r Sarkar

Established in 1995, the militant group named Allah'r Dal was blacklisted by the home ministry in 2009. Later, the group changed the name to Allah'r Sarkar in 2014.

The founder of the group is Abdul Motin Mehdi, who is now in jail facing a death sentence.

He was found involved with the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh's (JMB) serial bomb blasts across the country on August 17, 2005.

Later, he got arrested by RAB in September of the following year, and is currently imprisoned in Tangail jail.

But before his arrest, he managed to create an organisational structure for the group. The structure is similar to that of the government administration of a country.

According to RAB, their idea is to establish leadership in the village, union, upazila, district, division and central levels.

The heads of the divisions are called Nayaks. At the central level, various important positions are termed as captain, deputy captain, additional captain, joint captain, etc.

The highest rank of the organisation is Taroka.

There are allegations that Mehdi Motin is still operating the militant group from jail. The arrested members told RAB officials that they were planning to break their leader out of prison.