How powerful is the present JMB?

It was 17 August 2005. A simultaneous bomb attack in 63 districts by the Jamaat Ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) shook the whole country when two judges in Jhalakathi, among many others, died.

Sixteen years have passed since the dreadful incident. Many members of the banned outfit have been executed or sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. 

The police said they always carefully monitor the activities of militant outfits, even at grassroots levels, to prevent their revival.

However, questions remain about how active and powerful JMB is at present. Although the discussion in this regard has been going on for several years, many sources have said the activities of the banned outfit are going on behind closed doors even though those are not obvious.

A responsible official of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit said JMB was once an active and powerful organisation, but it does not have much activity at present. 

However, there are still pro-JMB groups in several districts and remote areas in the north, but they are not more than 1,000, he added.

Rahmatullah Chowdhury, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, CTTC's Bomb Disposal Unit, told TBS they were regularly monitoring JMB's activities.

The CTTC unit arrested Rezaul Haque, the acting Amir of the JMB, in April last year. He is accused of being involved in a series of bombings across the country in 2005.

However, there is no definite information about who took charge of JMB after the arrest of Rezaul. At the same time, the CTTC is not sure about the whereabouts of Salahuddin alias Salehin, who fled to India after being abducted from a prison van in the Trishal area of Mymensingh, he added.

Salehin has been reportedly trying to reactivate the JMB in India, according to CTTC and several Indian media outlets. In addition, Salehin and Zahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan, who fled to India, tried to run Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or JMI in several states, including West Bengal and Cooch Behar, he said further.

The Special Task Force of India has also reported the arrest of JMB members at various times over the past few years.

According to the police headquarters and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), there were 130 accused in 17 August cases, 961 people were arrested and charge sheets were filed against 1,072 people.

According to the police, the trial of 104 out of 161 cases across the country has been completed. Besides, 340 people have been sentenced to different terms. Of these 15 have been sentenced to death, 358 have been released and 133 accused are released on bail.

On 29 March 2007, Shaikh Abdur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai, Siddiqul Islam, Khaled Saifullah, Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal and Iftekhar Hasan Al Mamun were executed. Accused Asadul Islam Arif was executed on 17 October 2016.

Court sources said it has not been possible to settle 41 cases across the country due to the non-appearance of witnesses.