Hizb ut-Tahrir active again, this time plays Rohingya card in Chittagong

Banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir, which had laid low for quite some time, has resurfaced with a covert campaign in Bangladesh.

Chittagong Bureaubdnews24.com
Published : 17 Sept 2017, 04:54 PM
Updated : 17 Sept 2017, 04:54 PM

In port city Chittagong, walls in some areas are littered with the group's posters calling on “fellow Muslims” to unite and ask “devoted army officers” to bring down the ruling Awami League-led government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The posters were seen in neighbourhoods including Jamalkhan, Askar Dighir Par, Shulok Bohor, Bolir Haat and Dewan Haat on Sunday.

The posters read: “Protest against the operation led by traitor Hasina-led government in association with the Myanmar army,” referring to the ongoing army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State leading to a Rohingya exodus into Bangladesh.

Md Shahidullah, Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Detective Branch, has acknowledged the campaign of the banned organisation, which had laid low for quite some time now.

“Police have noticed the matter. The CMP commissioner has issued directives to all the police stations across Chittagong,” he told bdnews24.com

“Police are leading drives to catch those who have pasted the posters as well as those behind the campaign.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir appeared on Bangladesh’s political scene in 2000. The home ministry banned the outfit in 2009.

Nine months later, it published a draft of its constitution where it said that it would lead Bangladesh and turn it into “an Islamic republic.”

It had also secretly circulated leaflets.

Taqiuddin Al Nabhani formed Hizb ut-Tahrir in 1953 in Jerusalem. The outfit is against democracy and said to be active in 40 countries.