Bangladesh outlaws radical Islamist group Allahr Dal

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

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 Nov 2019, 01:58 PM
Updated : 6 Nov 2019, 02:51 PM

The home ministry’s Public Security Division announced the ban in an order dated Tuesday.

“It appears to the government that the activities of the militant group/organisation named ‘Allahr Dal’ are against the country’s peace and stability.

“As the activities of the group/organisation are already considered to have posed a threat to public security, its activities are declared banned,” the home ministry order reads.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had earlier this week hinted at outlawing the group, which was formed in 1995 with an announcement to establish Khilafat by destroying the democratic system of government through an armed struggle.

Steps would be taken against seven other organisations once the police finish examining information about them, the minister said on Sunday.

Allahr Dal is the ninth Islamist group to be banned for extremism and militancy in Bangladesh.

The eight others are Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, Jagroto Muslim Janata Bangladesh or JMJB, Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, Bangladesh or HuJI, B, Shahadat-e al-Hikma, Hizb-ut Tahrir, Ansarullah Bangla Team or ABT and Ansar Al Islam.

Four of the groups, including JMB, were banned in 2005. JMB leaders Shaykh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai were hanged for the killing of a judge.

Members of its revived faction Neo-JMB are blamed for the 2016 terrorist attack on an eatery in Dhaka’s Gulshan.

Hizb-ut Tahrir was banned in 2009 for spreading extremist views.

After a relative lull in militant activities, ABT’s existence was revealed through the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013.

ABT chief Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani was jailed in the case started over the murder. Two of his followers were sentenced to death, one to life in prison while four others were handed different jail terms.

After ABT was banned in 2015, its members regrouped under the leadership of sacked army officer Ziaul Hoque and under the banner of Ansar Al Islam. The government banned it as well in 2017.