(C) GRAVE CONCERNS OVER TERROR GROUP'S POLITICAL

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 001037

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV PTER KDEM PHUM PINR BG
SUBJECT: (C) GRAVE CONCERNS OVER TERROR GROUP'S POLITICAL
FORAY

REF: A. DHAKA 1025

B. DHAKA 882

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (S/REL:CAN/AUS/UK/NZ) Summary: The terrorist group
Harkatul Jihad al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) is seeking
political legitimacy through the launch of a political party.
The leaders of the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) insist it
is dedicated to establishing what they call a true democracy
under &Islamic shariah8 law. Ambassador Moriarty has told
senior Caretaker Government officials that the HuJI-B must
not be allowed to enter mainstream politics. The Ambassador
will reiterate his views in an upcoming meeting with the
Directorate General Intelligence Forces (DGFI),which other
sources confirm drove the establishment of the IDP. There is
no evidence to suggest HuJI-B has forsworn its violent past.


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IDP TO PROMOTE JIHAD, SHARIAH LAW
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2. (S/REL:CAN/AUS/UK/NZ) The USG designated HuJI-B a Foreign
Terrorist Organization in the Spring of 2008; the Government
of Bangladesh had banned it in October 2005 after an
assassination attempt on Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina.
The core of HuJI-B includes Bangladeshis who fought with the
Mujahidin in Afghanistan during the 1980s and received
significant training in small arms and use of explosives.
HuJI-B has not renounced the use of violence nor renounced
its 1998 joining of an al-Qaida Fatwa against the United
States.


3. (S/REL:CAN/AUS/UK/NZ) Reporting from other Embassy sources
confirmed that Bangladesh's military intelligence agency,
DGFI, helped create the IDP, in an attempt to bring purported
moderate members of HuJI-B into the political mainstream. The
IDP in recent months has engaged in political organizing
activities across Bangladesh. Despite claims from party
leaders that they advocate peace and democracy, diplomats and
government officials remain deeply skeptical. Reports from
various sources indicate the party has not left behind its
terrorist roots.


4. (SBU) The formal party launch occurred September 26 at an
evening event attended by an estimated 2,000 people in Dhaka.
According to a local staff member of the Australian High
Commission, many speakers affirmed their acceptance of
Bangladesh,s Constitution but called for its amendment in
&an Islamic way.8 Sheikh Abdul Salam, himself a veteran
Jihadist of the Soviet-Afghan campaign, is head of the IDP
convening committee. Salam said that the party &wants to
implement Islamic Shariah law in Bangladesh, but not through
terrorist activities.8 IDP leader Abdul Kuddus, also a
former Soviet-Afghan Jihadist and HuJI-B member, earlier was
quoted in The Daily Star, the largest English-language
newspaper in Bangladesh, as saying the party was &still in a
Jihad in the country as we were in the past in Afghanistan
against Russia and America. But now we are fighting against
evil education, corruption, and communalism.8


5. (C) At the inauguration, Salah Uddin Shohaib Choudhury,
editor of the weekly Blitz magazine, was among those who
voiced strong support of the IDP. He reportedly said that if
the Bangladesh government tried to ban or limit the
activities of the IDP there would be stern retaliation.
Choudhury also criticized some foreign missions for trying to
lable the IDP as a terrorist organization. (Note: Choudhury
is well known to the Embassy and is a cause celebre among
human rights groups for facing charges of sedition, treason,
and blasphemy on allegations of promoting ties with Israel, a
country with which Bangladesh does not have diplomatic
relations. End note.)


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CAN THE IDP LAST?

DHAKA 00001037 002 OF 002


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6. (SBU) The Daily Star reported that Kuddus indicated the
IDP would contest Parliamentary elections set for Dec. 18.
Provisions of a new electoral ordinance raise doubts about
whether the party qualifies. Under the law, a political party
cannot qualify if its objectives contradict the national
constitution or if it discriminates based on religion, race,
caste, language or sex.


7. (C) In a September 23 meeting with Home Affairs Adviser
Maj. Gen. (retired) M.A. Matin and Home Secretary Abdul
Karim, the Ambassador raised the subject of HuJI-B. (reftel
A) Both Matin and Karim said they remained committed to
countering terrorism and spoke of the need to prevent HuJI-B
from regaining strength. Matin commented, &We will crush
them.8

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Comment: A Full-Court Press Against the IDP
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8. (S/REL:CAN/AUS/UK/NZ) While it is not yet possible to
gauge how much support the IDP can garner, the vast majority
of Bangladeshis are unsympathetic to terrorist groups such as
HuJI-B. Post will continue to express its strong opposition
to any attempt to legitimize HuJI-B through the political
process. In particular, the Ambassador is seeking a meeting
as soon as possible with Brig. Gen. ATM Amin, the head of
counterterrorism at DGFI who has reportedly spearheaded
efforts to create the IDP supposedly in order to bring
purportedly moderate HuJI-B elements into the political
mainstream.

Moriarty
Moriarty