AL accuses govt of harbouring militants

Expressing the party's concern at the activities of the militants such as fund collection and distribution of leaflets at Boalmari of Faridpur, AL general secretary Abdul Jalil MP observed that such militant outfits were mushrooming in the name of religion. The country is being turned into a safe sanctuary of militants, he said and cited the incidents of Islamic extremism at Kotalipara and Baniarchar church in Gopalganj, Udichi function in Jessore, Ramna Batamul, Joypurhat, Satkhira, Narikelbaria of Rajshahi, cinema halls in Mymensingh, Jahanbad of Dinajpur, Hujrapur of Chapainawabganj, Sylhet and Sunamganj.

The AL leader accused the BNP-Jamaat government of defending the militants by not taking any action against them. He said that despite recovery of huge arms and ammunition from the Islamic extremists at Khetlal in Joypurhat, the home minister had stated that the incident was not a threat to Bangladesh as the militants don't have much stock of weapons.

Citing newspaper reports on the arrest of Islamic extremists from a BNP leader's house at Boalmari, and publication of photos of the state minister and ministers with criminals in Chittagong and the photo of an MP with three top criminals, Jalil asked if the home minister could "deny the facts".

Mentioning the names of various Islamic outfits such as Harkatul Jihad, Jijbut Touhid, Shahadat-e-Al Hikma, Allar Dal, Islami Juba Sangha and Jama'atul Mujahidin, the AL leader said, "It is not unknown to the people why the government mysteriously keeps silent about these organisations when the newspapers are carrying the reports of their activities."He demanded immediate arrest of the "fundamentalist militants" and "identified terrorists".