By Mahua Venkatesh

New Delhi, May 12 (IANS): The Sheikh Hasina governments new challenge is to contain the rise of the outlawed militant organisation Ansar al Islam, an affiliate of the Al Qaeeda. What is worrisome for the Hasina government is the fact that the militant outfit is now planning to embark on an aggressive recruitment drive.

In a report published by the Bangladesh based newspaper Prothomalo, Ansar Al Islam plans to hire youth from secondary schools, madrasahs, universities, Islamic parties and others associated with militant groups.

The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) – a department under the police has recently retrieved documents related to the militant organisation's recruitment plans. In a shift from its recruitment policy, Ansar al Islam has also spoken of recruiting men as well as women.

"One year's training would be a pre-condition for full membership. Ansar Al Islam had previously never spoken about the inclusion of women, but this time their leaflets addressed both men and women," the newspaper said.

Separately a report by Dhaka Tribune noted that the CTTC even concluded that "operatives of outlawed militant outfit Ansar al Islam plotted to carry out attacks on the patrols of police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB)."

The Diplomat last year noted that while external funding for terrorism "remains an important challenge, funding from internal sources in Bangladesh is no less important."

"The latter sources of terrorist fundraising in Bangladesh can be garnered through self-funding, criminal activities, and legitimate businesses. Funds raised from domestic fronts are arguably harder to detect, especially as they tend to be enmeshed within a broader and deeply entrenched economic ecosystem that includes legitimate businesses," it said.

Hasina' action against extremism

Bangladesh fell into the grip of violence and extremeism between 2013 and 2016. Secular activists, writers and bloggers were being particularly targeted and killed. The Hasina government has now set up two anti-terrorism police units to tackle Islamist groups in the country and over 100 "suspected Islamists have been killed in anti-terror raids across the country and hundreds arrested," Al Jazeera said.

Last year Global Terrorism Index by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) ranked Bangladesh at the 33rd position out of a total of 163 countries. Though in 2019, Bangladesh was placed 30 th and a year earlier grabbed the 25 th position, the Hasina administration has managed to overall stem the tide of Islamic terrorism that was threatening the nation of over 161 million in the first decade of the 21 st century.

The country has not witnessed a major terror strike since the horrific Holey Artisan Bakery incident in 2016. The gruesome Holey Artisan Bakery terror attack in 2016, carried out by the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group, left 29 dead including an Indian student.

Two analysts India Narrative spoke to, said that the Bangladesh Prime Minister has stepped up efforts to weed out extremist elements from the society. "She has shown will power and grit. She has been handling extremist elements effectively though challenges keep coming for her. The country has benefited immensely as it has focused on economic development and poverty reduction. Though such reports (on Ansar al Islam) are concerning, it is to be seen how the government deals with it," one of the two analysts said.