Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman has been arrested on charges related to the newly-formed militant group Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.
Police said Shafiqur was supportive of his son Rafat Sadiq Saifullah, who was arrested on Nov 9 on suspicion of involvement with Jamaatul Ansar, and financed Rafat and 11 others’ militant activities even after knowing that they were involved with militancy.
Md Asaduzzaman, an additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and chief of police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime or CTTC unit, briefed the media after the arrest of Shafiqur on Tuesday, according to bdnews24.com.
Rafat worked as the chief coordinator of the group in Sylhet region, according to police.
Shafiqur bore the travel costs of many members of the new group who had been leaders and members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student front of the Jamaat-e-Islami, said Asaduzzaman.
He said the Jamaat chief was arrested at Bashundhara in Dhaka early in the morning on Tuesday following information given by Rafat and three other suspected members of Jamaatul Ansar.
Asaduzzaman said all of the arrestees were in the process of ‘Hijrat’, or migration, for training to wage a war and establish their militant views.
Before joining Jamaatul Ansar, Rafat had worked as the chief coordinator of the banned militant outfit Ansar Al Islam in Sylhet, the CTTC chief claimed.
“Upon receiving the invitation to join Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Shrqiya, he [Rafat] and his followers joined the new group.”
“Rafat conducted activities of the militant organisation at Shafiqur Rahman’s home in Sylhet. Shafiqur Rahman knew about the matter and assisted Rafat in some instances.”
Rafat returned from Bandarban in 2021 after he failed to meet leaders of the separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front, known as the Bawm Party, the police officer said.
“We’ve arrested the Jamaat chief to find out if his organisation too has links to the new militant group.”
“We have information that regional leaders of the Jamaat helped the son of their chief in militant activities.”
