Dhaka - Authorities in Bangladesh have asked intelligence
agencies to closely monitor activities of 12 suspected militant
outfits running so-called Islamic activities in the predominately
Muslim South Asian country, media reports said Saturday.
'The government has kept watchful eyes on the activities of the 12
organizations listed as terrorist outfits by the immediate-past
interim administration,' State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed
Sohel Taj told a private television channel.
He said that the present Awami League-led alliance government of
Sheikh Hasina Wazed was working towards rooting out any sort of
militancy.
Reviewing the previous list of militant outfits, Hasina's cabinet
in mid-March ordered detailed reports on the suspected militants and
their activities, the state minister said.
The ministry was now compiling information on patrons of the
militants, funding, present activities, organograms of the outfits,
their links with political parties, operations, recruitment systems,
international connections and training, he added.
The previous military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed had
listed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami,
Hizbut Towhid, Ulama Anjuman al Baiyenat, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islami
Democratic Party, Islami Samaj, Touhid Trust, Jagrata Muslim Janata
Bangladesh, Shahadat-e-al-Hikma Party Bangladesh, Tamira ad-Din
Bangladesh (Hizb-e-Abu Omar) and Allahr Dal as suspected terrorist
grups active in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government of
Khaleda Zia had banned four Islamist outfits - the Jamaatul
Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Jagrata Muslim
Janata Bangladesh and Shahadat-e-al-Hikma - after a series of attacks
between 2001 and 2006.
Khaleda's government had captured six militant kingpins who were
hanged in early 2007.
The current Awami League-led ruling alliance this week formed a
high-level committee to tackle militancy as it was convinced that
many organizations were involved in subversive activities.
The committee is designated to collect information on militant
activities, analyse them, and work out strategies and issue
directives to fight the threat.
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