Outlaws being implicated to save Islamist militants

Shamsul, one of the two JMB activists in custody in Kushtia

“This (government's claim) is ridiculous”, said Rony Biswas while talking to this correspondent on cell phone from his hideout in Jhenidah yesterday.

“Neither our party was involved with the JMB (in the August 17 blasts) nor any of our men helped the Islamist militants in any way in the incident”, he said.

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The government is implicating outlaws to divert people's attention from Islamist militants and to cover up its failure in probing the incident, he said.

“We will send fax massages to relevant authorities and newspaper offices in a day or and make our position clear. Janajuddho admits whenever it does anything”, he said.

The Janajuddho regional leader's statement was a rebuttal to the report by Nunshi Atiquer Rahman, Assistant Superintendent of CID, Dhaka Zone, in his charge sheet filed against eight Islamist militants, submitted to the Kushtia Deputy Commissioner on Sunday.

Munshi Atiquer Rahman submitted the charge sheet to the DC as courts were closed on Sunday and left for Dhaka. The charge sheet will be sent to a Magistrate court here tomorrow, sources said.

The report said JMB (Jama'atul Mujaheden, Bangladesh)) got help from underground political party Janajuddho in its August 17 bombings in Kushtia.

The CID charge sheets also accused Islamist militant's kingpin Abdur Rahman alias Saeikh Abdur Rahman, his brother Ataur Rahman Sani of JMB and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai of JMJB (Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh) as masterminds behind the serial bomb blasts.

Two of the eight accused in Kushtia--Shamsul Islam and Akbar -- are now in custody.

Shamsul was caught by police when he was fleeing soon after conducting blasts on Judge Court premises on August 17. Acting on his confession, police arrested Akbar on August 25. The rest are still evading arrest.

The investigation also named 26 prosecution witnesses.

According to report, seven bombs were blasted at different places in Kushtia on August 17. At least eight persons were involved in the blasts, done with the help of Janajuddho activists, it said.

Janajuddho earlier verbally agreed with JMB and JMJB to extend its help, Munshi Atiqur Rahman mentioned his report quoting several JMB militants arrested in the region.

The charge sheet mentioned that the August 17 blasts were planed by Bangla Bhai and Abdur Rahman.

Shamsul was in charge of the 'operation' in Kushtia, the report said. Shamsul, a madrasa teacher, got directive from Bangladesh Bhai and Abdur Rahman on August 13 regarding the bombings. He engaged seven activists at different places and he did the blast on Kushtia judge court premises. Some Janajuddho cadres helped them, the report said.

Shamsul named eight JMB activists to police. But police could not arrest any of them 74 days after the blasts.