65 HuJi cadres trained in Jhenidah camps till 2005
Detained Bulbul was chief trainer, deserter claims
At least 65 activists of militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJi) were trained by its 'chief trainer' Bulbul at camps in Jhenidah till from 1999 to August of 2005, a HuJi deserter said.
HuJi emerged in the country in early 1992 through an open declaration of its Jihad agenda and started its full-fledged militant activities including training of cadres in Jhenidah in 1999, he told this correspondent.
Regional leader of HuJi Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul who is now in CID (Criminal Investigation Department) remand in Dhaka for interrogation in the grenade attack on Awami League meeting on August 21, 2004 at Bangabandhu Avenue, was the chief trainer at camps. The training was conducted under supervision of HuJi chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, according to the deserter who was also trained.
Although, Bulbul's activities were based in Borodah Dakhil Madrasa in Shailakupa upazila and gave training his followers at the bank of Kumar river, he also conducted training at Balidapara Quami Madrasa in Kaliganj upazila, Bhabanipur in Harinakundu upazila and some students' messes in Pabahati, Chaklapara, Dhol-Somudrer-Pukur and Bhuttiargati areas in the district town, the youth said.
Before his arrest on October 5, 2005, Mufti Hannan used to meet Bulbul frequently and visit training camps in Jhenidah. The information was gathered during this correspondent's visit to Bakshipur and Garaganj villages.
“Between 2003 and 2005, Mufti Hannan met Bulbul several times and police were informed about this, but they did not take any action”, a local Union Parishad member told this correspondent seeking anonymity.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on October 28 arrested Bulbul following a lead extracted from detained HuJi kingpin Mufti Abdul Hannan, but the HuJi cadres trained by him (Bulbul) are still evading arrest due to lax vigilance by police”, the deserter claimed. When contacted, Jhenidah Police Superintendent Abul Khayer however denied the allegation of lax vigilance and said, “Police of all the six police stations and 23 outposts have been kept alert and hunt is on to net HuJi cadres”.
Sources in intelligence agencies said, CID police on November 9 took Bulbul to Dhaka on a 10-day remand to interrogate him in the August 21 grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina's meeting. Bulbul, son of Sayed Ator Ali of Bakshipur village in Shailakupa upazila after his marriage in 199 settled in Garaganj in the same upazila and opened a tailoring shop at a market in 1997.
In 1999, he became Imam at a local mosque and began working for HuJi under the supervision of Mufti Hannan, intelligence sources said.
Police said, Bulbul was also arrested earlier on November 18, 2005 from near Borodah Dakhil Madrasa in Shailakupa for his alleged involvement in August 17 serial blasts in the district but was released on bail within a few days.
He however escaped arrest on October 20, 2003, when 11 other militants including the chief of Allahr Dal (an offshoot of another militant organisation Jama'atul Mujahedin Bangladesh) Matin Mehedi alias Matinul (now in jail) was arrested during training at a students' mess at Pabahati area in Jhenidah district town.
Before appointment of Bulbul as 'chief trainer', one Harun of Chittagong, who was a muajjin at a mosque at Upashaharpara, was the in-charge of Huji training camps, the deserter claimed.
Arms training was also given in a forest in Chittagong, the youth disclosed.
Millitants were trained in use of sophisticated firearms like AK-47, grenades and bombs. He however could not identify the training spot in Chittagong as the trainees were taken there blind-folded.
Asked why he deserted HuJi and how he got information being a deserter, he replied, “I deserted the militant outfit when I realised that Islam prohibits killing of innocent people”.
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