It’s Him: Zawahiri Asks For An Intifada In Bangladesh
By Taj Hashmi
20 February, 2014
Countercurrents.org
It’s him. One who is familiar with Ayman al Zawahiri’s voice, tone and his heavy Egyptian accent (he prefers to use Egyptian to classical Arabic of the Arabian Peninsula) is certain about the authenticity of the podcast, “Bangladesh: A Massacre behind a Wall of Silence”, which was released on January 14th and surfaced in the Bangladesh media, a month after, on February 14th. While some people think it is unauthentic, a young pro-Jamaati activist has already been arrested for his alleged circulation of the audio in certain blogs.
Ever since the circulation of the podcast in Bangladesh, the over-polarized and politically hyperactive Bangladeshis have again been stirred up. As rival politicians are blaming each other and their parties for their alleged involvements in the creation and/or circulation of the podcast that contains al Zawahiri’s audiotaped vitriol against the Western “Crusaders”, and Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ruling classes for their “designs” against Islam and Muslims, the media is full of ill-informed gossips and conspiracy theories about the podcast. Some analysts are coming up with new theories – rather, conjectures and wild guess – questioning the authenticity of the audio or as to which political groups in Bangladesh are “responsible” for “manufacturing” it to the detriment of democracy in Bangladesh.
As some ruling party leaders are finger pointing their political rivals in the BNP-Jamaat camp for “manufacturing” the tape to organise an ant-Government movement with the help of Islamist militants, some BNP-Jamaat leaders, on the other hand, are blaming the Awami League Government for “fabricating” this “unauthentic” tape to draw American support and sympathy for the Government, and thus get a stamp of legitimacy to the controversial Elections that brought the Awami League to power. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s ridiculously over-simplified assertion that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajib Wazed Joy “masterminded” the al-Qaeda message is highly irresponsible, provocative, and hence counterproductive.
Sections of Bangladeshi politicians, intellectuals and media are again exposing their lack of objectivity along with their level of ignorance about al Qaeda, its global terror network and its methods of waging “jihad”. They have no reasons to undermine al Qaeda as a spent force. The death of Osama bin Laden did not signal the death of al Qaeda, which is very much alive and active in many parts of the world. Although bin Laden was the most charismatic leader of al Qaeda, the wily al Zawahiri has been the mastermind of the terror outfit. Then again, bin Laden is a martyr to his followers, who want to avenge his killing, and consider him an ever-lasting inspiration.
Most importantly, al Qaeda is neither just an Islamist terrorist group like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, HUJI or JMB, nor is it an Islamist political organization like the Muslim Brotherhood or Jamaat-e-Islami. It is a global movement and a franchise like McDonald’s. It can open new branches anywhere. No country, including Bangladesh, is off limits to its operators. It loves to explore new opportunities to recruit fighters from trouble spots, especially from Muslim underdogs within and beyond the Muslim World. From al Qaeda perspective, politically turbulent and socially fractured Bangladesh is an “attractive” place. The trial of War Criminals (and the execution of Abdul Quader Molla in December 2013), and the killing of several Deobandi-Wahhabi Islamist activists (there are contradictory figures of casualty) belonging to the Hefazat-e-Islam by law-enforcers in May 2013, may be mentioned in this regard. Given the opportunity, al Qaeda would love to exploit the resentment of the aggrieved people who think the Government, only because of their Islamist ideology, has unjustly victimized them.
It is noteworthy that although al Zawahiri has singled out America and its “allies” among the ruling classes of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar as the main enemies of Islam and persecutors of Muslims, his main focus is on the “ongoing” killing of “thousands” of Muslims by Bangladeshi law-enforcers. He wants Bangladeshi Muslims to embark on their own Intifada, which stands for rioting, protest and resistance to shake off tyranny. Ominously, even though Intifada is not identical to terrorism or “violent jihad”, nevertheless this audio reminds us of the video-podcast he issued in February 2012, which was an appeal to Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi and neighbouring Muslims to fight and topple the Assad regime in Syria. And we know what followed the appeal. Al Qaeda and its Islamist associates have been fighting the Assad regime, Syria is bleeding, and so far more than a hundred thousand Syrians have died in the ongoing civil war.
In the backdrop of what al Qaeda has been doing in various trouble spots in the Muslim World; Bangladeshis have no time for complacence, let alone playing the blame game against each other. Unless Bangladesh resolves its political crisis by holding fresh elections to stabilize the country and institutionalise democracy, people having a soft corner for terrorism and anarchy are likely to be drawn to al Qaeda and similar terror outfits in the coming days.
Pragmatism demands a line be drawn between various Islamist organizations and movements. Instead of painting every Islamist organization with a broad brush, politicians must stop harping on the old and stale theme that a) the Jamaat-e-Islami is synonymous with al Qaeda; and b) nothing short of proscribing the party will stabilize Bangladesh. As it happened in Egypt, Syria, Gaza and West Bank, members of proscribed and marginalised Islamist parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, went underground, joined al Qaeda and similar terror outfits. And the rest is history. Bangladesh must not follow these bad examples.
Last but not least, Bangladeshis should not waste time debating the credibility of the Zawahiri podcast, and blaming each other for “doctoring” the audio for reason X or reason Y. In the backdrop of the Zawahiri message, there is no room for complacency in Bangladesh only because the overwhelming majority of Bangladeshi Muslims hate religious extremism. Al Qaeda never terrorises and bleeds nations with the support of the majorities. A handful of al Qaeda activists are more than enough to destabilize a country for decades
The writer teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University at Clarksville, Tennessee. He has authored four books, including Global Jihad and America: The Hundred-Year War Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan (Sage 2014 – forthcoming)
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