Political Issues In Bangladesh

OTHER SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES

BANGLADESH

There are many factors ruining the Bangladesh’s political and economic development such as corruption, partisan fighting and radicalism. Rivalry between the leaders of the nation’s two largest political parties has caused an ongoing series of demonstrations, strikes, and increasingly to politically motivated violence. The frustration caused by the combination of poverty, corruption, and the lack of good governance due to a stalemated political process is thought by some to contribute to increasing radicalization of society and thereby to the recruitment of Islamist radicals to the cause of terrorism.

Bangladesh’s form of moderate Islam is increasingly under threat by radical elements. In early 2005,

The team was scheduled to play a series of test matches in Bangladesh in December including in the Chittagong region. HuJI is thought to remain active in the area south from Chittagong to Cox’s Bazar and the border with Burma. A report sourced to a former senior Indian intelligence official alleges that HuJI is training Burmese R0hingya, as well as small groups from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and

HuJI is also on the State Department’s list of other terrorist organizations. Rahman joined bin Laden’s World Islamic Front for the Jihad against the Jews and the Crusaders in 1998. It has the objective of establishing Islamic rule in Bangladesh. HuJI has recruited its members, thought to number from several thousand to 15,000, from the tens of thousands of madarssas in Bangladesh, many of which are led by veterans of the “jihad” against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The organization is thought to have at least six camps in Bangladesh as well as ties to militants in Pakistan. The Bangladesh National Party coalition government includes the small Islamic Oikya Jote party which has connections to HuJI. It was reported that French intelligence prompted the arrest of 16 Bangladeshis on December 4, 2003, in Bolivia for allegedly planning to hijack a plane to attack the United States. According to reports, they were later released for lack of evidence. Eleven Bangladeshis were arrested in Saudi Arabia on August 14, 2003, on suspicion of planning a terrorist