Jamaat activist attempts to hide BNP’s connection behind ‘India Out’ activities

Dhaka’s leading English newspaper The Daily Star is infamous for granting a platform to anti-Bangladesh elements as well as cyber activists belonging to ultra-Islamist, jihadist and terrorist groups. To this vicious racket, every patriotic citizen and anti-Islamist forces in Bangladesh are blood-enemies. Following the 1/11 soft coup d’état, Mahfuz Anam, the editor of Daily Star became one of the prime propagandists of the regime and made series of attempts of placing controversial Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus into the position of leader of Bangladesh by sending two major parties and its leaders into exile. He also has been continuously giving oxygen to anti-Bangladesh and anti-Sheikh Hasina propaganda run by Muhammad Yunus and shamelessly hides his misdeeds and financial crime.

It may be mentioned here that, while jointly receiving the Nobel Peace Prize along with Grameen Bank from Professor Ole Danbolt Mjøs, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee on December 10, 2006 for “their efforts to create economic and social development from below”, in presence of global dignitaries, Muhammad Yunus declared – “We can put poverty in the museum”. Commenting on Yunus, UK daily The Guardian in an article said: “For Nelson Mandela it was apartheid, for Mahatma Gandhi it was self-rule, for Prof Yunus it is poverty”.

It may be further mentioned here that, Danish investigative journalist Tom Heinemann, revealed a number of secret documents proving how Muhammad Yunus back in the mid-90’s transferred 100 million dollars – where most was donated as grants from Norway, Sweden, Germany, the United States and Canada – to a new company in the Grameen-family – mostly owned by his family members – in order to dodge taxes.

Tom Heinemann also exposed how Muhammad Yunus was charging high-interest rates ranging between 21 to 37 percent from the vulnerable poor female borrowers, although Yunus was receiving the majority of the fund as grant from various countries in the world.

Taking a lead from a series of investigative reports published in Weekly Blitz, Tom Heinemann also tried to dig further into the case of Sufia Begum, the poster-woman of Yunus and Grameen Bank.

The story of Sufia Begum reads like this: Yunus gave BDT 20 [US$ 0.25] to Sufia Begum of Jobra village years back as loan with the condition of returning in time with interest. Sufia returned that money and got a second loan of BDT 500 from Yunus. She was so excited that she spread the news in the entire village. This was the beginning of the Grameen Bank concept. But, most of the borrowers, who took money from Yunus, gradually turned from poor to poorest as they were compelled to pay regular interest at high rates. In Jobra village alone, a large number of villagers have already been turned into paupers by Yunus and his Grameen Bank.

Yunus and his Grameen Bank projected Jobra village and Sufia as examples of their “excellent success stories” to the international audience. Through such a campaign, Yunus has attained tremendous attention from the international community, including journalists.

The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam won’t utter a word about such notoriety of Yunus, as his agenda is to present this controversial loan-shark as an angel – if not another god.

On February 1, 2024, Mahfuz Anam gave a huge space in his newspaper to an Islamist propagandist named Qadaruddin Shishir.

The most disconcerting revelation pertains to Shishir’s past. During his formative years at university, he was an active participant in Jamaat-e-Islami, an ultra-Islamist militant group in Bangladesh. This isn’t mere hearsay; it’s corroborated by multiple Facebook posts from Shishir, which were later deleted but have been documented. Such affiliations are not to be taken lightly. They raise a red flag about his current role, given that extremist groups like Jamaat-e-Islami often engage in ideological indoctrination that can have a lasting impact.

In the February 1 propaganda stuff, Jamaat-e-Islami’s activist Qadarudding Shishir made foul attempts of hiding facts about involvement of ultra-Islamist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which also has connections with Al Qaeda from its recently launched ‘India Out’ notoriety.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s hosting Al Qaeda group including Ayman al-Zawahiri was first exposed by eminent journalist and counterterrorism expert Alex Perry, who in a TIME magazine article on April 14, 2002 had exposed Al Qaeda kingpin al-Zawahiri and other members of the terrorist group’s arrival and stay in Bangladesh.

But Jamaat propagandist Shishir has no shame in hiding these proven facts. Instead, he challenges BNP – a party that is termed as Tier-III terrorist organization by the US courts and a party with direct link to Al Qaeda or being termed as ultra-Islamist party stating: “The original Blitz report was based on a source referred to as “it has been learnt”—meaning no source at all! The wording used when introducing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) says a lot about what the article was trying to portray. In no way can BNP be identified as an “Islamist” party, let alone be called an “ultra-Islamist” one. The loaded language of the Blitz article, lack of any sources and evidence to support its main claim, and the website’s record of spreading political disinformation against independent journalists and critics of the government are enough to debunk its new assertion that BNP has launched a so-called India Out movement in Bangladesh”.

Islamists like Qadaruddin Shishir have no shame. They are making frantic bids of denying a plain truth – BNP is an ultra-Islamist force and it is affiliated to Al Qaeda. Moreover, Shishir won’t admit a proven fact that BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman is known by the US administration as a “notorious and feared figure” and “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics in Bangladesh”.

It may be mentioned here that, following publication of reports in Blitz exposing the notorious background of Qadaruddin Shishir, his gang members sent threat mail to me which contained extremely derogatory language.

Islamist propagandist and anti-Bangladesh cyberterrorist Qadarudding Shishir and his patrons are feeling shattered as their conspiracy of toppling Sheikh Hasina from power xeroxing “India Out” notoriety in Maldives is falling flat due to exposure of such dangerous conspiracy by Blitz and subsequently by many journalists in the world.

As we anticipate a more dangerous anti-Bangladesh conspiracy where Qadaruddin Shishir might have an active role – his actions should be brought under close surveillance. At the same time, French news agency AFP needs to take due measures against this Islamist-jihadist propagandist for his foul attempt of defending Al Qaeda-connected Bangladesh Nationalist Party.