HUJI has close ties with ISI and Osama

Anjali Aggarwal / TNN / Apr 6, 2006, 00:47 IST

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The Bangladesh unit of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front.

NEW DELHI: The HUJI, the Bangladesh-based group linked to the Varanasi blasts, was formed in 1980 as part of the Pakistan-based jihad network fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan. But as things changed there, much of its operations moved to Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh unit of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI-B) was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front.It was headed by Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid.
The Bangladesh unit aims to establish Islamic rule in that country and reportedly maintains six camps in the hills of Chittagong. It was assigned the task of recruiting Bangladeshi and Indian Muslims to fight in Kashmir under the command of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
Several hundred recruits of this unit have also been trained in Afghanistan and its activists frequently cross over to India for terrorist activities.

In 2004, a little-known militant group Harkut-ul-Zihad, suspected to be a shadow of HUJI, had threatened to kill Indian cricket players if they toured the country. A high-level security team had flown to Dhaka to make an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.
The cadres of the outfit are alleged to infiltrate regularly into India's eastern corridor and maintain contacts with terrorist groups operating there, including Ulfa.
The HUJI continues to maintain active links with the Al-Qaida and remnants of the Taliban militia. Reports indicate that ISI agents train HUJI cadres, both Indian and Bangladeshis, in Kurigram and Rangpur areas of Bangladesh.
It is also linked to another Islamist extremist outfit, the Asif Reza Commando Force that had claimed responsibility for the January 22, 2002 attack on the American Centre in Kolkata.

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