Cops for ban on Ansarullah Bangla team

The police headquarters has suggested that the government ban Ansarullah Bangla Team, believed to be involved in some recent attacks on secular bloggers and writers.

In a letter sent to the home ministry on Tuesday, the police headquarters termed the outfit “a very dangerous one” and proposed taking steps for imposing the ban on it with a view to curbing its radical activities, said a senior police official.

 If banned, Ansarullah Bangla Team would be the sixth such organisation to be outlawed for militant and anti-state activities in the country.

The other five are: Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkatul Jihad Bangladesh (Huji), Jagrata Muslim Janata of Bangladesh and Shahadat-e Al-Hikma.

“We have proposed to ban Ansarullah Bangla Team referring to [some recent] attacks on bloggers,” Assistant Inspector General Mahfuzur Rahman told The Daily Star last night.

He said four members of the outfit had already given confessional statements in blogger Rajib Haider murder case.

Police claim that during investigation they also found Ansarullah Bangla Team's involvement in February's killing of writer-blogger Avijit Roy.

The proposal for the ban came at a time when three bloggers and writers have been killed in less than three months.

Police say militant outfits are behind the murders but have failed to arrest the killers or dismantle the outfits.

Meanwhile, a retired police officer, wishing not to be named, said, “The ban on Ansarullah Bangla Team will not make any difference as long as those making the planned attacks on bloggers one after another are not stopped.”

 Of the banned outfits, Hizb ut-Tahrir, JMB and Huji are still active in the country. They have opened new fronts or are secretly working with little-known militant organisations, according to investigators.