ConflictBarometer_2015
ConflictBarometer_2015
ConflictBarometer_2015
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ASIA AND OCEANIA<br />
killings by the PCJSS. On the third day of the blockade, Jago<br />
Parbatyabashi supporters damaged a bridge that Santu Larma<br />
was supposed to pass on his way to Bandarban town. Furthermore,<br />
they attacked vehicles of Santu Larma's supporters,<br />
throwing stones. At least nine PCJSS-SL members were injured.<br />
Five days later, the Jumma Dighinala Bhumi Rakhha Committee<br />
(DBRC) demonstrated in Khagrachari against the resettlement<br />
of 21 Jumma families as part of the planned<br />
construction of new military headquarters. The police and<br />
army resolved the blockade by firing tear gas and live bullets,<br />
while protesters threw bricks. At least eleven people were<br />
injured and several arrested. On March 16, DBRC protested<br />
against the violent police reaction and the following arrests.<br />
On May 25, the 21 families publicly accused paramilitary<br />
forces of having evicted them from their lands.<br />
On August 15, around 25 Jumma clashed with security forces<br />
at the militants' hideout in Khagrachari. Five militants were<br />
killed and three arrested while one soldier was injured. This<br />
was the first shootout between militants and army personnel<br />
since the peace agreement. The army held UPDF and PCJSS'<br />
Manabendra Narayan Larma faction (PCJSS-MNL) responsible,<br />
while both organizations denied their involvement. On<br />
September 7, the army raided another camp of alleged PCJSS-<br />
MNL militants in the same district, arresting one.<br />
Non-violent protests by Jumma groups continued until the<br />
end of the year. tap<br />
BANGLADESH (ISLAMIST GROUPS)<br />
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1971<br />
Conflict parties: Hindus, Christians, Buddhists et al.<br />
vs. ABT, AAL, JMB, HeI, IS et al. vs.<br />
government<br />
Conflict items: system/ideology, subnational predominance<br />
The violent crisis over ideology and the orientation of the<br />
political system as well as religious predominance between<br />
radical Muslims, mainly organized in Islamist groups, the government,<br />
and religious minorities such as Hindus, Buddhists,<br />
and Christians continued. Violent attacks against religious<br />
minority groups and secularists increased compared to last<br />
year and took place in Chittagong, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur<br />
and Sylhet divisions. In light of the attacks and alleged<br />
activities of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Bangladesh,<br />
leaders of religious minority organizations, especially the<br />
Hindu Buddhist Christian Union Council (HBCUC), repeatedly<br />
voiced concern over their perceived insecurity. They further<br />
demanded governmental protection as well as prosecution<br />
of the attackers.<br />
Throughout the year, four bloggers were hacked to death<br />
with Avijit Roy killed on February 26, Wahiqur Rahman on<br />
March 30, Ananta Bijoy Das on May 12, and Niloy Chakrabarti<br />
alias Niloy Neel on August 7. Furthermore, the publisher of<br />
Avijit Roy was killed and three others injured on October 31.<br />
The attacks were claimed by Islamist Ansarullah Bangla Team<br />
(ABT) and Ansar al-Islam (AAL), both alleged of having links<br />
to al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Until the end<br />
of the year, over a dozen Jamatul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh<br />
(JMB), ABT, and Hefazat-e Islam (HeI) members were arrested<br />
in connection with the killings.<br />
IS claimed responsibility for eight attacks in Bangladesh in<br />
<strong>2015</strong>. For instance, on September 28, attackers on a motorbike<br />
shot dead an Italian Catholic missionary in the capital<br />
Dhaka. Five days later, a Japanese national was killed the<br />
same way in Kaunia, Rangpur. On October 24, three IEDs<br />
detonated during a Shia procession in Old Dhaka, leaving<br />
two people dead and over 80 injured. However, the government<br />
denied all IS activities in Bangladesh. Instead it<br />
accused the oppositional Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)<br />
of the attacks, claiming BNP tried to destabilize the country<br />
[→ Bangladesh (opposition)].<br />
Other active Islamist groups were JMB, HeI, and Hizb ut-Tahir<br />
(HuT), with JMB playing a prominent role. For instance, alleged<br />
JMB militants injured two by hurling IEDs and firing gunshots<br />
at worshippers at the ISKCON temple in Kaharole, Rajshahi,<br />
on December 10. Security forces killed two JMB militants<br />
during a raid of their hideout in Gazipur district, Dhaka, on<br />
December 29.<br />
Furthermore, radical Muslims attacked Hindus and their spiritual<br />
sites, especially during the celebration of the Hindu<br />
festival Diwali. For example, up to eleven Hindus were<br />
injured and several houses looted during a clash between<br />
Muslims and Hindus in Jeleparha, Chittagong, on October 28.<br />
After Hindus continuously reported cases of land grabbing,<br />
the HBCUC accused prominent Muslim politicians from the<br />
ruling Awami League and BNP on August 6 to be involved in<br />
certain cases.<br />
Condemning the extremist violence, protests by civil society<br />
organizations, including Muslim groups, were held throughout<br />
the year. The demonstrations demanding protection<br />
intensified in November after Alok Sen, secretary-general<br />
of HBCUC's Faridpur unit, had been severely injured by unknown<br />
attackers in Dhaka division.<br />
State authorities arrested and convicted dozens of Islamists<br />
in <strong>2015</strong>. While a Dhaka court sentenced five JMB members<br />
to death, the Jhalakathi district court passed a ten-year sentence<br />
on 17 JMB militants for blasting a lethal bomb in 2005.<br />
On December 31, two students, allegedly affiliated with ABT,<br />
were sentenced to death for the killing of a secular blogger<br />
in 2013. A total of 59 JMB, ABT, IS, HeI, and HuT activists were<br />
arrested. mwf, fli<br />
BANGLADESH (OPPOSITION)<br />
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1991<br />
Conflict parties:<br />
Conflict items:<br />
BNP, JeI vs. government<br />
system/ideology, national power<br />
The conflict over the orientation of the political system and<br />
national power between the opposition parties Bangladesh<br />
Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), on<br />
the one hand, and the government, on the other, continued<br />
as a violent crisis. BNP and JeI were supported by<br />
their student wings Bangladesh Jatiyotabadi Chhatradal (BJC)<br />
and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) respectively, while the ruling<br />
Awami League (AL) fought along with its student organization<br />
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).<br />
Exactly one year after the national elections on 01/05/14 JeI<br />
and BNP had boycotted, violent protests erupted again all<br />
over the country. In total approx. 270 people were injured<br />
in clashes between BNP and AL supporters, including at least<br />
35 policemen. Four BNP members were killed in Rajshahi<br />
division. Two of them were shot dead by police and two by<br />
AL members.<br />
BNP leader Khaleda Zia did not leave her office from January<br />
3 until April 5, first being confined there on order of Prime<br />
130
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