MILITANT ISLAMISM IN BANGLADESH – GLOBAL JIHADIST CONNECTION?

Abstract

The spurt of bomb violence conducted by the Islamist militants in 2005 in Bangladesh and their call for the establishment of Islamic laws in the country has raised a very critical question: does Islamist militancy in Bangladesh Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh-JMB have connection with “global jihadist” militancy? This article has tried to answer the question by applying theories that are used in understanding different types of Islamist militancy. In this connection, it has explored the core differences between global jihadism and the militant Islamism propagated by the JMB in Bangladesh. It has clearly shown that the agenda and intentions of the two are not alike. Thus, it has been concluded that any connection of JMB with global jihadist is a remote possibility. It is rather one of those of numbers of militant Islamist groups around the world whose emergence lies in some particular local factors fighting either to secede from the existing political community or to gain state power