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For a long time, Bangladesh’s religious education system was thought to be a recruiting ground for militant Islamic groups. However, three of the militants actively involved in a horrific attack at an upmarket café in Dhaka this month were revealed to be students at elite private universities, prompting a major government rethink of its strategy to counter militancy in higher education institutions.
A crisis meeting in the coming days and weeks, including private and public universities and the education and home affairs ministers, will discuss possible measures and future courses of action.
“The government will decide on taking steps regarding universities after discussions with them,” said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, adding that the ministry was working with private universities to find ways to counter militancy.
The meetings come in the wake of an attack on 1 July, as people in Bangladesh were preparing for the Muslim festival of Eid.
Six Islamic militants stormed an upmarket café, the Holey Artisan Bakery, in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, leaving 22 people dead – among them two policemen, nine Italians, seven Japanese, an Indian and an American. Many had been hacked with knives.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS claimed responsibility. But Bangladesh officials initially played down the link to Islamic State, saying the attackers belonged to a local banned militant group known as Jamaeytul Mujahdeen Bangladesh.
The attack appeared to be well planned, Nahid said on Wednesday. “Recent incidents have shocked everyone in a way which the previous ones didn’t because they were considered random.”
There was also surprise in Bangladesh when police revealed that at least three of the perpetrators had attended elite private universities in Bangladesh and Malaysia, and other private institutions.
“I was shocked at the attack but I was totally puzzled when I learned about the identity of the attackers. I never expected private university students would join militancy [groups],” said Mahfuzul Islam, a college teacher in Dhaka.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said it was surprising that men from well-off urban families would become terrorists. “They never went to madrassas [religious schools],” he said. “I think it’s become a fashion to become a militant.”
Gone missing
The government has asked all education institutions across Bangladesh to provide lists of students absent for over 10 consecutive days. A number of the 1 July attackers had been reported missing for at least four months by their parents, and had not attended classes for long periods.
“We have received many missing youth reports in recent times. Of late, some of them are resurfacing as terrorists,” said General Benazir Ahmed, director of Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion – an elite anti-terrorism force made up of police, internal paramilitary and army units.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently called on every school, college and university to "create a list of absent students and publish it".
"We will be rigorous," she said. "We must uproot militancy and terrorism from Bangladesh."
While there have been a number of Islamist-backed attacks this year mainly against secular activists such as students, writers and bloggers, or against non-Muslim minorities, the horrific nature of the café attack and the number of foreign nationals killed has forced the government into action to reassure the international community.
However, reaction to the ‘10 days absent’ announcement has been mixed. Many students and their guardians said students may be absent for reasons other than joining militant groups.
Nahid said that apart from submitting lists, the authorities should also check for “any abnormality in the behaviour of the students”.
Private institutions
The focus has been on private institutions after police revealed that one of the attackers, Rohan Imtiaz (20), son of the leader of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League’s Dhaka City chapter, attended an elite private school in Dhaka, and the private BRAC University in the capital, which teaches in English and runs a Western curriculum.
He then enrolled in Monash University Malaysia, a branch campus of the Australian institution, but had had been missing since December 2015, his parents said.
Another perpetrator, Nibras Islam (24), who was killed when security forces stormed the café, also studied at Monash University Malaysia until October 2015, his parents confirmed in a statement issued on Tuesday. He then returned home to enrol at North South University in Dhaka.
North South University or NSU has been on the government’s radar since the brutal killing in February 2013 of a blogger Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death. Seven North South University engineering students were arrested and brought to trial for the killing.
“Such allegations against NSU teachers and students had been made earlier. We are aware of this university,” Education Minister Nahid told local media recently.
More recently, on 7 July an NSU student Abir Rahman was killed in a shootout with police at the Sholakia Eidgah prayer ground in Dhaka after he was involved in in a bomb attack on a congregation gathered for Eid festival prayers.
Two policemen were also killed and hacked in the attack. Rahman had been missing from campus for four months.
University Grants Commission visit
This month members of Bangladesh’s higher education regulatory body, the University Grants Commission or UGC, visited the North South University campus as part of an ongoing investigation into the attacks. It previously visited the university last August after reports surfaced of alleged militant activities.
UGC members said they found ‘jihadist’ materials in the library from banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Bangladesh’s Health Minister Mohammed Nasim, an influential leader of the ruling party, said of the university at a party meeting on the recent attacks: “What are they teaching there? Action must be taken against them.”
Feeling the heat, the university’s administration recently announced that it would expel students found to be absent continuously for one semester. Belal Ahmed, a deputy director, said the decision was a measure to prevent students from joining militant groups.
However, Nahid said rustication or expulsion was not enough. “The NSU’s decision to rusticate students if they miss a semester was a ploy to avoid the main issue” of student involvement in militant activities, he said.
Officials said that the ministry is planning discussions with education institutions about the negative aspects of militancy.
Mijanur Rahman, vice-chancellor of Jagannath University, said there should be immediate measures to counter radicalisation in institutions, including investigations into whether any teachers at certain universities were involved in militancy. “We need to find out if some teachers are influencing students,” he said.
Rahman also suggested that the government increase the budget for cultural activities for students. Experts say students turn to online jihadist propaganda when they are bored or disaffected.
* University World News Asia editor Yojana Sharma contributed to this article.
