Bangladesh Home Ministry citing potential threat to public safety and law and order issued a gazette to ban the Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya after requests from the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police and the Rapid Action Battalion.
Jama'atul Ansar is the ninth militant group to be banned in the country, eight others are Ansarullah Bangla Team, Ansar Al Islam, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islam Bangladesh, Hizbut-Tahrir, Allahr Dal, and Shahadat E al-Hikma.
Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya
The Jamatul Ansar Fil HindalSharqiya [JAFHS] is formed by former members of three banned militant organizations: Ansar Al Islam, Neo-JMB, and Harkat-ul-Jihad. The group adopted name Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya or JAFHS in 2019. The leader of the organization (amir) is Anisur Rahman, also known as Mahmud. Abdullah Maimun is the head of the organization’s dawat, or preaching and recruiting section.
Masukur Rahman, also known as Ranbir, is the head of the military wing and a member of the group’s Shura, or decision-making body. On January 23, 2023, Ranbir was arrested in a raid by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhia. His associate, bomb expert Abu Bashar, was also arrested in the same raid.
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police claimed to have arrested Mohibullah alias "Bhola'r Shaikh (Shaikh of Bhola)", 48, the spiritual leader of the new militant outfit JAFHS in February as per the Daily Star. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) also arrested 17 members of JAFHS and three members of Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) on February 7. Bangladesh Counter Terrorism units are concerned that terrorist groups will increase the level of attacks in the run up to the elections in the country slated for December.
The JAFHS has been active since 2017 and secretly recruiting members the activities were exposed in August 2022.
The Rapid Action Battalion, which has already arrested dozens of members of the outfit, including some top leaders, said 55 members of the outfit have taken training in the camps of KNF the armed group in the CHT, in the remote hills of Bandarban as per the Daily Star. There is increasing attention on the linkages between the Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya and the KNF which have established bases in the CHT hill tracts and beyond where training was imparted to the cadres.
Kuki Chin National Front
Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) is an armed group which operates in the CHT. KNF formed in 2017 is in the limelight due to links with the JAFHS. The KNF aims at to establish a separate State within Bangladesh -- with nine upazilas, namely Baghaichari, Barkal, Belaichari and Jurachariupazilas of Rangamati hill district and Ruma, Thanchi, Alikadam and Rowangchhariupazilas under Bandarban as per the Daily Star.
KNF president, Nathan Bom is a master's degree from the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University is also the founding president of Kuki-Chin National Development Organization (KNDO).
In a letter to the prime minister on December 8 in 2022, KNF President Nathan Bom urged the government to create a conducive atmosphere for a ceasefire and on modalities of disarmament and grant its demand for a Kuki-Chin State within and under the ambit of the Constitution.
KNF also maintains close ties with like-minded groups operating in Mizoram, Manipur in India, Rakhine State in Myanmar and the CHT. In Bangladesh, the group blames Jana Samhati Samity (JSS) for alleged persecution and discrimination and the Arakan Army for coordinated attacks. Other communities of the same tribe are the Mro, Lusai, Khumi, Khyang and Pangkhua ethnic groups of the CHT.
The rise of the KNF and its armed wing has raised concerns among the hill people as well as the government, as the three hill districts have long been troubled by conflicts and violent activities by other organizations. These groups are JSS (main and reformists), the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF – main and democratic) and the Mog Party. A member of the KNF was shot to death in an encounter with the Army in Rumaupazila of Bandarban district recently. The possibility of the Army undertaking operations to neutralize the KNF cannot be ruled out.
Other Terrorist Elements
CTTC arrested six suspected militants who, the unit claims, were inspired by the international terrorist outfit Al Qaeda. The CTTC claimed to have arrested Fakhrul Islam 58 years old, who had met Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar and joined Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (Huji-B) and till his arrest with the aim of reviving the outfit.
Rohingya Camps
Rapid Action Battalion claimed to have arrested two members -- the military-wing commander and the explosives expert -- of the newly surfaced militant outfit JAFHS from a place adjoining Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar in an encounter indicating that they may have spread to these camps as well.
10 groups named by the media as, “miscreants,” are currently active in Rohingya camps. Among them, Arsa is active in Ukhia, Balukhali, Palangkhali and Whykong; RSO and Master Munna gangs in Ukhia and Palongkhali; IslamiMahaj and Jabu dacoit gangs in Whykong and Chakma dacoit gangs, Nabi Hussain dacoit gang, Putia dacoit gang, Salman Shah dacoit gang, Khaleq dacoit gang are active in Nayapara camp as per a report in Bangladesh Live. Arsa reportedly controls most of the camps while clashes have also been reported in these incidents.
Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA), formerly known as Harakatul Yakeen, first emerged in October 2016 when it attacked three police outposts in the Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, killing nine police officers. This resulted in a backlash by the Myanmar military and an upsurge of refugees crossing the border into Bangladesh that also continued in 2017. These details were covered in a report placed before the parliamentary standing committee of the defence ministry. The report highlights the criminal activities that took place in 2021 and 2022. The overall crime appears to have decreased to some extent. In 2025, the Rohingya population could grow to 12-13 lakh, the report said. Ruling Awami League MP Shubid Ali Bhuiya, chief of the parliamentary body presided over the meeting.