Hard to crack

Militants are hypnotised to such an extent that it is hard to extract information from them. And when they get caught, they tell law enforcers that they prefer death to life, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said yesterday.

During interrogation, investigators tried to make the arrested militants understand they have chosen a wrong path and that they should shun it.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

“But they are motivated in such a way that they say: 'Kill us. If you kill us, we will go to heaven,'” the police chief told a discussion on militancy at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital.

His comments come at a time when investigators are struggling to catch the masterminds and patrons of some recent attacks, including the Gulshan cafe siege and the Eid day Sholakia attack, and busting their networks.

Security experts say the IGP's statements show the difficulties law enforcers are facing to reach the militant network.

Contacted, Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hussain said the police chief must have been well-informed about the situation.

“I do not think these [comments] are based on guess,” he told The Daily Star by phone.

Former IGP Muhammad Nurul Huda said that at one point of radicalisation, militants reach a level of mind where they get pleasure through wrongdoings.

“It needs to be found out why youths are becoming radicals and to serve what purpose,” he added.

Over the past few months, law enforcers have nabbed several militants belonging to various outfits. Following two attacks, locals caught several attackers and handed them over to the police.

But police never disclosed the outcome of the interrogation.

Recently, police nabbed Shafiul Islam alias Saiful in connection with the Sholakia attack and bullet-hit Rakibul Hasan alias Reagan during Kalyanpur drive. 

Earlier, locals caught one attacker -- Golam Faizullah Fahim -- in connection with the attack on a Madaripur college teacher.

Police took them for interrogation, but within days Shafiul and Faizullah were killed in “gunfights”. Rakibul is still being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital under police custody.

Another militant Shariful Islam alias Mukul Rana, the key suspect in blogger-writer Avijit Roy murder, was killed in a “shootout” with cops in the capital on June 19.

His father claimed he had been missing since being kidnapped by some unidentified persons in Jessore four months back.

According to intelligence sources, a significant number of militants belong to “sleeper cells,” which are small units of three to four people to carry out parts of an operation.

Members of one sleeper cell have no information about other cells. So when they get caught, they cannot give much information or name the masterminds, they added.

“Since it is hard to glean information from arrested militants, it is important to create a social movement to stop the menace,” he told the discussion -- Curbing Militancy and Crime: The Role of Community Policing and Media -- organised by the Dainik Amar Kagoj on its 14th anniversary.

He said while militants were unleashing terror through killing people, bloggers and freethinkers were hurting religious sentiments through their writings.

However, awareness against militancy has been created following Holey Artisan attack with support from the media, he said and urged religious scholars to speak against those who misinterpret religion.

He also called on parents to keep a close watch on their children.

Youths are motivated mostly by veteran militants like Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai (both hanged in 2007), he added.

Sakhawat Hussain said militants who are still out of surveillance might get inspiration from the deaths of their fellows. Also, the happy faces of the five Holey Artisan attackers, first published by the IS which took credit for the attack and then by the media, may inspire others to become radicals.