Hill Voice, 4 November 2022, Dhaka: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said that the new Islamic militant outfit Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya gave Tk 17 lakh to the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) known as the Bawm Party, an armed outfit in the hills to buy heavy weapons.

Today (Friday, November 6), at a press conference of RAB’s media wing in Karwan Bazar in the capital Dhaka Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moin stated this.

Yesterday (Thursday, November 3) at 11 pm, RAB caught the four activists of the Islamic militant outfit including the chief coordinator of financial affairs and the chief coordinator of migration affairs from Laksam in Comilla.

The arrestees are Finance Coordinator Muntashir Ahmed, Ismail Hossain, Abdul Quader and Helal Ahmed Zakaria. Zakaria is the third ranked person of military wing of the Islamic militant organisation.

According to RAB, Muntashir Ahmed is one of the associates of Mosharaf Hossain, the head of finance and media wing. It has been two years, he has joined in the outfit.

After taking charge of Finance Coordinator, Muntashir Ahmed gave Tk 17 lakh to hilly armed group KNF for purchase of heavy weapons in last 8-9 months.

He said that he would travel to the remote hilly areas of Rangamati and Bandarban at various times to perform his organizational duties. Arrested Ismail and Abdul Quader are the overall coordinators of the members who go for hijrat (migration or moving from one place to another motivating in militancy).

Earlier on October 10, in a press briefing in Dhaka RAB said that the members of Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindil Sharqiya are being trained by KNF, known as Bawm Party, in the hilly areas. The law and order forces said that Sharqiya have set up arms training camp at the KNF camp in remote hills.

RAB demanded the arrest of seven militants and three members of the Bawm party on October 20 after a joint operation by the army and RAB.  At that time, it was reported that the joint forces personnel recovered country-made weapons from the hub of the Bawm Party and Islamic militants.

In the press conference, Khandaker Al Moin also said that the militant outfit started operations in 2017 and named it as “Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya” in 2019. So far 26 men of it have been brought under the law.

It is a noteworthy fact that the army-backed KNF, known as Bawm party started armed activities against the CHT Accord and the Chakma, Marma and Tripura indigenous ethnic groups. Since then, the Hill Voice has published several factual investigative reports on Bawm party since last April.

In the aforementioned investigative report published by Hill Voice, army authorities of Bandarban Brigade and Ruma Zone harboring the Bawm Party, patronage and support to the Bawm Party by the Islamic militant outfit, secret agreement between the Bawm Party and the Islamic militants, according to which the Bawm Party armed terrorists provide shelter and military training to the Islamic militants in their den and in exchange, the Islamic militants provide financial support to the Bawm Party in terms of buying weapons, food, medical treatment all these information were revealed.

According to an investigative report by Hill Voice, it is known that per month, the Islamic militant outfit provides Tk 30 lakhs as financial support to the Bawm Party.