By IANS
Dhaka : Authorities in Bangladesh have launched a manhunt for former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Moulana Saidur Rahman who, they believe, has taken over as chief of the outlawed Islamist group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Saidur Rahman has been absconding since the arrest of JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman in Sylhet city in the northeastern region last year.
Shaikh Abdur Rahman and six of his accomplices, including Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, were hanged in February after a prolonged trial in the assassination of two judges.
The elite paramilitary force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has claimed that Saidur Rahman is conducting activities of the JMB since the arrest and hanging of its kingpins, the Daily Star reported.
While he is absconding, a Sylhet court tried him in absentia and early this month gave him 14 years rigorous imprisonment in an explosives case.
A Sylhet-based cable TV network — Sylhet Cable System — aired a message for three days till Friday, urging people to help law enforcers arrest Saidur Rahman alias Abu Zafar.
In the message, people were requested to inform RAB-9 headquarters in Sylhet if any one knew Saidur’s whereabouts. The message also said anybody helping law enforcers in arresting Saidur would be rewarded.
Declared a terrorist outfit by the US and banned in Bangladesh after the US pressurised the then government of prime minister Khaleda Zia, JMB draws a part of its leadership from JI, which shared power with Zia during 2001-06.
Saidur Rahman, a former Amir of Habiganj district JI, was in Sylhet city and running JMB activities till the arrest of Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his family members on March 2 last year.
Saidur Rahman left the city within hours of the arrests and remains untraced. A number of attempts by law enforcers to nab him have gone in vain, the newspaper said.