US expresses concern over threat from 'theocratic groups' in South Asia

In an official statement, the US house of representatives has expressed their concern in relation to the threat posed to the sense of democracy and human rights by theocratic groups operating in South Asia. Congressman Jim Banks stated that the United States should have a more active role in getting involved with the government of Bangladesh to restrict the growth of extremist and terror organisations.

'Deny, thwart, and crush credibility of Jamaar-e-Islami'

Banks also called on the governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan to deny, thwart, and crush the credibility of Jamaat-e-Islami and its associates that continue acting as an immediate and ongoing threat to the sense of religious freedom and stability in the region. The House of Representatives also asked the Bangladesh National Party to keep a safe distance from militant organisations such as the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The statement by the House asked the Department of Homeland Security, the US Agency for International Development, and all the other agencies relevant to the situation to immediately stop all its associations and funding arrangements with groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami and all its domestic partners that included the Muslim Ummah of North America, ICNA Relief, Islamic Circle of North America, and Helping Hand for Relief and Development.

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The statement further called on the authorities to keep a tab and restrict activities of Helping Hand for Relief and Development in Pakistan and Kashmir including the alleged collaborations with affiliates of the terrorist network of Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taliba.

Birth of an extremist organisation

Jamaat-e-Islami is an extremist, political, and right-wing Muslim nationalist movement that was founded in the year 1941 in British India by a socio-political philosopher, Ala Maududi. It was considered the first to develop its own ideology that was based on the modern revolutionary conception of Islam.

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The extremist group then split into two different parts in India and Pakistan after the 1947 partition, and other groups that were related to Jamaar-e-Islami or inspired by them started to come up in places such as Britain, Kashmir, Bangladesh, and Afganistan.

Maududi, the leader and founder of Jamaat, was on the frontline of the movement to convert Pakistan from a Muslim country to an Islamic state.

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(With inputs from agencies)