Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS)

Formation

The Islami Chhatra Shibir is the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which came into existence in 1941.

Leadership and Organisation

Nurul Islam Bulbul is the Central President of the ICS. Mohammed Nazrul Islam is the Secretary General of the outfit. Other important leaders are: Kamal Ahmed Sikder, A S M Faruq, Muhammad Mujibur Rahman Manju, Muhammad Raisul and A S M Ashraf Mahmud Uzzal.

Executive Council is the highest decision-making body of the outfit. The ICS has a central secretariat, comprising eight members. In addition, the ICS has established 6 divisions countrywide: Dhaka Division, Chittagong Division, Sylhet Division, Rajshahi Division, Khulna Division and Barisal Division. Each division has several districts and other units under its jurisdiction.

Objective

According to the outfit, its objectives are to struggle for changing the existing system of education on the basis of Islamic values, to inspire students to acquire Islamic knowledge and to prepare them to take part in the struggle for establishing Islamic way of life.

A significant aim of the outfit is to establish an Afghanistan-Taliban type Islamist regime in Bangladesh. Consequently, the outfit is opposed to forces of modernization, secularism and democracy.

Area of Influence

The ICS is one of the strongest student fronts in the Universities of Chittagong, Dhaka, Rajshahi and Jahangirnagar. It is also emerging as a dominant group in the Khulna and Sylhet Universities. Within the vast madrassa (religious seminary) structure in Bangladesh, the ICS is reported to be a dominant and uncontested organisation.

External Linkages

As one of the largest Islamist student organisations in South Asia, the ICS maintains a close relationship with various Islamist fundamentalist organisations of different countries. In 1979, the ICS secured membership of International Islamic Federation of Student Organisation (IIFSO). Its former President Dr. S A M Taher was also the Secretary General of IIFSO. The outfit is also a member of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY).

The outfit is also reported to be maintaining close links with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency. With the help of the latter, it is reportedly working to support Islamist subversive agenda in many regions in India, particularly in areas bordering Bangladesh. The ISI is also reportedly providing substantial amount of funds to the ICS. Other Islamic countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, have provided a major proportion of its financial resources.

The ICS is also reported to be maintaining close links with various terrorist outfits operating in South Asia and Afghanistan. These terrorist outfits reportedly carry out their activities in Bangladesh through the ICS. The ICS reportedly helps them recruit and indoctrinate fanatic youth. A significant number of them were reportedly sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban regime where a large number of fanatic youth come under the direct command of Osama bin Laden.

The ICS is also part of a larger network Islamist extremist network of the HUJI, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Islami Oikyo Jote. This network has assisted the terrorist outfits in developing an effectual infrastructure for training as also a network of clandestine camps and shelters for stockpiling weapons and supplies in Bangladesh.

Major Incidents

2008

May 2: An activist of the ICS assaults an assistant proctor of the Chittagong University (CU).
April 30 : A group of ICS cadres manhandle Proctor Prof Dr Jasim Uddin at the CU Railway Station premises.
March 26: The Court of Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge in Chittagong sentenced four ICS cadres to death and three other Shibir cadres to life imprisonment for killing eight people, including six Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists, in Bahodderhat on July 12, 2000. Each of the convicted cadres was also fined Taka 50,000 each. The three with life terms will have to stay in prison a year more if they fail to pay the fine. Thirteen ICS cadres charge sheeted in the case were acquitted by the court. The ICS cadres had opened fire on a bus carrying BCL cadres, student wing of the Awami League, at Bahodderhat in Chittagong killing six BCL cadres, the driver and an auto-rickshaw driver.
March 4: Five teachers and five office clerks of the Rangpur Carmichael College were transferred to different colleges after intelligence agencies and the education department found them responsible for instigating ICS activists to go on rampage on the college campus on February 6.
February 28: Daily Star reported that the dormitories of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute in the national capital’s Tejgaon area have turned into a safe haven for fugitive criminals and militants. Criminals and militants are taking refuge within the three hostels of the Institute. Unidentified students and law enforcement agencies have confirmed that the criminals are being provided shelter by the ICS. Several teachers with Jamaat background and with alleged links with the HuJI-B are also involved in the incident. Prof Shamshul Alam, principal of the Institute, admitted that some teachers of the institute are assisting the militants to hide in the dormitories, but said that the authorities are unable to take actions against those teachers since the issue is "out of their jurisdiction to deal with".

2007

November 8: Police personnel arrested 10 ICS cadres at Miapara in the Gopalganj district town on the charge of holding a meeting violating the Emergency Powers Rules. They were identified as Shibir district unit president Mohammad Moniruzzaman Alamgir, general secretary Mohammad Solaiman Siddique Badal, Mokarram Billah, Enamul Haque Khan, Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Masum Billah, Nazmul Hossain, Syed Ekramul Haque, Mohammad Mamun Khandaker and Sohrab Hossain Sheikh. 100 copies of a Shibir magazine Kishore Kantha were also recovered.
September 10: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the Rajshahi district filed murder charges against eight JMB militants in connection with the killing of Rajshahi University teacher, Prof Muhammad Yunus. While submitting the charge sheet the CID also asked for the acquittal of the five activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir who were earlier accused of the murder. The CID submitted that confessions made by the executed JMB leader Abdur Rahman have indicated that the outfit is involved in the killing.
August 19: At least eight students were injured in an attack by the ICS cadres at a hostel in the Barisal BM College. The ICS cadres also ransacked four rooms of the hostel during the clash, which occurred during a meeting by the ICS cadres.
August 9: At least ten students were injured in a clash between the activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of the BNP, and ICS at the Sylhet Polytechnic Institute.
August 8: An employee of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall of Rajshahi University, identified as Mokarram Abdullah Moni, who was also a former ICS cadre, was arrested by RAB personnel in connection with the August 5-attacks on four journalists.
August 5: ICS cadres assaulted four journalists and kept two of them confined for three hours at the Rajshahi University. The journalists included Johaer Ibne Kalim of Jugantor, photo journalist Abdullah Iqbal, Samakal correspondent Meherul Hasan Sujon and Bhorer Kagoj correspondent Salauddin Muhammad Sumon.
July 12: Ramghor sub-district Chhatra Shibir president Abu Bakkar Siddique appointed as a member of the Khagrachhari Hill District Council (KHDC).
June 18: Judge of the Public Safety Disruption Prevention Tribunal in Rajshahi, Jahangir Alam Mollah, charged six persons, including ICS leader Mahbub Salehi and Rajshahi University (RU) teacher Mohiuddin, with the February 2005-murder of RU teacher S. Taher Ahmed.
May 8: The Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court in Dhaka granted interim bail to Jamaat-e-Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and nine other leaders of the party and its student front the ICS in a case for the killing of a Workers Party activist in the capital on October 28, 2006.
May 5: Army personnel arrested an Islami Chhatra Shibir leader while he along with his associate was taking video footages of an army camp in Chapainawabganj.
April 23: President of the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) unit of the Rajshahi University, prime accused in the murder of the University’s professor S. Taher Ahmed Mahbubul Alam Salehi was sent to jail after he appeared before the Rajshahi District and Sessions court to seek interim bail.
February 1: ICS cadres stabbed a newly recruited teacher of the law department of Rajshahi University at Binodpur market area near the university for "refusing to join the party".

2006

November 11: President of the Phultala sub-district unit of ICS, Mohammed Ajmol Hossain, threatened journalist Shamsul Alam Khokon with death for having filed a report on the alleged corruption and malpractice by Khulna city Jamaat-e-Islami chief and former lawmaker Mian Golam Parwar.
November 2: An ICS leader was killed and 50 others were injured during a clash between the activists of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami at Nangolkot sub-district headquarters.
February 12: RAB personnel in Barisal district arrested the president and general secretary of Patharghata sub-district unit of the ICS, identified as Shohag Khan and Marfat Ullah, for their links with the JMB.
January 8: Two grenades were recovered by the police at Dhalipara on the outskirts of Satkhira town from the house of a JeI leader and a teacher of Srirampur Madrassa, Moulana Yunus Ali, whose son, Abdullah Al Mamun, an ICS activist, was later arrested.

2005

December 22: Kushtia district police recovered some bomb-making materials from a Madrassa student who also claimed to be an activist of the ICS.
November 25: JMB militant, Jakaria Hossain Rony, a former member of the ICS, is arrested from the Rajshahi district.
July 20: ICS cadre, Mahmudul Chowdhury, is arrested from the Panchlaish Residential Area in Chittagong along with 33 AK-47 bullets, of which at least 17 were produced at the Bangladesh Ordinance Factory.
July 18: RAB personnel arrest ICS cadre Abdus Salam from DC Road in Chittagong.
July 12: Former ICS leader, Ekhlasur Rahman Ekhlas, accused in the killing of Khulna Metropolitan Journalists' Union president Sheikh Belaluddin, is arrested from the Rupsha ferry terminal area.
June 10: Dulal Uddin alias Munna, second-in-command of the Nasir Bahini of the ICS, is arrested at Hathazari in the Chittagong district along with an AK-47 rifle.
June 6: RAB personnel arrested Sajjad, an ICS cadre from the capital Dhaka. Sajjad was the second in command in the ‘Hazarika Bahini’ of the ICS, whose leader Gias Hazarika was killed in an encounter on June 2.
May 7: Delwar Hossain alias Azrail Delwar, an ICS cadre, is killed during an encounter with the police at Charia under Hathazari sub-district of Chittagong district.
April 28: Fifty-five students are wounded during a clash between the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and ICS cadres in the Islamic University of capital Dhaka.
March 6: An ICS activist, identified as Akil, is arrested for his alleged plot to bomb a Bangladesh Chhatra League meeting attended by former Home Minister, Mohammad Nasim, at Raiganj.
February 28: RAB personnel arrested Gittu Nasir, an ICS cadre, from Dhaka's Jatrabari area and acting on his confession, recovered an AK-47 rifle from Hathazari on March 1.
February 13: An ICS cadre, Hossain Ahmad alias Foyez Munna, is killed during crossfire between RAB personnel and his accomplices at Mirerkhil in the Khulna district.
January 31: A businessman, identified as Bishu Aich, was killed as suspected ICS cadres lobbed an unspecified number of bombs at a shopping centre in the Kotwali area of Chittagong.
January 28: RAB personnel arrested four persons, including one ICS cadre, for their alleged involvement in the possession and smuggling of illegal firearms from Shahnagar in the Chittagong district.
January 17: An ICS cadre, Akhtar Hamid, is arrested from the Kakrail area of capital Dhaka and following his interrogation, the RAB personnel recovered five guns, 10 rifle bullets, six cartridges and two daggers from his village at Keruntali in the Chittagong district.
January 15: Four ICS cadres are arrested from Chittagong-Rangamati road at Godharpar in the Chittagong district. One SBBL gun, three LG guns, 23 rounds of bullets and some sharp weapons were recovered from their possession.

2004

December 15: RAB personnel arrested five ICS cadres from the Chawk Bazaar area in Chittagong city.
September 1: Armed ICS cadres killed a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader and injured some others at Sylhet Government Veterinary College. Police arrested two ICS cadres in this connection and also recovered some arms from their possession.
August 16: Police arrests an ICS cadre from his house at Dharampur in Rajshahi city on charges of making an attempt on the life of Iqbal Hossain Dildar, a contractor, on August 14.
July 12: At least 20 students are injured in a clash between activists of Jatio Chatra Samaj and ICS at Bhola Colle.

June 29:An armed cadre of the ICS is shot dead at Chittagong Cantonment in the Chittagong district due to intra-party rivalry.
June 10:The Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) implicates the students of Tumchar Islamia Fazil Madrassa (seminary) in Laxmipur in a false case accusing them of being activists of HuJI after the ICS failed to carry out organisational activities there.

April 23:The left-wing 11-party alliance alleges that the Jamaat-e-Islami and ICS is developing an ‘Islamic militant network’ across the country by taking advantage of being a partner in the alliance Government.
April 9:The deputy leader of Yakub Bahini, Mohammed Abdul Hamid, who was arrested along with seven ICS cadres from Chittagong, dies in police custody.
April 7:The chief of Yakub Bahini (Yakub Force), Mohammad Yakub, who was patronized by Islami Chhatra Shibir, is killed and four police personnel are injured during an encounter in Chittagong.

January 13: At least 50 persons are injured during a clash between armed cadres of the ICS and JCD at the Rajshahi University campus.
January 9: BNP leaders criticize Communications Minister Nazmul Huda's speech during an ICS conference in which he reportedly said that the Jamaat-e-Islami did not do any wrong by working for the integrity of Pakistan during the Liberation War in 1971.

2003

December 26: Police recover one AK-47 with ammunition when they arrested Islami Chhatra Shibir cadre Enamul Haque alias Enamya and his associate Faridul Alam alias Faridya from Satkania in the Chittagong district.
December 24: Five Ansars (para-military force personnel) arrested in the Khulna city on charges of abetting Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) activists in making bombs inside an abandoned residential hotel are reportedly dismissed from service.
December 9: An ICS leader is killed and seven others are injured in a gunfight between activists of the ICS and the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) at Moulvibazar Government College.
December 14: An ICS cadre Abul Hashem is shot dead by activists of a rival faction at West Damda-miya in the Fatikchhari district.
November 18: Seven persons are injured during a clash between activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and Islami Chattra Shibir (ICS) at Palashbari, Gaibandha.
November 14: An ICS cadre is shot dead by armed miscreants in the Narayonhat area of Chittagong district.
November 10: Police arrest an ICS cadre and gang leader of "Five Star Bahini", Jasim Uddin, from a house in the Mohammadpur area of Chittagong.
October 6: An activist of the ICS is killed and 25 others are injured in a gunfight between ICS and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) on the Kushtia Polytechnic Institute campus in Kushtia.
September 30: Four ICS leaders are awarded three years imprisonment each by the Speedy Trial Tribunal of Comilla district on charge of gangsterism.
September 3: At least 10 activists of the JCD and ICS are injured during separate clashes at the Chittagong Polytechnic Institute.
Security agencies arrest 24 persons, including top ICS leaders Kala Mahbub and Alamgir from different places in Fatikchhari, Chittagong, for their alleged involvement in the abduction of a businessman and BNP leader Alhaj Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury on July 24.
August 7: Police arrest two ICS cadres from the Chawk Bazar area and Fatikchhari in the Chittagong district, suspecting their involvement in the abduction of a businessman and BNP leader Alhaj Jamaluddin Ahmed Chowdhury, on July 24.
An ICS cadre and leader of "Ahamoddya Bahani" Chairman Ahamoddya allegedly threatens a journalist of the vernacular daily, Prothom Alo, for including his name among the abductors of the Chittagong businessman.
August 6: Police files charge sheet against seven persons, including some ICS cadres and Azizul Haque alias Azizya, ringleader of Azizya Bahini, in connection with the murder case of a Buddhist monk.
July 27: Police suspect involvement of three groups of the ICS in the abduction of Chittagong businessman and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Alhaz Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury for ransom from the Chawkbazar area on July 24.
June 29: An ICS cadre is arrested with two others in Bogra in connection with the arms haul case of June 27.
June 24: Following Home Ministry notification of February 3, the District and Sessions Judge's Court of Rajshahi on June 24 orders withdrawal of a bomb explosion case of April 17, 2001.
June 20: Home Ministry decides to withdraw a bomb explosion case earlier registered against nine Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) activists for their alleged involvement in the incident of April 17, 2001, in Rajshahi.
June 4: Unidentified gunmen kill an activist of the ICS at Doulatpur under Fatikchhari subdivision.
May 20: Amir Ali faction of the ICS kills a political activist each of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and the Awami League (AL) at Fatikchhari subdivision.
May 11: ICS cadres assault an activist of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on the Chittagong University (CU) campus.
April 17: The ICS launches an indefinite strike in Chittagong University (CU) demanding implementation of its five-point charter of demands.
Three ICS activists are arrested with explosives in Kalupur village, Shibganj police station-limits, Chapainawabganj.

March 27: At least 50 persons are injured in clashes between activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) on Rajshahi University campus.
February 4: The Speedy Trial Tribunal of Chittagong Division completes hearings in the Gopal Krishna Muhuri murder case. ICS cadres are accused of killing Muhuri.
February 1: An activist of the ICS is killed in an armed clash with police in violence during Union Parishad (Local Council) elections at Kanchana union, Satkania. Activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami, ICS’ parent body, are also involved in the clash.
January 20: Armed cadres of the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) shoot at a policeman in Hathazari subdivision, Chittagong district.
Police arrest two ICS cadres––Alamgir and Mojammel Haque Chowdhury Nazim––and recover seven rounds of SMG ammunition.

2002

December 26: ICS prepares to re-launch activities in Dhaka University from the New Year, after a long time. ICS remained banned in the University since 1990. About 3,000 well-trained armed student activists are believed to preparing to gain control over ‘halls’.
September 9: Armed activists of the ICS kill an activist of the JCD and injure 10 others on Madan Mohan College premises in Sylhet.
August 26: ICS cadres attack a lady-student leader, who is the vice-president of the Chittagong University unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).
August 13: Cadres of the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) attack 15 leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), including its president and general secretary, on Chittagong University Campus.

2001

December 31: An estimated eight persons are injured in an armed clash between the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and the rival ICS, at Sylhet Government College.
June 29: Police arrest an activist of the ICS for his alleged involvement in the Narayanganj blast.
June 15: At least 21 persons are killed and 100 more injured in a bomb blast at the Awami League’s office in Narayanganj town. The Foreign Minister says extreme fundamentalist elements with links to international terrorist groups set-off the blast.
April 11: Jammat-e-Islami and ICS cadres are arrested in Rangpur.
April 9: Nine ICS activists are arrested in Satkania in connection with the April 7-killings.
April 7: Two leaders of the ruling Awami League's youth and student fronts are killed by ICS activists at Satkania.
March 24: Rajshahi University community floats a forum against communalism and terrorism and vows to combat the ICS’ reactionary politics in the university.
March 9: Police arrest 46 supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the ICS, in connection with the bomb explosions that killed eight persons at a cultural function in Jessore on March 7, 2001
January 27: Police raid Darul Irfan Academy, a madrassa (seminary) in Chandgaon and arrest two leaders. Documents seized reveal its links with the Arakan Ruhingya National Organisation (ARNO), an Islamist extremist group, and Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The head of the madrassa in Chittagong, Khairul Bashar, was for four terms the chief of the Chittagong district unit of the ICS.
January 20: In two separate bomb blasts in Dhaka, an estimated six persons are killed and 50 more injured. Home Minister Mohammad Nasim says the Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates such as the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) set-off the blasts.

2000

November 16: Media reports indicated that Convenor of the Bangladesh Madrassa Teachers Association (BMTA) Maulana Mirza Nurul Huq in a press conference said the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir are involved in terrorist activities in educational institutions using the name of Islam.
July 21: Police foil an attempt to kill the then Prime Minister Hasina Wajed in her home district Gopalganj. Four activists of the ICS were arrested in this connection.
July 12: The ICS killed nine persons, including seven activists of the pro-Awami League student outfit in Chittagong.