This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6156
November 5, 2013
November 5, 2013 – San Francisco, CA – PipeLineNews.org – Here at PipeLineNews.org we pride ourselves on being ahead of the MSM's curve regarding the threat posed by Islamism…sometimes remarkably far-ahead.
We call your attention a particularly nasty chap, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, a U.S. citizen living in New York. On Sunday, a Bangladeshi tribunal found Khan and an associate guilty [in absentia] of war crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war for liberation fought against Pakistan.
"DHAKA, Bangladesh - A Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal sentenced a U.S. citizen and a Briton to death Sunday, after convicting them in absentia of crimes against humanity committed during the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Prosecutors said the men, Ashrafuzzaman Khan and Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, led an Islamist militia that helped the Pakistani army battle Bengali fighters. They were charged with involvement in the murders of 18 Bengali intellectuals in the waning days of the war. [source, Ruma Paul, US citizen, Briton sentenced in absentia for 1971 war crimes in Bangladesh , Wall Street Journal]
In 2004 we presented much the same by way of allegations.
"…During [Zulfiqar Ali] Shah's period of leading ICNA [the Islamic Circle of North America] Ashrafuzzaman Khan was its Vice President, as well as the head of the ICNA local chapter in Queens New York.
To many Bangladeshi immigrants, however, Khan was better known as the mad-dog leader of a death squad active in the Bangladesh war.
On 24th September 1997, a criminal complaint [case no. 115/1997 Ramana Thana] was filed against Ashrafuzzaman Khan, as a result of war crimes allegedly committed by him during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
It is alleged that Khan personally murdered at least 7 intellectuals during that war, that he was a member of the much feared Al-Badr terror squads.
Professor Giasuddin Ahmed was killed as a result of the death squad activity. His sister, Mrs. Farida Banu, filed the case in Bangladesh.
In the complaint Mrs. Banu claims that Khan, along with others, kidnapped Ahmed. His body was found later at the Rayar Baazar killing fields, a disposal site used by the Al Badr death squads.
"Ashrafuzzaman Khan, was one of the chief Al-Badr executioners. It has been clearly proved that he himself shot to death 7 teachers of the Dhaka University in the killing fields at Mirpur. A certain Mofizzuddin, who drove the vehicle, which took these helpless victims of Asrafuzzaman to Mirpur, has clearly identified Ashrafuzzaman as the "chief executer" of the intellectuals. After Liberation, Ashrafuzzaman's personal diary was recovered from 350 Nakhal Para where he resided. On two pages of the diary, the names of 19 teachers of the University have been entered, as well as their addresses in the University quarters" - From the Weekly Thikana, a Bengali print journal published from New York December 15, 2000"
Khan is now keeping an exceedingly low profile, attempting to avoid the trail of charges which have been following him now for over 40 years. Given that the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh it seems unlikely that Khan will ever be forced to face his accusers.
ICNA, the group with which Khan held leadership positions has been linked to Pakistan's Jamaat e-Islami.
"…ICNA has established a reputation for bringing anti-American radicals to speak at its annual conferences . Moreover, experts have long documented the organization's ties to Islamic terrorist groups. Yehudit Barsky, a terrorism expert at the American Jewish Committee, has said that ICNA "is composed of members of Jamaat e-Islami, a Pakistani Islamic radical organization similar to the Muslim Brotherhood that helped to establish the Taliban." (Pakistani newspapers have reported that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a leading architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was offered refuge in the home of Jamaat e-Islami's leader, Ahmed Quddoos.) On September 27, 1997, another Pakistani Islamist leader, Maulana Shafayat Mohamed, played host to an ICNA conference at his Florida-based fundamentalist madrassa (religious school), whichserved as a recruitment center for Taliban fighters..". [source, Discover the Networks, ICNA]
The extremist/revolutionary nature of Jamaat e-Islami has long been known. For example in a 1993 Congressional Report, Jamaat e-Islami was identified as a more than problematic organization.
"…Among the movements enjoying widespread popular support in Indian Kashmir, the evolution of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has taken on the most importance. It has been supported by, and closely affiliated with, the Pakistani Jamaat-i-Islami, from which they receive funding, weapons and training assistance beyond the ISI's contribution. Following the organizational principles recommended by Tehran and Khartoum, the movement has transformed into the Kashmiri Jamaat-i-Islami, under Abdul-Majid Dar, with a quasi-legal character emphasizing educational and social activism, with the Hizb-ul Mujahideen as the clandestine terrorist arm.As they have developed, the leadership of both Hizb-ul Mujahideen and Jamaat-i Islami have so far been able to elude the Indian security forces. Among these leaders are men like Sayed Salahud-Din, the senior leader, Shamus-ul-Haq, the spiritual leader known as "the Amir," and Ashan Dar, the military commander. Further, in 1991, as the Hizb-ul Mujahideen was becoming more professional, it established several clandestine subgroups such as Nassir-ul-Islam and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen to carry out expert terrorist operations..." [source, House Republican Research Committee, 1993 Congressional Report, Task Force on Terrorism & Unconventional Warfare
As we go to press it's unclear if Khan remains associated with ICNA since its website has apparently been scrubbed of any possible reference to him.
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This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6156