Govt to keep watch on pro-Jamaat Peace schools

The government has asked the law enforcement agencies to keep a close eye on the network of Peace school and colleges across the country to see if they propagate in favour of militancy.

The decision came in a meeting of the cabinet committee on law and order after it discussed an intelligence report on the operation of Peace schools, said meeting sources.

The meeting was held at the home ministry on Sunday, with Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu in the chair.

According to the report, around 27 Peace schools are being run in six districts by pro-Jamaat-e-Islami men. A part of their income was being spent on the party's organisational activities.

Although the school chain use the logo of Peace TV, an Islamic TV channel, no link of the TV station was found with the schools, it added.

The schools were being operated by a company named Invitos Peace Limited, with its Chairman Abu Zafar Muhammad Obaidullah, a former president of Chhatra Shibir, said the report.

The meeting also decided to confiscate the moveable properties and bank account savings of six banned militant outfits and people involved with those.

The home ministry asked the Police Headquarters to provide it with details about the properties of the militant outfits.

The six militant outfits are Ansarullah Bangla Team, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji), Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim Janata of Bangladesh, Shahadat-e Al-Hikma and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

The meeting asked the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to step up vigilance to check militant activities and stop target killings.

Representatives from the police informed the meeting that they were going to prepare a dress code for private security guards, keeping a provision for uniform dress for all private security guards. 

The police made the move as the uniform of some private security guards were almost similar to those of army and Border Guard Bangladesh men.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Amu said the law enforcement agencies didn't find any IS link to the recent target killings in the country.

They found that the JMB was directly involved in 25 out of 37 incidents of killings and attempted murders, Ansarullah in eight and other militant outfits in four, the minister added.

He said the law enforces have found the motives in 31 cases and submitted charge sheets in four. A case has been under trial and the judgment in another has been delivered.

Police arrested 146 suspects in connection with the 37 incidents and recorded confessional statements of 49, Amu stated.

Enquired about the probe into the murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, he said the first autopsy report was incorrect. DNA tests found evidence of rape and thus the investigation was taking time.

The government will take necessary action after proper investigation, said the minister.

Tonu, a second year student of history at Comilla Victoria College, was found dead in a bush inside Comilla Cantonment on 20 March.

About the recent humiliation of a school headmaster in Narayanganj, he said there was no evidence that Shyamal Kanti Bhakta made derogatory remarks about religion.

LGRD Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Expatriates Welfare Minister Nurul Islam, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Law Minister Anisul Huq, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Senior Home Secretary Mozammel Haque Khan and high officials of the law enforcement agencies were present at the meeting.