India bans Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terror group

By Ahmad Adil

CHANDIGARH, India (AA) - Citing terrorist acts, India's government has banned the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an official statement said on Friday.

In a statement, the Home Ministry said the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and its organizations like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and all its manifestations "have committed and promoted acts of terrorism and have been engaged in radicalization and recruitment of youth(s) for terrorist activists in India.”

The JMB was established in 1998 “the objective of establishing a caliphate through jihad,” according to the statement.

“Investigations have also revealed JMB’s plan of making permanent bases within ten kilometers along the indo-Bangladesh border in several districts of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and plans of spreading its network in South India with an overarching motive to establish Caliphate in the Indian subcontinent,” it added.

The Indian Home Ministry inserted Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and all its manifestations in the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Local media reported that JMB was blamed for a 2016 terrorist attack at a cafe in Dhaka which killed 22 people.

“The listing under the First Schedule of the UAPA [unlawful activities prevention act] means the outfit is now a banned organization in India,” local news agency Press Trust of India reported.