Revisiting Bangladesh’s Efforts At Countering Violent Extremism – OpEd

Since its establishment as an independent state in 1971, Bangladesh has always prioritized the need for religious tolerance and inter-faith harmony.

While religion has constituted an important element of the country’s internal politics, religion-based violent extremism has never dominated its political dynamics and has never attained much support among the general population. Accordingly, unlike a number of Middle Eastern, African, and Southeast Asian states, Bangladesh has not yet faced any protracted insurgency or rebellion by violent extremist group. However, since the late 1980s, the country has witnessed the rise of a number of violent extremist groups, and these groups have often been heavily influenced by foreign organizations, ideologies, or events.

These groups have never been dominant in Bangladesh in terms of political influence. From a bird’s eye view, religion-based violent extremism in the country has undergone three distinct phases. The first phase witnessed the rise and fall of the largely homegrown ‘Muslim Millat Bahini’ in the late 1980s and the emergence of Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) in the battlefields of Afghanistan. The second phase saw the dramatic rise of the Salafist Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in the late 1990s and the 2000s. The third phase has been marked by the emergence of Ansar-al-Islam Bangladesh and the penetration of the transnational Islamic State (IS) into Bangladesh. Currently, the third phase is still active in the country.

It should be noted that no government in Bangladesh, irrespective of its party-political orientation, has tolerated violent extremist groups. Instead, treating violent extremism as a serious security issue, every government in Dhaka has adopted stringent measures and conducted security operations to curtail the activities of these groups. For instance, during the rule of President Hussein Muhammad Ershad, the ‘Muslim Millat Bahini’ was destroyed in a large-scale police operation in 1989. During the rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the JMB was neutralized through a series of security operations. During the rule of the Bangladesh Awami League, a comprehensive crackdown was initiated against Ansar-al-Islam Bangladesh and the local chapter of the IS. Thus, the governments of Bangladesh, irrespective of their regime type or political ideologies, have always viewed violent extremist groups as threats, and each government undertook its own anti-extremism measures, including robust security operations.

Moreover, Bangladesh has undertaken a wide array of legal and organizational steps to curb violent extremism. The Jatiya Sangsad adopted the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2009 and the Money Laundering Prevention Act in 2012 to curb violent extremism and prevent the financing of violent extremist groups. Also, the Bangladesh Bank has adopted the National Strategy for Preventing Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism. Meanwhile, a number of units and sub-units have been created within Bangladeshi security agencies to combat violent extremism. These include the Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) and the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit under the Bangladesh Police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Bureau (CTIB) under the Directorate-General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), and the Counter-Terrorism Wing under the National Security Intelligence (NSI), Moreover, Bangladesh cooperates with a number of international partners, including the United Nations (UN), the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Malaysia, on countering violent extremism. Last but not the least, Bangladesh is a member-state of the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC).

Bangladesh’s efforts at countering violent extremism has received commendations from numerous quarters. For instance, the US Department of State praised Bangladesh’s commitment to combat violent extremism in a 2012 report. In 2022, UN Under-Secretary-General for Counterterrorism Vladimir Voronkov commended Bangladesh’s good practices in countering violent extremism. Most importantly, Bangladesh ranked 35^th on the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) in 2025 with a score of 3.03 out of 10, ahead of several developed states such as the US, Germany, and Russia. In the regional context also, Bangladesh’s position on the index is better than Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and India.

However, in recent months, Indian media outlets have consistently portrayed Bangladesh as a state where violent extremism is tolerated and actively abetted by the state. For instance, a recent report by News18 argues that Bangladesh has become ‘a hub for radical Islamists and terrorist groups,’ and implies that the Bangladeshi state is complicit in the proliferation of violent extremism. Nothing can be further from reality. In fact, Bangladesh’s rank on the GTI has improved in 2025. In 2024, the country ranked 32^nd on the index, while it ranks 35^th in 2025, indicating that the country’s record of countering violent extremism has improved. On the other hand, India’s position on the index remains static (14^th position in both 2024 and 2025), and India’s score on the index has actually increased, indicating a rise in incidents of violent extremism in that country.

While it is not feasible to eradicate violent extremism completely, it is possible to contain its proliferation and reduce its volume. Bangladesh’s persistent efforts, including legal, organizational, and operational ones, have resulted in the successful containment and reduction of violent extremism in the country. While some violent extremist elements remain active, they have no chances of attaining political prominence in the country. Hence, characterizing Bangladesh as a ‘hub of terrorist groups’ is a gross misrepresentation of reality, and it contributes only to the further degradation of Indo–Bangladeshi relations.

Bangladesh shares a long border, as well as substantial economic, political, and cultural links, with India. The maintenance of friendly, cooperative, and good-neighbourly relations is crucial to the political stability, economic well-being, and strategic security of both states. Both Dhaka and New Delhi can benefit from cooperating with each other on a wide range of issues, including countering violent extremism. Therefore, Indian media outlets should stop presenting a distorted picture of Bangladesh, and instead promote real bilateral cooperation between the two neighbours on countering violent extremism.