Jamaat-Affiliated Journalists’ New Game: Embracing BNP to Strike from Within

Staff Correspondent

With the prospect of a power shift in Bangladesh’s political arena, various secret forces have become active. After the Awami League government was toppled by militant attacks, Jamaat and its secret network have quickly entered the field to strengthen their position in the new political equation. In this context, a group of journalists – whose past identities are clearly pro-Jamaat – have started to circulate around the BNP.

Recently, such an incident occurred during a so-called courtesy meeting organized by the Thakurgaon Journalists Forum. Some journalists from Thakurgaon working in Dhaka went to the BNP central office in Gulshan and met Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Among those present was Bangladesh Pratidin journalist Manik Muntasir, who has long been known in journalist circles as a Jamaat supporter and was known to have been an active member of the secret organization Shibir during his student days.

In a long post on Facebook, Manik Muntasi gave an emotional account of his meeting—the book gift, the praise, the reminiscences of Thakurgaon—it was all there. But the politically aware reader wonders: was this simply a courtesy visit by journalists from Thakurgaon, or a silent attempt to infiltrate the BNP?

Political analysts see this type of pro-Jamaat communication as a well-planned strategy.

They know from the past experience of Jamaat-BNP alliance politics that if BNP becomes politically strong again, then opportunities will be created for Jamaat as well. But by creating those opportunities, their main goal will be to put BNP under pressure, make it controversial internationally, and create internal divisions.

People like Manik Muntasir can play an important role in this strategy. They can easily get close to the political leadership under the guise of journalists, gain trust, and then gradually influence internal information, positions, and plans. Although this will externally gain sympathy for BNP, in reality their political position will be weakened.

This is a very sensitive time for the BNP. Maintaining trust and unity within the leadership, as well as keeping the party free from pro-Jamaat influence, is now a strategic imperative for them. Because just as the shadow of Jamaat has repeatedly put BNP in trouble in the international arena in the past, this shadow can also stop their progress in the future.

Now the question is – does the BNP understand that this silent arrival of pro-Jamaat journalists is not actually an extension of friendship, but a well-planned game of political delay?