Keraniganj madrasa blast: BNP’s Selim Member named as shelter provider to militant Al-Amin

Staff Correspondent

Sensational information has emerged from the investigation into the bomb blast that took place at the Ummal Qura International Madrasa in Hasnabad, South Keraniganj, Dhaka, on December 26. Investigations by law enforcement agencies have revealed that the director of the madrasa, Sheikh Al-Amin alias Rajib, is an active member of the Tamim-Sarowar group of the banned militant organization JMB.

Earlier in 2017, RAB arrested JMB member Al-Amin from the Baktavali area of ​​Narayanganj with weapons, explosives, and jihadi books.

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus took power and released the country’s identified and convicted militants one by one. As part of this, the militant Al-Amin, who was the mastermind behind the Keraniganj madrasa blast, was released.

He found shelter and a safe place locally with the direct support of BNP leader Salim Ahmed alias Salim Member. The Hasnabad area is historically known as ‘Mini Pakistan’—where the political influence of Jamaat-BNP has long been present.

Salim Ahmed, an influential BNP leader and local ward member of Ward No. 9 of Shubhadhya Union, has been dominating the area for a long time. It is alleged that to maintain his power and control, he has established several madrasas in the Hasnabad area in the past few years, along with cultivating several terrorist groups.

Local sources claim that Selim Member had direct supervision over the establishment and management of these madrasas.

The total number of voters in Shubhadhya Union, an important area of ​​Dhaka-3 constituency, is about 150,000. Investigators believe that Selim Member and his associates were planning to control this vote bank ahead of the upcoming national elections.

However, that plan was exposed in the explosion of December 26.

After the explosion, law enforcement agencies arrested Al-Amin’s wife, Asia Begum. During interrogation, preliminary evidence was found of Al-Amin’s involvement in making bombs and storing explosives behind the madrasa. Al-Amin has been absconding since the incident. Police recovered several explosives and bomb-making equipment from the scene. It is also known that Al-Amin’s wife and two children were present inside the building at the time of the explosion.

Security analyst Aminul Haque said, “Militancy has resurfaced during the Yunus regime as the opportunity to release convicted and top militants from various districts of the country after August 5 has opened up. However, the existence of militants in the country is being repeatedly denied from the top levels of the administration—even the DMP Commissioner has publicly claimed that there are no militants in the country. The explosion in Keraniganj has directly questioned that claim.”