US embassy cable - 05DHAKA3851

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 003851 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2015 
TAGS: KISL, PREL, PTER, BG, PPAO 
SUBJECT: TEA WITH ISLAMIST FIREBRANDS 
 
REF: STATE 121757 
 
Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.4 b. 
 
 1. (C) Summary. At their initiative, four senior Islamist 
scholars and clerics met with CDA to defend their stance on 
Ahmadiyas, urge greater USG-Islamist cooperation, and promise 
to fight extremism "if" any is found in Bangladesh.  They 
argued that branding Ahmadiyas as non-Muslim would make them 
an identifiable and therefore protectable minority.  CDA 
underscored USG respect for Islam, and encouraged them to 
condemn terrorism whenever and wherever it occurs.  End 
Summary. 
 
2. (C) On August 2, Charge, A/DCM, and PolFSN hosted for tea: 
Moulana Ubaidal Haq, Khateeb, Baitul Mukarram National 
Mosque; Shaikul Hadis Allama Azizul Huq, Chairman Islami 
Oikko Jote; Moulana Fazlul Karim, Pir Saheb Charmonai and 
Amir, Islamic Constitution Movement; Moulana Muhiuddin Khan, 
Senior Vice Chairman, Islami Oikko Jote; and A.M.M. 
Bahauddin, editor of Daily Inquilab and Senior Vice President 
of Jamiatul Musarresin madrasa teachers)).  Mufti Fazlul Haq 
Amini, MP and Chairman, Islami Oikko Jote, was a last-minute 
no-show because, according to group organizer Bahauddin, PM 
Zia convoked him deliberately at the same time as the tea to 
prevent his attendance. 
 
3. (SBU) Bahauddin opened by stating that the USG and 
Islamists had been allies during the Cold War and that both 
sides should work to restore a similar level of cooperation 
and inter-action to counter growing leftism in Europe and 
elsewhere.  "You need true friends on your side who 
understand the issues.  Only genuine Islamic scholars can 
represent and lead the people."  He acknowledged differences 
over Iraq, but stated this should not be misinterpreted as an 
anti-American or anti-Western stance.  For example, he 
claimed, during anti-war protests in Dhaka, there had 
deliberately been no burning of the American flag.  Muhiuddin 
added that madrasas had become involved in politics only to 
support the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan.  No Bangladeshis, 
he said, had gone to support the Taliban, but yet there is 
now an effort to "destroy" madrasas in Bangladesh. 
 
4. (SBU) Azizul Haq asked why the USG is so unhappy with them 
over Ahmadiyas.  Ubaidal Haq regretted that USG visitors had 
gone to see the Ahmadiyas without meeting with the Islamists. 
 "We support religious freedom, but we don't want them to 
mislead real Muslims.  They are separate, and many countries 
have declared them non-Muslims to stop this kind of problem." 
 Asked if this means Islamists would not protect Ahamdiyas 
unless they were declared non-Muslims, Ubaidal Haq told CDA, 
"To be protected, they must be identifiable as a minority." 
 
5. (SBU) Religious freedom and protection of minorities are 
important, constitutionally-guaranteed rights in Bangladesh, 
CDA observed.  Ubaidal Haq agreed, saying this is why 
Ahmadiyas should be declared non-Muslims--to become a 
minority that would be protected by both government and civil 
society, including Islamists.  He downplayed reported attacks 
on Ahmadiyas as false or exaggerated; some incidents, he 
claimed, are staged and videos are faked to advance internal 
Ahmadiya rivalries. 
 
6. (SBU) Drawing on reftel points, CDA underscored USG 
respect for Islam and noted that, in the war on terrorism, 
our focus is on extremists of any kind.  She welcomed the 
condemnation by the absent Amini of the July 7 London 
attacks, and urged all Islamist leaders to denounce violence 
and especially suicide attacks whenever and wherever they 
occur.  Bahauddin stated that all the Islamist leaders at 
this meeting condemned the London attacks.  Extremism is 
un-Islamic, Muhiuddin added, so there is nothing to disagree 
about.  "Suicide killings are illegal in Islam, and we will 
continue to say so in our mosques." 
 
7. (SBU) Asked about the origins of extremism and strategies 
for defeating it, Muhiuddin asserted that extremism is absent 
and will never take root in Bangladesh.  If you see any, he 
said, tell us, and we will fight it together.  The 70-minute 
meeting concluded with Muhiuddin asking us to investigate an 
article in an Egyptian magazine that reported the USG and 
Israel are rewriting the Koran, in 12 volumes, "to create 
chaos" in the Muslim world. 
 
8. (C) Comment: Bahauddin handed over to CDA a three-page 
memorandum that summarized most of the above points and also 
"expressed deep concern" (the same language used to address 
the London attacks) "at the inhuman atrocities and torture 
meted out to the inmates of various jails, including those in 
Iraq."  This outreach by senior Islamist figures, most of 
whom have often been strongly critical of the U.S., was 
initiated in May by Bahauddin at the height of his efforts to 
organize Islamist opposition to the BDG for a variety of 
political and business reasons; recently, he appears to have 
had a reconciliation of sorts with PM Zia.  Ambassador 
Thomas's unexpected departure from post delayed the meeting, 
whose original aim, we believe, was to promote a political 
identity for Islamist scholars separate from Jamaat Islami 
and bolster Bahauddin's standing as an Islamist power broker. 
 The meeting was dominated by the Ahmadiya and other local 
issues, with only one passing reference to Iraq.  Amini's 
absence was peculiar.  Highly critical of PM Zia in private, 
he nevertheless reportedly felt obliged as an IOJ coalition 
member to inform her of the meeting; according to Bahauddin, 
Zia begged him not to attend because of his "loose tongue." 
Her concern must have been that he would have repeated his 
criticisms of her government since, in our prior meetings 
with him, he, like the Islamists at this meeting, has always 
been on his best, most conciliatory behavior.  A/DCM is 
taking up Ubaidal Haq's and Muhiuddin's offers for (separate) 
follow-up meetings; inter alia, we will ask their definition 
of extremism and what they tell their flocks about why 
suicide bombers do what they do.  Ubaidal Haq's query about 
the alleged USG-Israeli rewritten Koran is likely an accurate 
reflection of their true world outlook. 
CHAMMAS