Iftekharul Bashar is an Associate Research Fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Bashar has written on political violence and terrorism in South Asia and Southeast Asia with a particular focus on Bangladesh and Myanmar. His profile is available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iftekharul_Bashar.
Islamic State Ideology Continues to Resonate in Bangladesh
Three years after a major Islamic State (IS)-claimed attack in its capital Dhaka, defeating the group remains a work in progress for Bangladesh. The residual and regenerative capacity of the local pro-IS cells in Bangladesh is significant as evidenced by actual and thwarted attacks in the country during the first half of 2019. Amidst the threat emanating from Bangladeshi jihadist returnees from Syria, IS ideology continues to resonate and attracts new recruits in this part of South Asia. It remains to be seen how Bangladesh will respond to the re-surfacing of the IS, especially at a time when the region is witnessing inter-religious tensions.
