Purbo Banglar Communist Party
The Purbo Banglar Communist Party (East Bengal Communist Party) or PBCP is an outlawed Maoist militant group in Bangladesh. The PBCP formed in 1968 following a split in the Bangladesh Communist Party. It is mainly active in the areas of Khulna and Jessore in the South West of Bangladesh near the border of the Indian state of West Bengal where CPI-Maoist Naxalite insurgents have been active in an ongoing Civil War against the Indian state.[1] The PBCP suffers from violent rivalry both internally and externally with different Party factions and rival splinter groups. The PBCP was criticized by Siraj Sikder, the founder of the Proletarian Party of East Bengal (the major Maoist organization in Bangladesh), as being a neo-revisionist and a party that is "left in form but right in essence".[2]
Purbo Banglar Communist Party | |
---|---|
Ideology | Communism Maoism |
Political position | Left-wing |
Status | Active, split into various hostile factions. |
Ideology
The PBCP follows a Maoist and staunchly Nationalist ideology it aims to overthrow the Bangladeshi government and replace it with a Communist state inspired by Maoist era China. The PBCP is staunchly anti-India, it views India as a hegemon in the region.
Activities
The PBCP carries out assassination and other violent actions in order to intimidate its enemies it has also clashed with Islamic extremist groups.[3] The PBCP extorts money from land owners and contractors they also "tax" contractors who work in areas under their influence.
- April 27, 1999, PBCP cadres gun down 7 activists of the Awami League.
- September 9, 2002, PBCP militants kill a local leader of the Bangladesh National Party in Naogaon.
- August 25, 2003, Suspected PBCP-ML (Janajuddha) militants assassinate the Awami League leader of Khulna.
- May 20, 2003, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh kill three people alleged to be PBCP cadres.
- 2008, Mizanur Rahman Tutul, Secretary of the Purba Bangla Communist Party-Marxist–Leninist (Red Flag) killed in shoot out with state forces.
- January 28, 2014, police kill PBCP leader Islam Sabuj in a gunfight.[4]
Splinter groups and rivals
- Purba Banglar Communist Party - Marxist–Leninist (Communist Party of East Bengal-Marxist–Leninist)
- Purba Banglar Communist Party - Marxist–Leninist (Laal Pataka) [Red Flag] Split from PBCP-ML in 2002
- Purba Banglar Communist Party - Marxist–Leninist (Janajuddha) Split from PBCP-ML in 2003
The PBCP and it splinter factions are hostile to each other the PBCP has killed 18 in a turf war with rival groups.[5]
References
- "Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP), South Asia Terrorism Portal". www.satp.org. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
- Sikder, Siraj. "Exposure of the draft strategy and program of the so called East Bengal Communist party" (PDF). bannedthought.net. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
- "Terrorist Organization Profile - START - National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism". www.start.umd.edu. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
- "Two more killed in 'shootouts'". The Daily Star. January 29, 2014.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2014-02-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)