Referring to a 1999 report of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), he said al Qaeda gave Harkatul Jihad Tk 2 crore to conduct militant training at 421 madrasas across the country with an aim to bring about an Islamic revolution.

Abu Sayeed, the former state minister for information, was addressing a press conference at his Dhanmondi residence on his book 'Aghoshito Juddher Blueprint' (blueprint of an undeclared war).

Earlier on February 18, Detective Branch (DB) of police confiscated a number of copies of his two newly published books -- Aghoshito Juddher Blueprint and Brutal Crime Documents -- for suspected seditious contents. The first one reportedly portrays the rise of extreme communalism and Islamist militants in the country while the other depicts the alleged brutalities on the opposition activists since the 2001 general elections.

Abu Sayeed at yesterday's press briefing alleged that some unknown people have been threatening [over telephone] to kill him since Aghoshito Juddher Blueprint came on the market. He has filed a general diary (GD) with the Dhanmondi Police Station and requested necessary measures in this regard.

He alleged that Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh leader Asadullah Al Galib and Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB) chief Maulana Abdur Rahman are in fact the creation of Jamaat-e-Islami. Galib has recently been arrested for suspected involvement in subversive acts.

Sayeed said that Jamaat, a component of the ruling four-party alliance, had funnelled Tk 1 crore 20 lakh to Taliabans after the US attacked Afghanistan in 2001.

He said al Qaeda had engaged many Bangladeshi militants in the Afghan war against the US. "They did it through Pakistan's Inter Services-Intelligence (ISI), and Jamaat was involved in the process all along."

He also alleged that Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) have links also with Myanmar-based Rohingya Solidarity Organisation. He said the Myanmarese group operates a number of camps in various parts of Myanmar to provide ICS cadres with guerrilla training.

Jamaat shelters at least 16 radical groups in the country, said the AL leader, adding: "Its goal is to establish a Taliban-style Islamist regime in Bangladesh."

On March 2 legal notice that called for a note of apology, he said, "Why should I make an apology, rather they [Jamaat] should ask for pardon for the crimes they committed during the Liberation War."

"Whatever measures Jamaat takes to harass me and my party, I will not allow any single action go unchallenged to uphold the values we earned through our Liberation War."

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party should remember that their ideals and those of Jamaat are not the same, and should act on that basis, he observed.