The NTJ was founded by
Moulvi Zahran Hashim in the exclusively Muslim town of
Kattankudy, which has been called a "fertile ground for extremism" and has seen
Arabisation and the spread of
Wahhabism since the 1980s with funding from gulf nations. While Zahran was actively propagating radical Islamism as far as 2013, he only began propagating violent extremism in 2016. However, according to Sufi leaders of Kattankudy Zahran did preach violence early on and even began publishing a magazine from 2013 which had calls for attacks on Sufis. It was from 2016 that Zahran preached about a "Muslim takeover" of Sri Lanka by killing all "non-Muslims" and demanded that the hosting of the Sri Lankan National flag be stopped as it is a threat to the Islamic State. In 2016 Zahran also began to preach against Catholics and Christmas. The group also terrorised the Sufi Muslim population in Kattankudy, who were considered as Kafirs by extremists and, according to Zahran, all Kafirs must be killed according to Sharia law. Sufi mosques were shot and Sufis were targeted by a sword-wielding mob led by Zahran in 2017. Despite complaints by Muslim organisations, the government failed to take proper action against Zahran and the NTJ. It was later revealed that the police had in fact been trying to ban the organisation and take down their websites since 2017. However the Attorney General's department did not take several letters by the Terrorism Investigation Division seriously and the CDs sent by the TID containing Zahran's lectures were given to lesser officials to watch by Senior State Counsel Malik Aziz who ordered them to compile a report. The NTJ members included two associates of Zahran who were principal and teacher of Muslim schools respectively and were in charge of looking over his mosques. A NTJ member was part of the parliament staff. 64 Sri Lankan MPs have also accused the former Muslim cabinet minister
Rishad Bathiudeen of backing the terrorists. The allegations included supply of empty shell casings to a factory owned by one of the bombers and Rishad's Moulvi advisor being arrested on suspicion of being a terrroist. Bathiudeen rejected ever having such an advisor and rejected asking for release of any of the suspects. K. D. N. Ranjith Asoka, Secretary Ministry of Industry & Commerce, rejected that Rishad requested any shell casings to be supplied to the bomber's factory. In 2018, NTJ was linked to vandalism of Buddhist statues following
anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka. The group's propaganda highlighted
violence against Muslims in Myanmar,
Sri Lanka,
India and other countries. Zahran was a radical
Islamist imam believed to be the mastermind behind the Sri Lanka bombings, preached on a pro-IS
Facebook account, known as "Al-Ghuraba" media, and on
YouTube.
Shooting police officers in Vavunathivu Two police officers, 35-year-old Niroshan Indika and 28-year-old Ganesh Dinesh, were killed while on duty at a roadblock in
Vavunathivu on 29 November 2018. Kethirgamathambi Rajakumaran, also known as Ajanthan, a former cadre of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was arrested in suspicion after the attack. However, following the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, a security dragnet launched by the police and security forces nabbed the driver of the NTJ leader Zahran Hashim. He confessed it was National Thowheeth Jama'ath that carried out this attack on the cops. The police based on the confessions also recovered the stolen service weapons of the slain policemen. Defence Secretary
Shantha Kottegoda requested the release of Kethirgamathambi Rajakumaran.
Easter bombings NTJ was first made known to the
Sri Lankan Police when a police officer sent an announcement to the authorities warning about a possible attack on churches 10 days before the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings on 21 April 2019. The report read that "the NTJ is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo."
Prime Minister,
Ranil Wickremesinghe, remarked that government officials did not receive the advisory and that they would "look into why adequate precautions were not taken." Officials earlier blamed the local Islamist group, "National Tawhid", but
Al Jazeera correspondent Samer Allawi said the authorities had denied officially accusing the group of responsibility. IS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Sainthamaruthu shootout On 27 April 2019, Sri Lankan security forces and militants from National Thowheeth Jama'ath clashed after the security forces raided a safe house of the militants. Fifteen people linked to the group, including six children, died during the raid as three cornered suicide bombers blew themselves up. A civilian was also killed in the process. Security forces found five pairs of white skirts and blouses in the safe house. Investigators found that the militants had bought nine pairs worth Rs. 29,000 on 29 March. Intelligence officials warned that this may be an attempt to launch an attack on Buddhist Temples using women posing as Buddhist devotees. In the 2020s, the group was inactive. == Strength ==