Author: Jyoti Lal Choudhury
Publication: Organiser
Date: March 6, 2005
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=67&page=32
The situation in Bangladesh is really
grave and the postponement of SAARC summit scheduled for February 6 and
7 in Dhaka in view of the cancelled visit of Indian premier, Dr Manmohan
Singh brings to the fore once again the growing menace of terrorism in
that country. Though Dhaka has reacted angrily to Delhi's security concern,
the developments in Bangladesh since August last have been quite alarming.
Ever since the two extremist political
parties-the Jamaat-e-Islami and Islamic Ekya Jote-shared power with the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 2001, the signal has been ominous.
The country has been slipping gradually and systematically into the hands
of fundamentalist, Islamic and radical forces backed by militant and Jihadi
groups, the latter having links with Osama bin Laden.
On top of the agenda of this combination
of political and fundamentalist organisations is the desire to subdue and
suppress the pro-Indian and democratic forces.
Grenade attacks on the Awami League
and its 11-party alliance-led protest rallies against the misgovernance
and oppressive policies of Begum Khaleda Zia government in August last
and in January end this year have been part of this ghoulish conspiracy.
In the first deadly attack, 21 leaders and workers of the Awami League
were killed. In its most outrageous act, a Hindu boy, Partha Saha, was
picked up, detained and tortured by the Bangladesh Rapid Force in order
to divert the entire process of cosmetic investigation.
Surajit Sen Gupta, the popular Awami
League leader, and Badaruddin Kamran, Mayor of Sylhet, along with hundreds
of party workers were also injured. In an isolated gruesome attack, Anwar
Hussain Choudhury, the British High Commissioner, was also injured. The
culprits remain untraced.
The January-end grenade attack claimed
the lives of six Awami League leaders and workers who included internationally-acclaimed
economist and former Finance Minister of Bangladesh, Shamsul Kibira. The
Awami League supremo, Sheikh Hasina, alleged that Kibira was killed to
ensure the victory of the Prime Minister's political secretary, Harish
Chowdhury, in the General Elections of 2006 from Habiganj parliamentary
constituency.
This persecution of political opponents
and the assault on democracy have brought Dhaka under international scanner.
Richard Boucher, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, USA, and Christina
Rocca, Deputy Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, have asked Dhaka
to contain terrorism and warned of the 'out of control' situation.
According to observers, all this
is dovetailing in tune with the blueprint laid down by Jamaat-e-Islami
leader, Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and Islamic Ekya Jote supremo, Maulana
Fazlur Rahman Amini with the active support of all forces within and outside,
inimical to India.
What is worst, Talibisation of the
society at all levels and in different parts of Bangladesh goes on unabated.
This has been well reflected in Bartin Lister's Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism:
Beware of Bangladesh, in Deadly Cargo, compiled by Alex Parie, Maxin Calabreny,
Simon Elegant and Scot Maclyod. Eliza Griswald's The Next Islamic Revolution
pinpointing Bangladesh as the fast emerging epicentre of radicalism created
a furore and significantly Islamic Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of
Jammat-e-Islami, came out with massive demonstrations against the write-up
in Dhaka on February 6, this year.
L. Bruno Sabintino's video-documentary
for channel IV on Taliban-extremist nexus interested to make the Chittagong-
Comilla-Sylhet axis their sanctuary is yet another ground account of what
is cooking in Bangladesh.
"The Next Islamic Revolution", that
appeared in the January 23 issue of New York Times is a tell-tale account
of the assembly of 10,000 Islamic fundamentalists in Dhaka at the call
of Jagrat Muslim Janta (JMJ), led by one Bangla Bhai, alias Azizur Rahman,
who has given the call for armed struggle to create Greater Islamic Bangladesh,
carving out of the north-eastern states of India. The move, Eliza Gristwald
says, has the backing of BNP government, its armed forces and radical and
terrorist bodies.
The sinister design also speaks
of the joint struggle by all the forces within its ambit and the sympathetic
agents spread across the border areas of the north-east states to achieve
the objective. What is most worrying, as the report lays bare, is the move
to undertake a subtle and sharp drive to force the Hindus, Buddhists and
Christians to leave Bangladesh. They have warned that any attempt to create
a hurdle in JMJ's Islamic aggression or in minority subjugation will be
foiled by all the might at its command.
When all the anti-Indian forces
combine together, can ISI be far behind? According to reports from across
the border, under the tutelage of a Pakistani spy, a conclave was held
at Mohammadpur Rahima Jamaitul Madrasa in Dhaka on December 25 which was
attended by BNP's representative Saka Chowdhury, ISI Brigadiers D.K. Bux
and Abdul Jabbar, Jamat-e-Islam leaders-Abdul Hasan Muaddish, Matiur Rahman
and Golam Azami, Mohammad Nazrul Islam of Islamic Chhatra Shibir, Azizul
Haque of Harkut-ul-Jehad Islam, Fazrul Rahman of Jihad Movement, Nurul
Islam of Rohingiya Solidarity Organisation and Dipak Barua of ULFA.
The conclave resolved to give a
concrete shape to the design of Greater Islamic Bangladesh through 'Operation
Pin Code'. The ISI has pledged to lend all sorts of logistic and material
support at this meet of fundamentalist and radical forces. Analysts say
that creation of Jagrat Muslim Janta is an offshoot of this December 25
conclave.
It is not difficult to understand
how, after Iran, Afghainstan and Algeria, Bangladesh is becoming a cockpit
for Islamic revolution. New Delhi has done well to put off the Prime Minister's
visit to Dhaka for the SAARC summit. It has now to act firmly and decisively
against the free run of darker forces in Bangladesh. Its ramifications
for soft-target Assam can hardly be overlooked.
