Author: Sumit Sen
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 25, 2006
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1678918.cms
Reports of a recent secret meeting between
absconding underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and two high-profile Bangladeshis
- one, an extremely powerful young politician belonging to the ruling alliance
and the other, a top national security intelligence officer - in Dubai have
sent both Indian and Western intelligence agencies into a tizzy.
This, according to highly-placed sources,
is part of a well-concerted move to smuggle in arms consignments to Bangladesh
for creating countrywide disturbances well before the next elections.
According to sources, the discussion during
the Dubai meeting veered around the urgent need to import small arms and explosives
for terrorists enjoying the tacit support of a powerful section of the ruling
group. The meeting was reportedly arranged by ISI agents, though the supportive
role of a powerful foreign agency in the entire scheme of things is not being
ruled out.
The meeting led to prompt results. On April
16, a commander of the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) of Chittagong
received a consignment of arms explosives that reached Chittagong port. Reports
suggest larger consignments will be reaching the port very soon, before being
handed over to Islamic terrorists. Interestingly, unlike the 2004 arms haul
at the same port, which could equip a full Bangladeshi Army brigade, this
incident largely went unnoticed because the entire operation was carried out
deftly.
On May 16, a large consignment of arms - certainly
not meant for security forces - was brought in at an air force base near Dhaka
by a Kuwaiti C-130 aircraft. The whole operation, being highly secretive in
nature, was supervised by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.
Investigations reveal that a Kuwaiti NGO Al-Harmain (a banned organisation
having links with Al-Qaida) was the funding agency for the arms transshipment
for Bangladeshi terrorists.
Given the situation, Bangladesh experts now
do not rule out major bloodshed - especially during the time when the country
will be ruled by a caretaker government before the polls. Intelligence sources
suspect that taking advantage of the fragile security network, the Dawood
gang is slowly expanding its network in Bangladesh and providing support to
terrorist outfits, especially Huji, which has been targeting opposition leaders
with precision.
Prominent Awami League leaders who have been
assassinated include former finance minister S A M S Kibria and Ivy Rehman.
There were several attempts on the life of Sheikh Hasina, the last one having
left her permanently debilitated in one ear. In most of these cases, Huji's
Bangladesh commander-in-chief Mufti Hannan was the mastermind.
