Even as India termed the political crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh an internal affair and declined comment, privately there is rising concern over the activities of the opposition BNP chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman and his “close contact” with fundamentalists and Pakistan’s ISI.
Even as India termed the political crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh an internal affair and declined comment, privately there is rising concern over the activities of the opposition BNP chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman and his “close contact” with fundamentalists and Pakistan’s ISI.
Rahman, 46, who is living in self-imposed exile in London because of corruption charges he faces in his country, is believed to be in close touch with fundamentalist elements in the subcontinent and is also getting help from Pakistan’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), according to intelligence inputs here.
Though he moved to London after the Awami League government came to power, he is known to be in close touch with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) senior cadre.
Rahman, who is senior vice president of the BNP, has a Facebook page with 198,362 likes with a bold banner saying “Hasina Must Go” and a recent posting from the Dhaner Shishe, or paddy sheaf, the BNP party symbol, terming India as the “number one enemy of Bangladesh”.
This fanning of hatred against India is something that New Delhi would not like to encounter again after having established friendly ties with the Sheikh Hasina government.
Elections are due in Bangladesh in January 2014. The country has voted Hasina and Zia alternatively to power. India would be keen to maintain friendly and close ties with whichever side wins, but past memories of the BNP in power are not pleasant.
During the previous tenure of the BNP-Jamaat government, Bangladesh had become a free hunting ground for fundamentalists of various hues who had the direct support and funding of the ISI. Some anti-India militant groups also set up their base in Bangladesh, to India’s worry.
India has tried to mend fences with Zia. During her visit to India last year, the BNP chief had held meetings with both President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But during Mukherjee’s Dhaka visit this March, Zia, in a snub, declined to meet the Indian president. Her party in fact, along with the Jamaat, held dawn to dusk strikes to coincide with Mukherjee’s visit.
India is watching the situation as the BNP and its 18-party alliance have decided on fresh street agitations after ending Tuesday their three-day nationwide shutdown that saw much violence.
India and the US have also discussed the situation in Bangladesh with US ambassador to Dhaka, Dan Mozena, having visited South Block and interacted with Indian officials, including Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh. Mozena had also met Indian envoy in Bangladesh Pankaj Saran.
Saran met Sheikh Hasina Wednesday and discussed the latest political situation in Bangladesh.
Voicing concern over the rising violence by the BNP and Jamaat, Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, 42, a tech consultant, who arrived in Dhaka from the US earlier this week said the “BNP-Jamaat unleashed a regime of violence and terrorism when they ruled. Now they are doing the same. This is the real face and character of our opposition”.
He said if the BNP-Jamaat is voted to power again “they will kill Awami League activists, minorities, civil society members, and progressive intellectuals”.
To Tarique Rahman’s reported ISI links, Joy said: “This is not surprising. There were news reports in the past that he (Tarique) had links with terrorist like Dawood Ibrahim.”
During strikes, Jamaat cadres have been attacking the homes and temples of Hindus in Bangladesh.
The protests by the opposition is to demand that Hasina quit and order polls under a caretaker government. She has instead proposed an all-party interim government led by her to oversee the January polls, a provision that is unconstitutional after the 15th amendment that arose after a court judgement pronouncing the caretaker administration system as “unconstitutional”.
-IANS
