By Jyoti Lal Choudhury
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'ssecurity 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'spolitical 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'sRise of Islamic Fundamentalism: Beware of Bangladesh, in Deadly Cargo, compiled by Alex Parie, Maxin Calabreny, Simon Elegant and Scot Maclyod. Eliza Griswald'sThe 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'sIslamic 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'srepresentative 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'svisit 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.
