Hasanul Haq Inu: Pak envoys abetting jihadis; we have thrown out many

Pakistan’s diplomats from its Dhaka high commission are routinely involved in inciting terror elements in Bangladesh, visiting Bangladesh information minister Hasanul Haq Inu told this newspaper in a startling revelation that bolsters India’s contention that Islamabad exports terror.

“We have thrown out many Pakistani diplomats from their Dhaka high commission in the past on charges of actively endangering Bangladesh’s internal peace and security. The effort to foment terror is continuing even now. Just a couple of months back we deported another two diplomats from the Pakistan embassy. They were about to be arrested for visiting wanted persons belonging to armed Islamic radical groups,” Mr Inu said, and added, “Actually there are too many incidents and evidences of the involvement of Pakistani diplomats in the covert operations of armed religious groups. It is happening on a regular basis so much so that it is a problem”.

“The Pakistanis want to wipe out the last leadership of the Liberation War,” said the socialist leader who fought the 1971 war as a Mukti Bahini guerrilla.

The war freed Bangladesh, known as East Pakistan till 1971, from the yoke of Pakistan’s Punjabi-dominated state apparatus. Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) supported Pakistan against its own Bangla-speaking people.

“With Pakistan not changing its policy, for any armed incident in the country we put Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistan in the suspects list along with the Jamaat (JeI),” Mr Inu said.

There are 63 people on the death row in Bangladesh for armed attacks and bomb blasts. “All these people were trained in camps in Afghanistan in the early 80s under the patronage of the Inter-Services Intelligence,” Mr Inu said.

“The present government has therefore decided very consciously to embark on a policy of consolidation so that there is never a military government ever again or one that is by Pakistan-collaborators or one that is supported by Pakistan,” Mr Inu said.

“The ongoing war against terror in Bangladesh is the final battle by forces of democracy and secularism against the forces of communalism and fundamentalism. This is a do-or-die battle now and in a way will close the unfinished chapter of the liberation war,” the Bangladesh information minister said, adding that a victory will take Bangladesh on the path of secularism, socialism, democracy and nationalism as against rapid communalism and religious fanaticism.

In India, the Bangladeshi information minister successfully concluded talks with the government to erect a four-tiered system to facilitate joint counter-terror operations and cooperation based on sharing of intelligence, technology and information between the two countries which face the scourge of terrorism.