A report published in the Daily
Star last week quoted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid as saying that her
government expects terrorist attacks during the month of August on renowned
educational institutions across Bangladesh. “Terrorists are planning something
big and ministers may also be targeted.” The alert is based on the detention and
death sentence of Quasem who was handed down death sentence for his
collaboration with the Pakistan Army as war crime during 1971. His hearing of
review petition had been deferred for one month. Quasem is alleged to be
financing a campaign to make the trial controversial.
In the earlier attacks by local terrorists who later emerged as the sons of well
off families and ministers, the Bangladeshi and Indian media as well as
newspapers wasted no time in pointing finger at Pakistan. However, the
investigations revealed that the terrorists who made hostage a number of
foreigners at a five-star hotel and killed many of them had no link with
Pakistan but were local disgruntled youth. Already the ISIS had on a number of
occasions has claimed its presence in Bangladesh. According to some of the
Bangladeshi newspapers ISIS is an Indian-sponsored group of locals who got
training in India and were infiltrated to Bangladesh. The Hasina Wajid
government is already collaborating with Indian intelligence apparatus but many
believe that she is unaware of the greater conspiracy. Indian think-tanks have
of late been advising New Delhi to annex Bangladesh and undo the blunder of
Indira Gandhi which she made at the time of creating Bangladesh. Her Generals at
time advised her to annex Bangladesh with India but she didn’t do so probably
because of US interference.
But Modi government seems to have given the task to security and intelligence
agencies to hatch a situation that ultimately leads to the merger of Bangladesh
into India, permanently. Such alerts do not seem to be Hasina government’s
intelligence information but fed by the Indian side, under well thought out
strategy. Pointing finger at Pakistan serves two purposes: one, to implicate the
Pakistan government as well as military establishment; and two, to sow seeds of
hatred amongst the Bangladeshi populace against Pakistan. Islamabad must watch
developments with a hawk eye.