Hub of terrorism

The sacking of ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MP Abu Hena after he pointed fingers at its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami for the growing Islamic militancy in the country, shows how deep is the involvement between the government and the fundamentalists. His dismissal from the party came soon after a local daily published his interview in which he pointed fingers at Jamaat, a coalition partner in the government. After he was sacked, Hena, now an independent MP, said he would soon wage a nationwide campaign against religious extremism. “I am not alone. The entire nation is with me,” he announced. He said he had just started to talk about the militants, who were first detected in his Bagmara constituency and included the infamous Siddiqur Rahman or ‘Bangla Bhai’. AT a time, when even the western world is admitting that terrorism is posing a serious threat to mankind, the approach of Bangladesh towards this menace is quite perplexing, to say the least. Bangladesh have so far strongly refuted New Delhi’s persistent claims that his country’s territory was being used by North-East militants and that there was large-scale illegal influx of Bangladeshi nationals into the region. “We deny the presence of North-East militants on our soil although the  Indian authorities have presented to us a list of 195 camps allegedly set up by various militant groups from the region in Bangladesh,” was the reply of country’s envoy Mr. Hossain earlier. “I think there is a clear difference between the militant camps in Bhutan and the allegation of such camps in Bangladesh. While there was no confusion about the militant camps in Bhutan, there is no evidence of such camps in Bangladesh,” Mr. Hossain added. Without stopping here, the Bangladesh envoy continued with his tall claims and claimed that after India presented the list of 195 camps, Bangladesh initiated an inquiry and found that there was no Indian militant on Bangladeshi soil. “We also disagree with the logic of the Indian government. He also said that an invitation was sent to New Delhi two years ago to assess the ground realities over India’s     claim and that the latter was yet to respond. There is no need to asses the ground realities in Bangladesh. The recent happenings in the neighbouring country clearly justify Indian claims. No matter how vociferously Bangla denies its link with the militants, the fact remains the country has become a major hub of fundamentalists and terrorists.

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