Bangladesh Launches Crackdown on ISI-Backed Terror Groups

The Sheikh Hasina government has launched a massive crackdown on terrorist groups allegedly backed by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), ahead of the parliamentary election in Bangladesh scheduled for December 23.

Police has held employees of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) linked to a terrorist group and initiated action against senior executives of an insurance firm alleged to have been funded by Pakistan, busted terrorist hideouts and initiated probe against a renegade army officer for targeting secular bloggers.

In the unrelenting drive against terrorist groups and their supporters in Bangladesh since the Holey Artisan cafe attack in 2016, more than 100 terrorists have been killed and over 1,500 arrested across the country, Bangladesh government officials told ET.

Eight employees of the NGO Small Kindness Bangladesh linked to banned outfit Ansar-al-Islam have been arrested by police in Bangladesh on charges of terror financing.

A renegade Bangladeshi army major who later became a terrorist leader has emerged as the key accused in the murder of a noted progressive publisher three years ago, officials said. Sacked and fugitive major Syed Ziaul Haq appeared to be the mastermind behind the killing of publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, said one of the officials, who did not wish to be identified.

Seven other operatives of the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team were also part of the plan to target the blogger, according to the official. Terrorists murdered 43-yearold Dipan in his office in central Dhaka’s Shahbagh area in 2015, months after they had killed blogger Avijit Roy.

Haq is the banned group’s “operational chief ” and he tried to orchestrate a pro-Islamic army coup, said another Bangladesh government official. The latest development comes five months after a special court in Dhaka handed down the death penalty to two terrorists, two years after they had hacked to death a professor in Rajshahi University in northwestern Bangladesh.

Hasina has emphasised that Bangladesh does not and will not allow its territory to be used by any terrorist, terrorist group or entity against any state or people, including India. Her reelection is therefore important for India’s stability and for keeping Bangladesh from once again becoming a hub of ISI activities, said counterterrorism experts.

Source: ET

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