New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Violence in Bangladesh has become an everyday occurrence, and several institutions in the country are on the verge of becoming completely radicalised. If there is one institution that has stayed away from all this mess, it is the Bangladesh army.
However, Indian agencies are picking up information suggesting that there is a major attempt to replace the Bangladesh army with an Islamist military order. The intention is to model the army on the lines of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, the Bangladesh army had stood firm and maintained that it would want the restoration of law and order. Today, the army remains a silent spectator as the radicals within the ruling establishment have taken over.
One of the main reasons for this shift is Jamaat-e-Islami, which has immense control over Muhammad Yunus, the caretaker of the interim government. It is well known that the Jamaat is the prodigy of the Jamaat, and this outfit would follow everything that the Pakistan spy agency tells it to do.
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of activity that included visits by ISI officials to Bangladesh. Similarly, there was a secret visit by the DGFI to Pakistan, where issues relating to the re-modelling of the Bangladesh army were discussed.
Officials say that many within the Bangladesh army want the country not to turn radical. The army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman had initially distanced itself from radical elements and had urged for restoration of normalcy. His supporters, too, were of a similar belief, and they distanced themselves from the radical elements, hoping that normalcy would be restored and a democratically elected government would be put in place.
However, with the Jamaat’s influence rising and the ISI meddling in the affairs of the government, some within the Bangladesh army too have started tilting towards the radical elements. In fact, the DGFI and ISI have worked closely since the Liberation War, and it was these two agencies that had planned both the program of minorities as well as the large-scale illegal infiltrations into India.
In Bangladesh, a new group called the Islamic Revolutionary Army is in the making, led by the Yunus-backed Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM). In a nutshell, this students’ movement is modelling itself into an armed group.
The ADSM is open about its intentions and has said that in the first phase, it would undertake a massive martial arts training programme. Further, it claimed that the next phase would involve officers of the army who would impart the training.
If one looks at the characteristics of this group, it indicates that it would be a militia. The plan is to make it a strong group and eventually blend it into the Bangladesh army. In a bid to make this successful, both the DGFI and ISI have held multiple meetings.
The two agencies, apart from meeting in Pakistan, have also held a meeting in Spain. In recent months, both Turkey and Bangladesh have enhanced ties, and this is another sign of what is to come.
The ISI and other radical groups had at first faced opposition from many within the army and DGFI. However, Pakistan has managed to crack many elements within the two agencies, and this has set in motion the plan to weaken and ultimately dismantle the army.
If an Islamic Revolutionary Army comes into existence and replaces the Bangladesh army, officials feel that this would be a major destabilising factor in the region. India is already worried about the rise of the terror outfits in Bangladesh that are posing a risk to the northeastern states and West Bengal. The formation of an Islamic Revolutionary Army would only mean more worry at the Indian borders, as terror would become institutionalised.
–IANS
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