Dhaka, Sep 30 (IANS) Intelligence agencies in India and Bangladesh have uncovered a “sinister move” by the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami-led coalition to overthrow the BNP government through a violent movement planned for November, a report has stated.
It noted that the aim of the coalition is to establish a “revolutionary government” based on the July Charter, which envisages a Shariat-driven Islamic state in Bangladesh.
The National Citizens Party (NCP), formed by youth leaders considered close to former Bangladesh interim government’s chief advisor Muhammad Yunus, will lead the agitation, which aims to remove current President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and install Yunus in his place, according to a report in ‘The Federal’.
The Islamist coalition leaders, along with a group of retired Bangladeshi army officers including Abdullahil Aman Azmi, involved in their strategic planning, are reportedly frustrated with the ruling BNP government’s refusal to implement the July Charter and pave the way for a new Islamist Constitution. The plan is allegedly backed by Pakistan, Turkey and some elements within the US Deep State, the report mentioned.
“So the Islamic strategic planners, led by former Brigadier Abdullahil Aman Azmi, have worked out a two-phase plan for capturing state power. The first phase of Azmi’s plan is ‘Operation Domon’ (suppression), which aims to decimate the Awami League, which is threatening to stage a comeback centering around the return of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In this design, the Azmi team has elicited the BNP government’s support to decimate the Awami League,” Subir Bhaumik wrote in The Federal.
The report highlighted that while Azmi and his associates were working on “Operation Domon”, another key member of the cabal, former Bangladesh Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) chief Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, spent an extended period in Turkey to procure weapons for the proposed Islamist militia now being organised under the cover of an Armed Reserve.
“8,800 radicalised Muslim youths have already been handpicked and are now undergoing month-long combat training, which contains a long module on law and order operations. Clearly, the armed reserve is not for deployment against foreign invaders but actually meant to tackle ‘internal enemies’,” it stated.
Citing a top Bangladesh military intelligence official, the report said the strategic planning for “Operation Domon” was initiated in July by Brigadier Azmi and his associates, who operate from a Defence Officers Housing Society in Dhaka’s Banani. It stated that Pakistani and Turkish intelligence officials serving under diplomatic cover were regular visitors to Azmi’s office.
According to the report, Pakistan’s envoy in Dhaka, Imran Haider, has frequently visited Islamic orphanages in recent months, where he has been identifying “bright students” for higher studies in Pakistan. It cited a top Bangladesh National Security & Intelligence (NSI) official who said that the agency flagged the activity as an effort aimed at building squads of suicide bombers for use in Bangladesh and adjoining Indian states.
Warning of the possible consequences, the report said, “Failure to stop this Islamist power grab will mean India in future will have to deal with a ‘Bengali Pakistan’ in the East, which will be part of the US-backed Mecca Alliance.”
–IANS
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