Arms haul serious threat to security, says opposition

Mainstream opposition parties yesterday demanded immediate investigation into country's largest ever arms seizure in Chittagong, pegging the haul as a serious threat to national security.

The main opposition Awami League (AL) called for an international probe, while others demanded discussion on the seizure of 10 truckloads of modern weapons including submachine-guns and AK-47 rifles on Chittagong coast earlier in the day at an emergency parliamentary session, accusing the government of laxity in previous seizure probes.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil said: "We demand a neutral international probe to find out the origins of the weapons and the people and organisations smuggling them into the country."

"The cache suggests a conspiracy to undermine the country's democratic process," he observed.

"People must be made aware of a scheme to shift the blame for chaos onto the opposition when they are spearheading a movement to constitutionally unseat the government."

"Arms were smuggled into the country many times earlier in the same way with visible patronisation of the government," Jalil alleged.

"But no action has been taken against the gunrunners terrorising people and plundering the country at gunpoint. The government is sheltering the traffickers by repeatedly framing the opposition, especially the Awami League, in the crimes."

Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain said, "It is a matter of the greatest concern for the entire nation as it threatens our national security. The failure to take prompt and effective action to check trafficking in arms exemplified in cases of arms seizures in Joypurhat, Badda and other areas."

"It shows a serious lack of responsibility on part of the authorities concerned. The government owes the nation an explanation for such a failure," he added.

Dr Kamal said, "An emergency session of parliament should be convened to deal with the matter. The government should seek the fullest cooperation from the opposition and the entire nation in taking necessary measures to identify the traffickers and prevent such shipment of arms into the country."

Communist Party of Bangladesh General Secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim said his party warned the government and people of some clandestine networks operating in Bangladesh with a hidden agenda.

"Those who want to establish a Taliban-like rule in Bangladesh and return to a Pakistani state should be investigated immediately. The origins of such conspiracies against sovereignty should be tracked down and crushed immediately," Selim added.

Worker's Party President Rashed Khan Menon expressed the fear that gunrunners and their outfits might not be exposed to people because of certain pressures on the government.

"I fear we might never know who are behind such gunrunning. Arms have been seized before in Bogra and other places, but investigations into the incidents have been suppressed because of invisible pressures.

"Parties like Jamaat-e-Islami which is using force to establish a certain type of government," he alleged, adding, "They should be investigated and we have to make sure that probe findings are not suppressed again."

Jatiya Samajtantrik Party-Inu (JSD) also expressed concern, saying an international terrorist syndicate had hand in the gunrunning and the seizure confirms the existence of international terrorist networks in Bangladesh in a parody to repeated government denials.

Trying to hide information on international terrorists in Bangladesh, the government has put sovereignty and internal security at stake, he said in a press statement.