Inu blames Jamaat for terrorism
Points finger also at a foreign intel agency
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu yesterday said that Jamaat-e-Islami and an intelligence agency of a neighbouring country were involved in terrorist activities in the country.
Certain Pakistani diplomats were ordered to be pulled out of Bangladesh because of their illegal and covert connections with home-grown terror groups in Bangladesh, he said, adding that “Pakistan is still harbouring terrorists.”
Addressing a press conference at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, Inu said, “Terrorism has a legacy in Bangladesh relating to Jamaat-e-Islami's role in opposing the Liberation War in 1971 and playing the role of collaborator with occupation Pakistani troops.”
Inu, who was asked about the status of militancy in Bangladesh, said about 90 percent of the people arrested in connection with 40-odd terror-related incidents in the last years "have roots in Islami Chhatra Shibir,” a pro-Jamaat student body.
The minister, who held talks with his Indian counterpart M Venkaiah Naidu and National Security Adviser Ajit K Doval in New Delhi, said, "Pakistan has a very bad track record regarding terrorism. Pakistan was the aggressor on Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War.”
Responding to a question, Inu said, “We don't have any evidence so far that Gulshan attackers had any link with any international terror outfit.”
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina “has successfully” controlled the armed network of Jamaat, and terrorism in Bangladesh is “under control".
In reply to another query, Inu said, "We do not have any evidence that Indian terror groups have any networking with Bangladeshi terrorists.
“In Bangladesh, terrorism is like a bubble which may last 10 days or 10 months depending on how long the bubble lasts.”
Answering another question, he said controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Peace TV was banned in Bangladesh after there were several complaints from Ulemas that certain teachings of Naik were not in keeping with the Quran and the Hadith and were in fact “instigative".
Inu said he and Naidu agreed to work out a memorandum of understanding to share information under which a Joint Working Group will be set up for expanding cooperation between Bangladesh Television and India's Doordarshan, radios and news agencies of the two countries.
He said India and Bangladesh have agreed to produce two separate documentaries on the Liberation War and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman so that people get a correct perspective of the Liberation War and of history.
Inu said one of the purposes of the proposed joint production of the documentary on the Liberation War is to honour the 8,000 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives for the independence of Bangladesh.
Asked if the problem of terrorism in Pakistan could scuttle the forthcoming Saarc summit in that country in November this year, Inu said the host country has to take care of security at that time and the Saarc secretariat has to decide whether security would be proper for the event.