Reported hijack bid was a hoax, JS told

Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad told the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday that the recent reported bid to hijack a Bangladesh Biman flight at Calcutta proved to be a 'hoax'.

The minister issued a statement in the House about the so-called plane hijacking bid, following a call attention notice from Abdul Latif Mirza of the Treasury Bench.

He said, the Calcutta police arrested 11 Palestinian Muslims having Israeli citizenship on January 11, after Bangladesh's Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) there received a secret information about a plan for hijacking a plane of the Biman and sought help of the West Bengal government to offset it.

The DHC also informed the Biman manager in Calcutta and the government authorities in Dhaka of the reported hijacking plot to be attempted soon.

But the 11 were later released on January 13, as an investigation by the intelligence in Calcutta could not prove the allegation of the bid to hijack the plane, he said.

Azad, however, said the Bangladesh authorities cancelled the landing permits earlier issued for those 11 people, as a precautionary measure.

He said that the DHC had granted the 11 people of Arab origin landing permits, who were scheduled to fly to Dhaka from Calcutta with Biman on January 11. This was done after the Delhi Tablig Jamaat had requested the Bangladesh mission in the Indian capital to issue them landing permits for attending the Bishwa Ijtema of the Tablig Jamaat at Tongi, set to begin on January 29.

The foreign minister found most press reports on the incident as "not objective" and said, as per convention, landing permits are usually issued to nationals of those countries with which Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations for the purpose of facilitating businesses or religious activities.

On previous occasions, too, he noted, such landing permits were issued for attending the Bishwa Ijtema at Dhaka. Besides, he added, such methods were also practised in other countries.

In response to a query from Latif Mirza, the minister told the House that the government was alert about any conspiracy to foil the execution of the court verdict against the killers of Bangabandhu.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had been alerted against any act of conspiracy or sabotage regarding execution of the verdict and such alarms were also sounded to all concerned through diplomatic channels.

In his notice, Latif Mirza had questioned how the Israeli citizens were given visa by the Bangladesh mission to travel to Dhaka.