Extraditing Sheikh Hasina: Terrorists plot hostage siege at India's Mission in Dhaka

New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) An Intelligence Bureau alert has revealed that a major attack was being planned on the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. The plot, according to the information, was being planned by Al Qaeda in the Subcontinent and the Jamaatul Ansar fil Hindal Sharqia.

These terror groups planned to lay siege to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and then hold the diplomats hostage. The demand is to extradite Sheikh Hasina from India. Since the fall of her government, Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge in India.

This issue has been a thorn in the ties between the two countries. Bangladesh has been demanding her extradition and has blamed this issue on the failing relations between the two nations.

Security officials say that this plan could not have been planned by the two terror groups on their own. There is clearly an ISI link to it. Under Sheikh Hasina, the ISI was kept at a distance. This was an irritant for the Jamaat-e-Islami too, as it is a proxy for the ISI and also a known “India-hater.”

Under Sheikh Hasina, ties with India were rock solid, and this was proving to be a major irritant for the ISI and Jamaat. With the regime change, a lot has changed in Bangladesh, and the ISI has been given a free hand in the country.

While the government under Sheikh Hasina did not give much importance to Pakistan, there were a few in Bangladesh who were hand in glove with the ISI. The ISI had with the help of its cronies, managed to smuggle in arms and ammunition into Bangladesh since 2023. This suggests that there was a major plan on hand to destabilise the government and also hurt India’s interests.

The ISI has been trying for a long time to bring down the Sheikh Hasina government. Back in 2014, too, an attempt was made. The Burdwan bust in West Bengal was a clear indicator of the same. Cottage industries in large numbers were preparing bombs that were meant to be transported to Bangladesh. The idea was to carry out a series of blasts across the country and then demand the resignation of Sheikh Hasina on moral grounds for failing to secure the nation.

To plan an attack on the Indian mission in Dhaka serves the ISI’s agenda perfectly. Many of these terror groups remained underground under the regime of Sheikh Hasina. An attack of this magnitude would keep these terror groups happy, and they could cite the same to increase funding and recruitments.

The ISI, since the regime change, has been in overdrive mode in Bangladesh. It has been setting up training camps. It has even sent in terrorists of the Jaish-e-Muhammad to train the Bangladeshi terrorists.

Indian officials say whatever the ISI may do has an India angle to it. The primary agenda is to hurt India, and building up terror groups in Bangladesh means the northeastern border remains highly volatile at all times, like we see in the case of the Line of Control (LoC).

The Jammat too toes the line of the ISI and having Hasina back and trying her is a political statement in Bangladesh. Hence, the idea of laying siege to the Indian High Commission and then demanding the extradition of Sheikh Hasina was a plan that the Jamaat readily agreed to.

With the elections tentatively scheduled to be held in February next year, Sheikh Hasina would be a major issue. Hasina’s Awami League has been banned from contesting the elections, thus indicating it would be a one-sided affair.

While the BNP is the frontrunner to win the elections, it is clear that the Jamaat will continue to call the shots. Upon the insistence of the ISI, the Jamaat is hell bent on ensuring that Hasina is back in Bangladesh and tried. This serves as both an election issue and the Jamaat and ISI’s way of seeking revenge.

After all, both parties failed to lift their heads under Hasina’s regime in Bangladesh.

--IANS

vicky/dan