Pakistani diplomats inciting terror elements in Bangladesh: minister

New Delhi: Pakistan’s diplomats from its Dhaka High Commission are routinely involved in inciting terror elements in Bangladesh, visiting Bangladesh information minister Hasanul Haq Inu told this newspaper in a startling revelation that bolsters India’s contention that Islamabad exports terror.

“We have thrown out many Pakistani diplomats in the past on charges of actively endangering Bangladesh’s internal peace and security. The  effort to foment terror is continuing. A couple of months back, we deported two more diplomats. They were about to be arrested for visiting wanted persons belonging to armed Islamic radical groups,” Mr Inu said, and added, “Actually there are too many incidents and evidences of the involvement of Pakistani diplomats in the covert operations of armed religious groups. It is happening on a regular basis so much so it is a big problem.”

“The Pakistanis want to wipe out the last leadership of the Liberation War,” said the socialist leader who fought the 1971 war as a Mukti Bahini guerrilla. The war freed Bangladesh, known as East Pakistan till 1971, from the yoke of Pakistan’s Punjabi-dominated state apparatus. Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) supported Pakistan against its own Bangla-speaking people.

"With Pakistan not changing its policy, for any armed incident in the country we put ISI and Pakistan in the suspects list along with the Jamaat (JeI),” Mr Inu said.

There are 63 people on the death row in Bangladesh for armed attacks and bomb blasts. “All these people were trained in camps in Afghanistan in the early 80s under the patronage of the ISI,” Mr Inu said. In India, the minister successfully concluded talks with the government to erect a four-tiered system to facilitate joint counter-terror operations.