[IMC-Editorial] Stop this carnard against Bangladesh

[Alochona eForce]

Daily Star Editorial

Stop this canard against Bangladesh
Terrorism will never find a place in our society

FIRST the Indian deputy prime minister, then Joyti Basu, then 
the Indian foreign minister, all these leaders depicted 
Bangladesh as a hotbed of terrorists. This was followed by a 
story in the Hindustan Times (HT) claiming that Osama Bin 
Laden's second in command, Ayman Al Zawahiri, is hiding in 
Bangladesh since September. The HT story further claimed that 
we have served Al Qaida in two ways -- first by giving shelter 
to many of their members including the number two of the 
organisation, and second by allowing Bangladesh to be used as a 
transit point for about 300-400 of its members from South East 
Asia returning to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The 
story is based on information supplied by Indian intelligence 
sources. India will make all this information available to 
Bangladesh soon, the report says. The question is why hasn't 
the Indian intelligence shared this invaluable information with 
us if they really wanted to stop this movement of terrorists 
and catch Ayman Al Zawahiri especially if he has been here 
since September. Instead the information is leaked to the media 
to gain a propaganda edge, which in reality may prove to be 
counterproductive.

We quote the HT story at some length to show what canard are 
being spread by the Indian agencies and being picked up both by 
the media and the political leaders. It is our view that all 
the recent statements of the Indian leaders are the product of 
the feed from the intelligence sources and the sudden rise in 
such stories is nothing short of a concerted plan to pressure 
Bangladesh to follow certain policies which we have so far 
refused to. Recently when the Kolkata police arrested two well 
known mobsters and let go seven others who were accompanying 
them, the local press there termed them as ISI agents or Al 
Qaida activists. 

What is interesting about the HT story is that it reproduces, 
almost to the very words, the same information carried in the 
earlier Time magazine story, which we have reasons to believe 
was also fed by Indian intelligence. Why a magazine like the 
Time should swallow such crude feed is a matter of curiosity. 
However, we have it from people who met the Time correspondent 
while he was investigating the story here that his mind was 
made up about what to write even before he arrived to look 
for 'facts'? 

We express out strongest resentment at the concerted maligning 
effort that is being made by Indian leaders and a section of 
the Indian media. We would like to assure India that we are 
genuine partners in fighting terror and we should be treated as 
such. One simple question veteran leaders like L.K. Advani, 
Joyti Basu and Jashwant Singh and the concerned section of the 
media are not asking is what has Bangladesh to gain by 
harbouring Al Qaida terrorists? What possible interest could we 
have in nurturing these elements whose culture and world view 
are the furthest from what Bangladesh stands for? What sort of 
society did the Al Qaida establish in Afganistan, and why on 
earth would we be attracted to that? Yes, we are a Muslim 
majority country and some among us may want to establish a 
society based on shariah law but that is not the view of vast 
majority. Then again that does not make us a fundamentalist 
country. The RSS, the group that murdered Mahatma and preaches 
Hindu supremacist rule is now a partner in the ruling 
coalition. If that does not make India a fundamentalist country 
then why should Jamaat sharing power in Bangladesh should make 
us so? However regrettable such power sharing is the outcome of 
coalition politics. It was our hope that the visiting leader of 
our opposition and former prime minister would have used her 
presence and influence to assuage the Indian fear and tried to 
dissuade them from carrying on the canard against us. Her 
comments, as carried by the Indian press, indicates that our 
hopes were in vain. 

The recent Indian attitude has surprised us to say the least. 
We are unable to understand as to what India hopes to gain from 
this propaganda against us. We are of the view that there has 
to be genuine collaboration between our two countries in 
fighting terrorism. Bangladesh truly wants a peaceful solution 
to all Indian problems in the northeast and we are willing to 
extend all help in this matter. If there are areas of 
dissatisfaction then let us discuss them and solve them to the 
mutual benefit of both.

SOURCE: http://dailystarnews.com/200211/29/n2112902.htm#BODY1



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