youngindian
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 1,365
- Likes
- 77
DHAKA, Bangladesh - Reports are circulating that the recent arrests of foreign terrorists in Bangladesh have revealed the depth of a terror network inside Bangladesh, which is sponsored by the Pakistani secret service, the ISI. These reports suggest that the ISI controls terrorist operations inside Bangladesh via its client operation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group that was also responsible for the attack on Mumbai in India and has been implicated in the mutiny of the Bangladesh Rifles.
Other reports suggest that Lashkar-e-Taiba were also involved in several assassination attempts against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, including the August 21, 2004, grenade attack that killed the current President's wife, Ivy Rahman, a prominent Awami League politician in her own right.
The news that the government has instructed its anti-terrorist joint task force to go after these terrorist groups and their sponsors is startling. Until quite recently, it was assumed that the ISI was receiving tacit support from Bangladeshi authorities who were accused of allowing the groups to use Bangladesh as a staging post for attacks on India. These accounts, which date from 2004, now seem to be both greatly exaggerated and distorted. It appears true that ISI plans for a sovereign Islamic state in India's northeast did receive support from fundamentalist elements within the Bangladesh government, Army, bureaucracy, and intelligence, but this now appears to be more a result of infiltration than policy.
The current effort to root out and destroy the ISI-backed terrorist groups in Bangladesh may also be the result of the recent overwhelming election victory of the largely secular Awami League party. The Awami League had long been a preferred target for ISI-backed terrorists who prefer the more Islamist orientation of the rival BNP.
Forecast International
Other reports suggest that Lashkar-e-Taiba were also involved in several assassination attempts against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, including the August 21, 2004, grenade attack that killed the current President's wife, Ivy Rahman, a prominent Awami League politician in her own right.
The news that the government has instructed its anti-terrorist joint task force to go after these terrorist groups and their sponsors is startling. Until quite recently, it was assumed that the ISI was receiving tacit support from Bangladeshi authorities who were accused of allowing the groups to use Bangladesh as a staging post for attacks on India. These accounts, which date from 2004, now seem to be both greatly exaggerated and distorted. It appears true that ISI plans for a sovereign Islamic state in India's northeast did receive support from fundamentalist elements within the Bangladesh government, Army, bureaucracy, and intelligence, but this now appears to be more a result of infiltration than policy.
The current effort to root out and destroy the ISI-backed terrorist groups in Bangladesh may also be the result of the recent overwhelming election victory of the largely secular Awami League party. The Awami League had long been a preferred target for ISI-backed terrorists who prefer the more Islamist orientation of the rival BNP.
Forecast International
