CM's theory denounced in Dhaka
People realise who's aiding terror: Minister
A Bangladesh minister today told The Telegraph that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's claim linking the Burdwan blast with RAW had not cut much ice with his country.
"Amader desh-er lok bujhe gechhe je Mamata Banerjee jangi-der sahajyo korchhe, (The people of our country have realised that Mamata Banerjee is helping terrorists)," Asaduzzaman Khan, junior home minister in the Sheikh Hasina government, said over the phone from Dhaka.
He was responding to a question whether people in Bangladesh had found merit in Mamata's statement on Saturday that "the Centre may have used the RAW to plant the bomb (in Burdwan)".
Yesterday, Trinamul had also pointed fingers at the Indian national security adviser and the RSS — an allegation with which few Bengal ministers wanted to associate themselves on record today.
More than 10 people have been arrested from India and Bangladesh in connection with the blast. The chief minister's response has spread concern that the accused might cite the well documented statements of Mamata and her party to claim with added vigour that they had been framed.
Lawyers said such claims might not make much difference in the absence of evidence but some pointed out that an allegation of foul play, levelled by a chief minister, would send conflicting signals to security agencies tracking terror outfits.
All those arrested have been charged with waging war against the nation and collecting weapons to wage war against the nation. "They have not got lawyers yet to plead their case"¦. When their case comes up, they may use the comment of the chief minister to their advantage," a National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigator said.
Bangladesh has particular interest in the case because the Burdwan module has been accused of plotting an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Premier Begum Khaleda Zia.
The chief minister's allegation has come in the middle of a Bangladesh visit by a team from the NIA, which has been asked to probe the Burdwan blast despite the Mamata government's reservations.
It is not clear how the NIA sleuths coped with the discovery that their own government was being accused of hatching a plot whose trail they had been chasing across the border.
"An NIA team is here now and we have arrested some people based on information provided by them. Soon, intelligence teams from our country will visit India in connection with the investigation of the case," Khan said. "Cooperation between the two countries is important to rid the subcontinent of terror outfits like the JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, the prime suspect in the blast)."
The JMB had been banned in Bangladesh after it detonated nearly 500 bombs almost simultaneously on a single day in 2005 across the country.
After levelling the grave charge against central agencies, neither Mamata nor Derek O'Brien, Trinamul's national spokesperson who had issued yesterday's statement that listed three specific charges, has yet furnished proof to back up the allegations.
"For this irresponsible statement, she should be prosecuted on the charge of waging war against the nation. If she had proof that RAW was behind the blast, why didn't she lodge any complaint with the Centre?" asked lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya.
Asked about proof, O'Brien said today: "I do not speak to The Telegraph."
When a senior Trinamul minister was asked the same question, the veteran replied: "I have not issued the statement. So you better ask for proof from the person who issued the statement. I won't be responsible for someone else's statement."
Some analysts in Bangladesh said they were worried about the politicisation of an issue that was of extreme importance to Bangladesh's internal security.
"The matter is serious for us. We don't want an issue like this to become hostage to domestic politics in India, and us to become more vulnerable to terror outfits," said Debapriya Bhattacharya, fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka-based think tank.
"Such a comment by the chief minister of an Indian state will strengthen the hard-line forces in our country and will compromise our national security," said Maj. Gen. (retired) Abdul Rashid, who is attached to the Institute of Conflict, Law and Development Studies, another Dhaka-based think tank.
The opinion was echoed in India, too.
"Her statement should be condemned. Such irresponsible loose talk is going to have far-reaching consequences as it will contribute to deepen rage, prompting youths to join terror outfits"¦. At the same time, people can use her political statement to ignite communal tensions in West Bengal," said Ved Marwah, onetime National Security Guard director-general.
Marwah, a former Bengal-cadre IPS officer, said the central agencies were under immense pressure to tackle the terrorism threat as eastern India was fast emerging as a terror hub with links in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar.
"But Mamata Banerjee is more interested in playing vote-bank politics to remain in power. It's a strategy of political parties in our country to play politics over terrorism. The grave issue becomes a football between two political opponents and it happens only in India," he said.
"The statement of the chief minister is incorrect and it is a loose statement," said Justice Ajit Kumar Sinha, a former Jharkhand High Court judge and now a senior lawyer in the Supreme Court.
Sinha said that although defence lawyers could always try to turn such statements to their advantage, it would not have any legal sanctity unless it was corroborated by evidence.
"The chief minister should not have made such a statement without producing any evidence," Sinha added.
Bishwajit Bhattacharya, a former additional-solicitor general, said: "The highest constitutional functionary should refrain from commenting upon matters concerning the security and the integrity of the country without being 100 per cent sure of the facts and consequences."
CM's theory denounced in Dhaka
