Dhaka picked up Abu Hamza

JYOTI MALHOTRA

New Delhi, September 4, 2007 : The arrest, over the weekend, by Bangladesh’s army-backed government, of HUJI activist Abu Hamza, a close aide of the chief alleged suspect of the Hyderabad blasts Shahid Bilal, signals Dhaka’s keenness to maintain good relations with Delhi.

Highly placed sources from Bangladesh told `The Telegraph’ that the Bangladeshi intelligence agencies, upon watching the blasts in Hyderabad, decided to sweep their own underground for any clues to the blast.

This was done even without any formal communication from Delhi, requesting either information or action, the Bangladeshi sources said.

That is how the Bangladeshi operatives picked up Abu Hamza in Dhaka, after his connections with Shahid Bilal were confirmed.

It isn’t clear yet what the Bangladeshis are intending to do with Abu Hamza, whether they’re going to hand him to India or not.

But clearly, the Army-backed government of Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed, acutely sensitive about Indian allegations that Bangladesh remains a hotbed of cross-border terrorists, wants to send another signal to Delhi that he is keen on opening a new chapter in bilateral relations.

The arrest of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, coinciding with the arrest of Abu Hamza, is intended to send a second message : While Khaleda’s BNP government may have deliberately taken an anti-Indian position, the Army-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed today wants to break with the past.

In fact, Dhaka is believed to have kept Delhi completely updated about its plans, including warning Delhi about its intentions to arrest both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, even before the events took place.

The Army-backed government has insisted that it is only ``cleansing society’’, which is why both Khaleda Zia’s sons are also now in jail, accused of graft and money-laundering.

Hours after Khaleda moved to Dhaka jail, where she has former Bangladesh PM and Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina for company, Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission sued Hasina for taking Taka 3 crore as bribe.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh army chief Moeen U. Ahmed’s visit to India continues to be postponed, ostensibly because of the flood situation in that country, but also because he wants to remain closely in touch with developments at home.
Meanwhile, Delhi is keeping a close eye on the split in Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which took place hours before she was packed off to jail over the weekend.

Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, the sacked deputy leader of the BNP, is a former Communist and played an active role as a ``muktijodda’’ or ``freedom-fighter’’ in Bangladesh’s liberation war in 1981.

Bhuiyan has termed his sacking ``unconstitutional,’’ but Bangladeshi observers are already distinguishing between the ``old’’ and the ``new’’ BNP.
Ashraf Hossain, a BNP leader sacked along with Bhuiyan, told AFP that ``Our main crime was that we said we would resist dynastic politics. We wanted to get rid of the corrupt leaders within the party.’’
Both Khaleda and Hasina face at least seven years in jail if the evidence of graft is proved.
ENDS