'Major US operation to oust Hasina' -
bdnews24.com
Indian intelligence officials say they have unravelled a US-funded move to topple Sheikh Hasina's government in Bangladesh and ‘weaken’ the Left regime in Tripura.
West Bengal's ruling party Trinamool Congress, which is said to have been hugely funded by the US in its oust-Left drive in West Bengal between 2009-2011, has transferred millions of dollars to its fundamentalist associates in Bangladesh, they claim.
A central intelligence report accessed by a bdnews24.com correspondent in India says Trinamool MP in Rajya Sabha Ahmed Hassan Imran and another Maulana Asif Khan (originally from Teknaf) have been sending huge amounts of money to the Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP over the past six months.
"The whole idea is to foment unrest on a large scale that would involve killing of Awami League leaders and activists and public disorder," said a top central intelligence official.
The BNP and Jamaat leaders have been meting out those threats and pushing for a fresh election, almost in tandem with the US.
Pakistani agencies are also involved, the source claims.
The officials say Trinamool MP Moon Moon Sen has close contacts with Imran Khan who is now out to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a recent visit of the Pakistani high commissioner to Kolkata was arranged through the Imran-Moon Moon liaison.
A large team of Kolkata-based journalists was then taken to Pakistan after the Pakistani High Commissioner met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and sought her support to open a deputy high commission in Kolkata to facilitate Pakistani visas to Muslims in the city.
Indian intelligence officials are opposed to the proposal and somewhat amazed at the ‘bonhomie’ between the Pakistani diplomats and Mamata Banerjee who seems to be going out of her way to secure the Urdu-speaking Muslim vote.
The Bengali Muslims have largely voted for Congress and CPI(M) even in the 2014 parliament polls which the Trinamool swept in West Bengal.
Kolkata has a huge population of Urdu-speaking Muslims who usually support fundamentalists and take part against anti-Bangladesh tirades as witnessed in their rallies against the war crimes trials in Bangladesh, which has great support in West Bengal amongst Bengali Hindus and Muslims alike.
One source points out that a leading Indian editor belonging to this community, who has recently joined the BJP, is now in Dhaka to 'liaise' closely with the BNP.
One businessman from the community is helping him set up links between the BJP and the BNP. This businessman claims he works for RAW.
But many senior BJP leaders are upset at the activity of this editor and author because they say he is actually lobbying for the BNP in his own party circles.
"Prime Minister Modi is keen to deal with the present government but this Muslim editor-journalist seems to have taken it upon himself to forge strong BNP-BJP ties," said a top Bengal BJP leader.
The central intelligence report says that Ahmed Hassan Imran, who was nominated to Rajya Sabha by none other than Mamata Banerjee, was actually a senior office bearer of the now-banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
It provides details of its links with Muslim terror outfits and how he has been moving funds across the border.
Imran was a correspondent of the Jamaat's mouthpiece Naya Diganta and enjoys close personal relations with leaders like Motiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Mir Quasem Ali, all of whom are up in the dock on the war crimes trials.
Pakistan is strongly lobbying with other powerful Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia to force the Bangladesh government to stop the war crimes trials, say Indian intelligence officials.
Their report says that the US is backing the Jamaat-BNP combine because it has been promised a base in the Bay of Bengal in case they come to power, possibly in the Saint Martin’s Island.
According to these officials, senior US officials have been meeting BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman now in exile in London.
The US is keen on this base to oversee the Chinese-developed port facility at Kyaukpyu in Myanmar's Rakhine province and the proposed Sonadia deep-sea port in Bangladesh.
The intelligence report says that the US is not only keen to bring down Sheikh Hasina government but also cripple the Left regime in Tripura with the ultimate purpose of ousting it in an operation akin to West Bengal in 2011.
