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Khaleda's son linked to Ulfa arms supply?
DHAKA/GUWAHATI/KOLKATA: Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's son, Tarique Rahman, was allegedly involved in an abortive smu-ggling of weapons, believed to be meant for Ulfa militants in Assam, the detained prime accused in Bangladesh's biggest arms haul case has revealed.
"Hafizur Rahman has confessed before the magistrate (of a Bangladeshi court) that he had met Tarique at Hawa Bhaban along with Ulfa leader Paresh Baruah on April 1, 2004," Bangladesh's state-run news agency BSS quoted a senior police official as saying.
Hafizur Rahman, the prime accused in Bangladesh's biggest arms haul case, has claimed that Khaleda Zia's son Tarique was involved in an abortive smuggling of weapons believed to be meant for Ulfa militants.
He admitted that some National Security Intelligence (NSI), Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Ltd (CUFCL) officials were involved in the attempt to smuggle 10 truck-loads of arms on April 2 in 2004, reported The Daily Star, an English daily published from Dhaka. At that time, the Khaleda Zia-headed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jaamat coalition had been in power in the neighbouring country.
The consignment (10 truckloads of weapons) was seized despite "efforts" from some influential quarters for its safe passage through Bangladesh's southeastern port city. But the case was shelved for years after the apparently "accidental" seizure.
Hafiz's confession in a 43-page statement came after he was interrogated in custody for three days, during which he told the court that he had escorted Baruah to Hawa Bhaban days ahead of offloading the consignment. "Paresh Baruah entered Hawa Bhaban leaving me outside at the entrance and had a meeting with Tarique Rahman," the official said quoting the statement.
Tarique, who is now the senior vice-chairman of BNP, faces a number of graft and criminal cases and is now in London. Party leaders said he was being treated there.
On the concluding day of a three-day remand, Hafiz agreed to confess before metropolitan magistrate Mahbubur Rahman, who recorded his confessional statements on Saturday.
Investigating officer Mohammad Moniruzzaman on Sunday said Hafiz's latest statement seemed to be a "major development" in the investigation process since a reinvestigation into the scam was ordered two years ago.
But officials familiar with the statement said Hafiz did not disclose the source of the weapon consignment as he was interrogated at the CID headquarters in Dhaka and rather most of the time he repeated the information confessed earlier during the two rounds of remands in custody.
The previous military-backed interim government had two years ago ordered the reinvestigation amid allegations that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the then administration under the BNP-led government to suppress facts.
Several senior officials were also quizzed. The latest development came a month after local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam alleged that Zia's past government had arranged a secret meeting of former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf with jailed Ulfa leader Anup Chetia in Dhaka while it was in power.
