Preliminary interrogation of the ‘rebels’ has brought to light a Pakistani link. It also showed up the hand of Opposition and the involvement of Islamists, who are unreconciled to the victory of Sheikh Hasina at the hustings two months back. And feel threatened by her plans to set up a tribunal to try the collaborators with Pak army during the Independence War in 1971. BNP and Islamists are also gunning for army chief Moeen.Army vehicles entering BDR complex to quell mutiny
‘Evidence in government hands indicate that outsiders are involved in the carnage’, Syed Ashraful Islam, the Minister for Local Government said after a cabinet meeting. He added that it was a ‘well orchestrated plan to kill the valiant sons of the country’.
The name that is being talked about is Salauddin Qadeer Chowdhury, a shipping magnate and a close confidant of BNP supremo Begum Khaleda Zia. His family has been close to the Pak Army and ISI for decades. Both are known to have strong influence over the 67000- men strong BDR, which is the successor to East Pakistan Rifles. About one crore taka (Bangladesh currency) had been pumped in to help the aborted mutiny and all this money changed hands through Salauddin, it is said.
Salauddin and his son played a prominent role in the ISI plan to float TV channel in the run upto the recent parliamentary election. Helped and guided by their ‘ISI friends’ in the Gulf, the father-son duo had floated a couple of front companies to run a TV channel. They secured a TV license and ran the channel for a few days but the plan came to a naught as the army backed caretaker government scuttled the venture despite the channel’s best efforts to be on the right side of the army. The channel was set up to promote the electoral fortunes of Begum Khaleda, who was seen by the promoters as the protector and preserver of their interests. .
Salauddin Qadeer’s name had also cropped up in connection with the Chittagong arms drop case of April 2004. The arms were intended for ULFA. And were transported to the Chittagong port in the ships of Salauddin
.
The brutality of the killing and the way the bodies were mutilated are seen as the give away to the hand of Islamists led by Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-ud-Mujahideen Bangladesh. The Islamists have infiltrated the lower rungs of Bangladesh Rifles to facilitate two-way movement of Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Pak based Islamists into and from India.
