“I would appeal to all citizens of West Bengal to maintain peace and avoid all forms of provocation. I appeal to people of all communities with folded hands to remain calm and not engage in any communal behavior or take the law into their own hands,” she said. She also urged the leaders to not comment anything on social media regarding the Bangladesh situation which may disrupt peace in the state. However, the state itself has been acting against the Bangladesh government which recently got uprooted.
One of the murderers of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been hiding in India’s West Bengal for 22 years before his arrest in the year 2020. The accused, identified as Abdul Majed, had possessed fake Indian documents and had been hiding in West Bengal’s capital city, Kolkata. Majed also confessed during his arrest that he had been hiding in West Bengal, however, he failed to provide details about his activities in hiding.
Majed, a former Bangladeshi military officer, was arrested in April 2020 after he moved to Bangladesh’s Dhaka during the COVID-19 pandemic. His arrest was welcomed by many national leaders who termed Majed’s arrest as the biggest gift to Bangladesh during that period. The accused, one of 15 awarded the death penalty by the Dhaka sessions judge’s court, was executed on 12th April 2020.
Targeted killing of Sheikh Mujibar Rahman and Bangladesh Awami League leaders
In the year 1975, Majed and other Bangladeshi military officers looted weapons from the Bengal Lancers armory after which around 21 members of Sheikh Mujibar Rahman’s party were killed by them. Only two members of Rahman’s family survived, daughter Sheikh Hasina, the recently ousted PM, and her sister Sheikh Rehana, who were in Germany at that time.
After the assassination, Majed and his associates then formed the government and decided to carry out the targeted killing of around 4 national leaders of the Bangladesh Awami League. In 1998, a Dhaka session judge’s court convicted 15 persons and sentenced them to death in the case of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 2001, the High Court acquitted three but affirmed the death sentences of twelve. In 2010, five persons who admitted to taking part in Rahman’s assassination were executed. Another man died of natural causes in Zimbabwe, leaving six, including Majed. Majed was executed on 12th April 2020 days after his arrest.
Majed is believed to have fled to West Bengal after Sheikh Hasina was elected as the prime minister of Bangladesh. Since then, he was residing in Kolkata using fake Indian identity documents.
Apart from Majed, two other assassins fled from Bangladesh. One identified as Noor Chowdhury fled to Canada and one Rashed Chowdhury went to the United States. Both were most wanted in Bangladesh and justice still awaits them.
As per Padma Shri Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Qazi Sajjad Ali Zahir, a decorated officer who served in the Bangladeshi Army, Sheikh Hasina, when in power, made all the efforts through requests, diplomatic channels, and meetings at the highest level to appeal to Canada and the US for their extradition, but the governments continue to shield the duo.
West Bengal: Safe den for Bangladeshi criminals
While it can be said that Canada is a haven for terrorists, murderers, and other such criminals for whom justice is waiting in their home country, the state of West Bengal has also become a den for criminals from Bangladesh. Many of the criminals who are most wanted in Bangladesh come and take refuge in the state of West Bengal.
In the year 2007, around 8 Bangladeshi criminals most wanted in their country were arrested by CID from West Bengal. These included murderers, rapists, smugglers, and even local criminals. One of these was Harris Ahmed who was wanted in 40 murder cases and dozens of extortion cases in Bangladesh. He had been hiding in West Bengal using fake identity documents and ran a garment shop during the period. Moreover, he continued to run his extortion business over the phone from Bengal.
Tanvir-ul Islam aka Joy was also arrested from North 24-Parganas in 2007. He was wanted in Bangladesh for the 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka that killed 24 people, including two Awami leaders.
Further, recently in the year 2023, it had come to the fore that Bangladesh Awami League MP Anwarul Azim Anar’s murderer, Howladar had been hiding in West Bengal’s Kolkata since the incident in March 2023.
As per the authorities, several criminals infiltrate Bengal and settle in the state using fake identity documents. They obtain fake documents by using their connections to local political leaders within the state. They set up their businesses, at times marry Indian women, and start living normal lives. However, they continue to commit crimes like human trafficking, smuggling, etc across the border. The pattern was exposed in the year 2007 after which the Bangladesh government and the Indian government began cracking down on the criminals and illegal infiltrators.
The CBI later revealed that Bangladeshi criminals having political implications in Dhaka were usually found to have been hiding in West Bengal.
Apart from this, for the past twenty years, crime syndicates in Bengal have been employing Bangladeshi criminals, with this trend escalating in recent years. These hired criminals from Bangladesh have been involved in serious offenses such as kidnappings for ransom and murders over the past few years. Few have been apprehended because they conceal their identities, even from the crime lords in Bengal who hire them, and flee to Bangladesh after committing the crimes. Due to their unknown identities, Bangladeshi police too have at times faced significant challenges in tracking and arresting them.
Bangladeshi criminals target villages along the border
India, taking cognizance of the situation has increased the deployment of the Border Security Forces (BSF) in the suspected areas. The reason behind such deployment is to stop illegal infiltration into the country. However, officers deployed at South Bengal Frontier Headquarters in Kolkata confirm that criminals at times cut the fences use bamboo poles to vault over the fence, and enter or exit India.
“Many portions of the border like the riverine areas are unfenced and it is humanly impossible to keep watch 24×7 on every inch of such unfenced portions of the border. Also, at times, the criminals cut through the fence or use bamboo poles to vault over the fence and enter or exit India. We manage to catch some and hand them over to the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), but most manage to evade our vigil,” the BSF officer was quoted as saying to Swarajya Mag.
“They assume fake names when they come in. And once they return to their side of the border, they simply cannot be traced. They are also more fearless and display a lot of daring, perhaps because they are more desperate. The Bangladeshi criminals are also more experienced in robberies and dacoities and that expertise comes in handy here,” he adds.
These criminals target the villages along the border, rob them, and also harass them. There have been reports stating that Hindus along the border are also deliberately targeted by such criminals. The West Bengal Police however for years have possibly failed to curb the menace causing alleged trouble for the residents along the border. The local political party in the state has failed to take action against such criminals as a part of its Muslim appeasement policy. Instead, many local party leaders have been providing fake identity documents to criminals.
With the current situation in Bangladesh, the fear of increased Bangladeshi infiltration cannot be denied. The threat is expected to escalate, with security experts cautioning that it is only a matter of time. The state along with appealing for peace should concentrate on taking measures to reduce the threat of possible increased illegal infiltration. If not, Indians residing along the border might have to face the consequences, and the currently ruling Indian government would not tolerate that.
