On Monday (5th August), the incumbent Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the immediate release of Begum Khaleda Zia, who had previously been jailed for embezzling $250,000 in donations meant for an orphanage.
The development came hours after Sheikh Hasina resigned as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and fled the capital city of Dhaka.
In a statement, Shahabuddin said, “(It was) decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately…The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests.”
#BREAKING: Begum Khaleda Zia released by a Presidential decree in Bangladesh. She is the former Prime Ministwr of Bangladesh and Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). pic.twitter.com/rCMeGsDoFx
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) August 5, 2024
While it was not immediately clear whether Khaleda Zia would head the ‘interim government’, the increased role of the radical Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in the context of Bangladesh’s politics became imminent.
When the Chief of Army Staff Waker-uz-Zaman addressed the nation on Monday evening, he made it clear that he has been in consultation with both JeI and BNP leaders and was yet to ‘talk to student activists’ (who spearheaded the protests against Sheikh Hasina).
OpIndia had previously reported how Islamists had infiltrated the anti-government protests and are now eyeing to turn the country bankrupt.
Insurgency in North-eastern India, ISI’s role and BNP’s support
The decision to free Begum Khaleda Zia, the Chairperson of the BNP since 1984, has brought back dark memories of the Indian subcontinent.
Under her Prime Ministership, there was severe mushrooming of radical Islamic outfits in Bangladesh, increased infiltration in India’s North-east region and systematic persecution of the Hindu community.
In March 1997, Khaleda Zia had expressed open support for insurgents in India’s North East by labelling them as ‘freedom fighters.’
During a public meeting in the Feni district of Bangladesh, she said, “They are fighting for independence. We also fought for it, so we are always in favour of any independence movement.”
She also made it clear that Bangladesh would not use its army against the insurgency in the seven North-Eastern States. Her stance was reiterated by BNP’s secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuyian.
Khaleda Zia lamented that Sheikh Hasina was not allowing insurgents easy transit to India through Bangladesh. It is interesting to note that BNP came to power
According to reports, insurgent outfits such as the Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), All Tripura Tigers Force (ATTF) or National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) received arms training in Bangladesh under the supervision of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
“ISI exerts on north-east militant groups. This effort has been greatly boosted with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) assuming power in Dhaka in 2001. Dominated by policy-makers who advocate an anti-India line, Khaleda Zia’s government has been a silent abettor of the ULFA-NDFB-ATTF-NLFT-ISI nexus,” wrote leading strategic analyst Nitin A Gokhale in August 2005.
BNP has been vocal about its anti-India stance. Until recently, it was urging its party members and radical Islamists in Bangladesh to boycott Indian products.
How AFP’s fact-checker Shihsir spreading disinformation in the name of fact-checking for Facebook – AFP
— Bangladesh Perspectives (@bdperspectives) March 20, 2024
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When mainstream media outlets exposed #BNP hand behind #India drive out campaign in #Bangladesh, one so called @AFP #Factcheker for facebook wrote a column… pic.twitter.com/iQlKXRzM7C
The ‘India Out’ campaign in Bangladesh, modelled along the lines of Maldives, was supported by BNP’s senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. However, the anti-India propaganda was short-lived due to the efforts by the Sheikh Hasina government to curb it.
Imtiaz Ahmed, a political science professor at Dhaka University told Frontline magazine, “It is mainly being driven by the Bangladeshi diaspora who are either BNP members or closely associated with the party.”
Anti-Hindu stance and targeting of the community
Begum Khaleda Zia had spread canards against the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh time and again to keep Muslim hardliners on her side.
She had once infamously claimed in 1996 that if the Awami League came to power, Azaan (Muslim call to prayer) would be replaced by Shankhadhoni (blowing of conch shells by Hindus).
It must be mentioned that the BNP was in power when Islamists went on a carnage to avenge the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya.
On 6th December 1992, a strong mob of 5000 Muslim men, armed with bamboo sticks and roads, tried to storm a cricket match played between India and Bangladesh at the Dhaka National Stadium.
Their attempts were foiled by the police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the frenzied mob. As per a report by United Press International, a mob of 1000 Muslim men barged into the Hindu Shiva temple in Thatari Bazar district of Dhaka and razed it to the ground.
Islamists also attacked a Hindu temple in the Narinda district and gravely injured an 88-year-old Hin du priest in a bomb attack. Muslim mob also tried to break into the Dhakeswari Mandir in Dhaka.
They also looted shops belonging to the Hindus and smashed the cars of the minority community with sticks and iron bars.
According to the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM), the pogrom was executed by the radical Islamist outfit Jamat-i-Islami which was an alliance partner of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The riots were not spontaneous but rather well-planned. An estimated 2400 Hindu women were gang raped, and 3500 temples and religious establishments were destroyed by frenzied Muslim mobs.
Over 28000 homes and 2500 commercial buildings belonging to the Hindu community were razed. An estimated 700 Hindus were killed in the carnage. The numbers were conservative as acknowledged by several prominent politicians at that time.
Role of BNP in the infamous 2001 and 2014 anti-Hindu riots
In 2001, about 25000 Islamists including 25 MPs and Ministers of BNP carried out targeted attacks on the Hindu community.
“Hindu leaders said there were a series of attacks against them, including murder, looting and rape which began as the results were announced. They said Islamist parties and the BNP targeted them because they supported the rival Awami League political party in those elections,” a report by BBC stated.
Many Bangladeshi Hindus were forced to flee the country after the planned carnage. In 2014, BNP members and Jamaat-e-Islami thugs carried out 160 attacks on the Hindu community.
