As Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina tendered her resignation on Monday and fled the country to save her life, Pakistani social media flooded with celebrations over the fall of a democratic and pro-New Delhi government in India’s neighbourhood. The development comes after violent rioters created a social unrest all across Bangladesh in which over 300 people lost their lives.
However, there is an uncanny nexus which reveals that the infamous Pakistani Intelligence Agency ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) played a covert hand in orchestrating and fueling anti-government unrest in Bangladesh and furthered the Hasina out campaign. The ISI played an active role in fomenting and fueling violent protests to create political tensions and instability in Bangladesh. In addition to the ISI, the major opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) and a few other key players also led the charge to topple democracy in their country.
Here is who the ISI executed the Hasina out campaign and how major players orchestrated this regime change operation in India’s neighbourhood –
Son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former PM Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman who serves as Chairman of BNP; a history sheeter who has served life sentences for masterminding grenade attacks on Sheikh Hasina
Businessman turned Politician, Tarique Rahman is the current acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and has been at the helm of affairs of the party since February 2018. Rahman is the eldest son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former Prime minister Khaleda Zia. He has been active in politics for a long time and became active in party affairs in early 2000s when his Mother was serving as the country’s Prime Minister.
He has a criminal record and was served life sentences earlier by the Bangladesh courts. In 2013, Rahman was acquitted in a money laundering case as a Dhaka court gave him relief. However, when the state appealed against the Dhaka court’s ruling, the High Court sentenced him to seven years in prison.
In February 2018, Rahman was served a 10 years jail term and his mother, Khaleda Zia was awarded five years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
On 21st October 2018, a special tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment charging him as the mastermind behind a dastardly grenade attack on a rally of the then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina on 21st August 2004. He was awarded a life sentence three times and 20 years imprisonment for two cases of murder and under sections of the Explosives Act.
On 4th February 2021, another Bangladeshi court sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a defamation case for making derogatory remarks against the Father of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In another case over default of payment, a court fined him Tk10,000, and awarded him six months in prison.
Bangladeshi media reports had earlier pointed out his links with the Pakistani ISI. It is being alleged that he orchestrated plans with ISI from his base in London. As Rahman is the current BNP chief, these ISI plans were executed in Bangladesh to create social unrest and materialise Hasina out campaign.
Bangladesh officials had earlier claimed they had evidence that he met ISI officials in Saudi Arabia, alluding to an active involvement of the ISI with the BNP leader.
Additionally, he actively posted through his social media handles to fuel the social unrest and instigate protesters even after the Supreme Court accepted the major demands put forth by the protesters initially. However, the orchestrated protests didn’t die down after their demands were fulfilled, alluding to a sinister ploy behind the protests which soon turned violent and started targeting the democratically elected government.
More than ever, it is now Sheikh Hasina versus Bangladesh, set against the bloody struggle between autocracy and democracy.
— Tarique Rahman (@trahmanbnp) August 4, 2024
While the regime continues to escalate its crackdown through genocide against student protesters and internet shutdown, the nation implores the… pic.twitter.com/XLOzQrzzCY
The quest for freedom and the aspiration for liberation have never been more pronounced in the history of Bangladesh. We're an aggrieved nation, transcending politics and policies, committed to ending Sheikh Hasina's dictatorship with unwavering struggle and sacrifice.… pic.twitter.com/XrYKZ7Ahwq
— Tarique Rahman (@trahmanbnp) August 2, 2024
Bangladesh is crippled by a media blackout, with intelligence agencies fully controlling TV channels and print media. Journalists are compelled to practice self-censorship, using state-approved content, while popular social networks are restricted with frequent internet… pic.twitter.com/FVaNdlUGJ2
— Tarique Rahman (@trahmanbnp) July 29, 2024
Another active player in this nexus that led the Hasina out campaign include Jamaat-e-Islami.
Jamaat-e-Islami
The Bangladesh government, through gazette notification, had banned ultra-Islamist and Pakistan-linked Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing Chhatra Shibir as terrorist organisations under section 18/1 of Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009.
الحمد لله وتهنئة للشعب بتحرير البلاد والعباد من قبضة الحكومة الدكتاتورية
— Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (@BJI_Official) August 5, 2024
دعوة للحفاظ على الأمن والنظام في البلاد
– الدكتور شفيق الرحمن
وشكر الله عز وجل أمير الجماعة الإسلامية البنغلاديشية الدكتور شفيق الرحمن على تحرير البلاد والعباد من يد الدكتاتور مقابل دماء مئات الشهداء،… pic.twitter.com/w2ueS3i3YP
Still, its student wing which is allegedly backed by Pakistan’s ISI incited violence in the name of student protest and provoked it to turn violent and direct it against the democratically elected government. It fuelled unrest by openly supporting anti-government protests and provoked the recent turmoil and challenged the authorities’ efforts to maintain stability.
It is an open secret that the Pakistan’s army and ISI had always wanted to destabilise Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government and ensure that opposition BNP comes back to power through protests and street violence.
Jamaat-e-Islami was founded by Muslim Brotherhood leader Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi with the notorious agenda of Islamic conquest and “bringing the world under the flag of Islam”.
A few years ago, the International Crimes Tribunals in Bangladesh described JeI’s role during the war of independence in 1971 as an active cohort of Pakistani occupation forces.
Meanwhile several OSINT handles operating from Pakistan, initiated and amplified fake news on social media platforms actively used in Bangladesh to provoke Bangladeshi citizens and create an anarchic situation. Additionally, Pakistan-based OSINT handles supported prominent anti-Bangladesh social media handles like @Revot_71, one of the most prominent handles that fueled protest and instigated Bangladeshis to carry out Hasina out campaign. This handle alone posted more than 500 provocative posts against the Sheikh Hasina Govt in the garb of recent ‘student protest’. This handle, @Revot_71, is withheld in India.
Incidentally, such Bangladeshi handles which led the charge to topple the democratic government, have linkages with Chinese followers (seemingly bot or deliberately created to fuel social unrest in Bangladesh) as well as suspicious followers from Middle East and other Islamic countries that have an adversarial view towards India.
