CONSPIRACY IN BANGLADESH AGAINST INDIA

Radicals spewing fire ahead of elections, openly expressing dreams of breaking India

- DR VIJAY DARDA

I have no hesitation in saying that extremist elements in Bangladesh are actively stoking anti-India hatred. Security threats against the Indian High Commission have become so serious that visa application centres had to be temporarily closed. In New Delhi, India summoned Bangladeshi High Commissioner M. Riaz Hamidullah and expressed its concerns in strong words. Yet Bangladesh's leader, Mohammed Yunus, appears intent on worsening the situation.

Yunus had announced elections for February but a prominent face in the movement against Sheikh Hasina, Sharif Usman Hadi, was shot dead by masked assailants. It is now being claimed that those who killed him, have fled to India. This allegation has been used by radicals to create an uproar. A Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, was also brutally beaten to death, his body hung from a tree and set on fire. Yet, no action has been taken by Mohammed Yunus so far. The offices of two newspapers which raised their voice against radicalism - ‘Prothom Alo’ and ‘The Daily Star’ - were set ablaze. Silence in this matter is also shrouded in suspicion. Both newspapers have been branded as ‘pro-India’.