Joint Terrorism by India and the Awami League

At the direction of fugitive leaders of the banned Awami League, the party has once again launched arson attacks across the country in an attempt to secure their return to Bangladesh. Over the past few days, incidents of arson reminiscent of the party’s past activities have been reported in different parts of the country.

Several reports published in national newspapers yesterday said that terrorists from the banned Awami League and its affiliated organisations were attempting to create panic in 16 districts. The party is accused of trying to reimpose the authoritarian rule that it maintained over the country for a decade and a half.

In Faridpur, Awami League activists allegedly set fire to a bus, killing its driver, who was burned alive inside the vehicle. The incident appears to be an attempt to revive the party’s previous pattern of violence. Their alleged objective is to destabilise Bangladesh and disrupt its production, trade and economy.

During the previous Awami League regime, the ousted government repeatedly blamed opposition parties for arson attacks to suppress dissent and political movements. However, many of those incidents were allegedly acts of sabotage carried out by the Awami League itself to implicate opposition groups. In military terminology, such operations are known as false flag operations.

The Awami League has long been accused of carrying out such acts of sabotage. Since the July uprising, the party has repeatedly attempted to destabilise the country under different pretexts but has faced public resistance. After the establishment of a democratic government, it has reportedly renewed its activities. This time, it is allegedly using garment workers’ protests and calls for the supposed return of Sheikh Hasina as pretexts to carry out sabotage and arson attacks.

However, as these activities are reportedly being carried out with the support of identified Awami League activists in areas such as Gopalganj, those involved are being caught more easily. This has strengthened demands to identify fugitive Awami League terrorists, bring them to justice and ensure their punishment.

During the previous Awami League regime, the government used reports of arson attacks to justify excessive force against opposition leaders, activists and political movements. Yet most of those involved in such incidents were reportedly members of the Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League.

In 2004, when the Awami League was in opposition, the names of its leaders and activists emerged in connection with an incident in which 12 people were killed after a bus was set on fire with gunpowder in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area.

Later, on October 28, 2006, Sheikh Hasina allegedly directed the violent use of logi-baitha (poles and boat hooks) in Dhaka. Awami League activists went on a brutal rampage, beating people to death on the streets. This was followed by the establishment of the India-backed caretaker government during the 1/11 political crisis. The government, allegedly pursuing domestic and foreign secret agendas, brought Sheikh Hasina to power. Bangladesh’s democratic system once again came under authoritarian rule.

To prolong its one-party fascist rule for a decade and a half, Sheikh Hasina launched a sustained crackdown on opposition parties. The alleged use of arson attacks, which the party itself had orchestrated, became one of the main tools of repression.

The banned Awami League is now attempting to re-emerge with the same brutality associated with the logi-baitha violence. Newspaper reports recently said that Awami League activists who staged a blockade on the Padma Bridge were carrying cocktails, hand bombs and logi-baitha. The Awami League has increasingly become synonymous with terrorism, sabotage and anti-state activities. Despite being rejected by the people, the party is allegedly trying to assert its existence through violence, sabotage and killings, creating an atmosphere of fear.

Public support for the banned Awami League has fallen to its lowest level. Thousands of its leaders and activists, including top figures, have fled the country and taken shelter in India. Their alleged attempts to destabilise Bangladesh during the interim government, along with various threats and provocations from India, have turned them into enemies of the state and the people.

As the country begins moving towards stability and new opportunities under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Indian agents and Awami League terrorists are once again attempting to create unrest. Although the government, opposition parties and the public are united against these activities, the role of some key government officials has raised questions.

The role of the Home Ministry and law enforcement agencies in maintaining law and order and preventing sabotage has also come under scrutiny. How could the perpetrators carry out attacks openly in Dhaka and several other districts? The sources of funding and the people behind these activities are not difficult to identify. Yet why have law enforcement agencies failed to track them down?

Reports of attacks on 22 vehicles in 16 districts within the same period, cocktail explosions, the death of a bus driver, and blockades on major roads and the Padma Bridge have raised serious concerns. However, the Home Minister reportedly said, “A couple of cocktail explosions cannot be described as a deterioration in law and order.”

Instead of issuing a strong warning against terrorism and sabotage and declaring zero tolerance, the minister appeared to downplay the incidents as normal. This is deeply concerning. The alleged conspiracy is being coordinated from Delhi to destabilise Bangladesh. India has stopped the flow of water from the Teesta River, while the possibility of a Ganges water-sharing agreement in December has been thrown into uncertainty.

Water aggression against Bangladesh, increased activities of armed terrorists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts with alleged Indian backing, and arson attacks, cocktail explosions and other acts of sabotage across the country have raised concerns about what amounts to an undeclared war against Bangladesh by the Awami League and India.

However, the people of Bangladesh will collectively resist the activities of anti-state terrorists. Signs of such unity are already visible. Speeches by ruling and opposition party lawmakers in Parliament have reflected a shared commitment to resisting these threats. BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders and activists in Chittagong and other parts of the country have also called for public resistance against the banned Awami League’s alleged terrorist activities.

At a time when the war in the Middle East has put energy security, food security, investment and overseas employment at risk, the state must remain on the highest alert and take all necessary measures to prevent and eliminate any terrorist activities by the Awami League and Indian agents.