Bangladesh: Indian Media Missing The Wood For Trees – OpEd

The Indian media is flush with stories suggesting that the Bangladesh Army Chief Gen Waker-uz-Zaman survived a ‘coup’ attempt with help from Indian agencies who reportedly alerted him about the sinister conspiracy led by a “pro-Pakistani” lieutenant general.

Some reports suggest lieutenant general Faizur Rahman has been subsequently interned in the Dhaka cantonment and will soon be charged along with his co-conspirators. 

One report even went to the extent of saying that “India has communicated to Gen Waker that while he should not let down his guard, disciplinary action against Lt Gen Rahman should be fast-tracked so that other officers are discouraged from embarking on a similar misadventure.” (https://www.google.com/amp/s/swarajyamag.com/amp/story/world%252Findia-helped-bangladesh-army-chief-thwart-a-coup-attempt-by-pro-pak-islamist-generals-full-story-here)

This writer fact-checked with a top source in Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence ( NSI) about Lt Gen Faizur Rahman’s movements in the last few days. The NSI officer, who heads a cell tasked to monitor developments in the Bangladesh Army said Lt Gen Faizur Rahman is “moving around as freely as ever.”

He said that on Thursday, Lt Gen Faizur, now the Quarter-Master General ( QMG) of Bangladesh Army, visited his father-in-law’s house in Dhaka’s Uttara locality from his own place for iftar in the evening. “That does not get to happen if he is under confinement,” the NSI officer said. Faizur’s father-in-law is a senior leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and the QMG has met with visiting Pakistan army officials in recent months. But the NSI official, who cannot be named because he is not authorised to speak to media, said Lt Gen Faizur has “very good working relations” with the Army chief and stories about him mobilising half a dozen division commanders to bring down the chief was “pure fiction.” 

Another former Bangladesh counter-terrorism official, now living abroad for fear of persecution by the Yunus regime, ruled out the reports of “coup attempts.” 

“If so many formation commanders were in favour of Faizur and part of the conspiracy to bring down the Chief, Gen Wakar would not have survived. Specially if such an attempt had the blessings of the Yunus regime and the student leaders, as has been reported,” said this official in an interaction with this reporter. But he cannot be named or his location divulged because the Yunus regime is gunning for him and has framed him in several cases.

Another senior former Bangladesh army officer, a contemporary of Gen Waker, told this writer that the army chief has, “played his cards judiciously with all factions inside and outside the army” and “his control on the army has not yet been jeopardised.”

“That is why he could freely go to Africa for so many days , as he did recently.” 

“Waker is more a politician than a soldier. It is true the present dispensation, specially the Islamist groups and the student leaders , may want him replaced by someone closer to their ideological moorings. But they have not been able to get very far,” he said.

A senior Indian external intelligence official also felt the stories about the coup attempt were “clearly over-hyped.” 

“If India had such a close relationship with Gen Waker, Delhi would have surely been able to use him more decisively last year and saved the Hasina regime from falling,” he said. The official, who has covered Bangladesh for many years, emphasized that no Indian intelligence agency was behind these “over-hyped” stories.

“Assuming for argument sake that Indian agencies helped Gen Waker out of a tight situation, the last thing these agencies would want is to publicise these details. Waker would be no value for India if he is seen in his own country as an Indian stooge,” the retired official said. 

All the more so because Gen Waker is distantly related to Sheikh Hasina and is seen as having helped her escape from Bangladesh.  He has been constantly attacked by pro-Yunus bloggers as an “Indian stooge” and a Hasina loyalist. 

The Indian media is also quoting “an aide of Sheikh Hasina” to suggest she will soon return home and will be reinstated as Prime Minister. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/sheikh-hasina-coming-back-as-pm-awami-league-leader-thanks-india-says-bangladesh-youth-made-mistake/amp_articleshow/118935951.cms)

Even her staunch supporters, mostly living in India, see such possibilities as “far-fetched” and find this “all will get well soon” pitch as disturbing and unrealistic.

The UN human rights chief Volker Turk has admitted in a BBC interview that the Bangladesh Army stayed away from repressive measures against the student agitation last July-August because it was threatened with denial of UN peacekeeping, which is popular in Bangladesh army.

That he said this a week before UN secretary general Antonio Guterres visited Bangladesh has been interpreted as a “fresh threat” to deter the army from trying to bring down the Yunus regime.

Guterres joining Yunus in a massive iftar party involving 100,000 Rohingya refugees has send home the message that the Nobel laureate continues to enjoy the blessings of the West and the UN, whose role in the regime change in Bangladesh last year is now evident.