Indian intelligence officials on Tuesday accused China and Pakistan of orchestrating the protests that drove Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh to resign and flee the country.
The objective, according to India’s accusations, was to replace Hasina with a regime that would be more friendly to the interests of Beijing and Islamabad.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina interacts with journalists in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Dec. 31, 2018. Protesters stormed Hasina’s official residence on August 5, 2024, as the leader’s whereabouts are unknown. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
The Times of India (TOI) quoted Indian officials who saw the “not-so-subtle hand of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of hardline Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh” in the protests.
Jamaat-e-Islami is a Muslim Brotherhood front whose name means “congregation of Islam.”
The party was banned after Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971 because its members were accused of collaborating with Pakistan and perpetrating atrocities against Bengali freedom fighters.
Jamaat-e-Islami remained active and influential in Pakistan, and was eventually able to return to Bangladeshi politics, only to be barred from electoral politics again in 2013 by the Election Committee of Bangladesh.
The second order was upheld by the appellate division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court in 2023 and, last Thursday, the administration of the now-departed Sheikh Hasina banned both Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing completely instead of just forbidding them to run in elections. The Ministry of Home Affairs invoked anti-terrorism laws to ban the Islamist party, blaming it for fomenting violence in the streets.
Men run past a shopping center which was set on fire by protesters during a rally against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government demanding justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Jamaat-e-Islami party head Ameer Shafiqur Rahman denied the terrorism accusations and called the ban on his organization unconstitutional.
“The government carried out massacres by party cadres and state law and order forces in the country to suppress the non-political movement of students. The country’s teachers, cultural personalities, journalists and people of different professions are protesting against this genocide of the government,” Rahman said last week.
Indian security officials told TOI that Jamaat-e-Islami received operational assistance from the ISI, Pakistan’s notorious spy agency, plus “substantial financial backing” from “Chinese entities operating in Pakistan.”
The Indian security apparatus said it has kept Jamaat-e-Islami, and especially its youth wing ICS, under surveillance for an “extended period” because of their “active involvement in anti-India activities, including the propagation of a jihadist agenda in Indian territories adjacent to Bangladesh.”
Indian officials said they have “visual evidence” of ICS youths undergoing paramilitary training in Afghanistan and Pakistan, facilitated by another Islamist terrorist organization supported by Pakistan, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
“The ultimate objective of Jamaat or ICS is to establish a Taliban-type government in Bangladesh, and the ISI has been assuring them of their support in achieving this goal,” an Indian official said.
According to these allegations, the ICS insurrection in Bangladesh was kicked into high gear because Hasina grew too friendly with India. China pitched in because it was not convinced Hasina could maintain her “balancing act” of maintaining good relations with both Beijing and its regional rivals in New Delhi.
“A government in Dhaka over which Pakistan has leverage will surely better serve Beijing’s interests,” said an Indian intelligence source. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh.
People participate in a protest march against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government, demanding justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
The Indian officials who spoke to TOI warned ICS has hoodwinked Westerners into accepting the overthrow of Hasina by manipulating the language of civil rights and democracy. Like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, they posed as plucky dissidents fighting to displace an oppressive government, but they plan on imposing a far more oppressive regime themselves if they gain power.
The Indians further cautioned that Jamaat-e-Islami has a disturbing amount of influence in the United States and Europe, especially the United Kingdom, as some of its leaders fled Bangladesh in the 1970s and spent decades building influence operations within Southeast Asian immigrant communities.
There are American counter-terrorism experts who agree with this assessment, pointing out that Jamaat-e-Islami has an ideology of Islamic conquest similar to the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, or the Islamic State, but has camouflaged itself by establishing charities and seemingly “moderate” political front organizations.
Writing at the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Glocal Cities president and political researcher Vas Shenoy supported the conclusions of Indian intelligence that China was directly involved in overthrowing Hasina.
Shenoy noted that Hasina paid a state visit to Beijing in July, only to cut it short and return home early because the Chinese gave her the “cold shoulder” and “dismissed” her. Shenoy took this as evidence that “China had concrete intelligence of an upcoming coup against her, or was directly involved in organizing it.”
“The history of united Bengal is peppered with army chiefs supporting foreign powers against their sovereign,” he noted.
Shenoy said China’s close alliance with Pakistan, and Beijing’s desire for greater influence in the Islamic world, made regime change in Bangladesh a logical move – and China has grown comfortable with using Islamists as its pawns.
People participate in a protest march against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government to demand justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
“Chinese engagement with Islamic extremism has increased lately. Be it coordinating with Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in Kashmir during its troop movements and skirmishes with India or recognizing the Taliban in order to suppress the ISIS-K and armed East Turkestan rebels, China has moved from engaging Muslim state actors to patronizing extremist non-state terrorist groups,” he argued.
The current situation in Bangladesh looks suspiciously like a military coup, although the new strongman, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, insisted he will only hold power until an “interim government” can be formed to “manage the nation.”
Zaman said his goal is to hold “free and fair elections” as soon as possible. Hasina’s last re-election in January was criticized by international observers due to street violence and a heavy crackdown on opposition politicians.
On Monday, before announcing Hasina’s resignation and flight from the country, Zaman met with political and civil society leaders – including Ameer Shafiqur Raman, the head of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Soon after that meeting, President Mohammed Shahbuddin announced that all protesters detained since July 1 would be released from jail, along with political opposition leaders and Jamaat-e-Islami members.
Raman expressed his support for Zaman’s stated plan to build an interim government, and also supported demands by student protesters to put economist Muhammad Yunus in charge of it.
“The students have declared Dr. Yunus as the chief adviser. If the nation gets on a better path, it will be the result of their sacrifice,” the Jamaat leader said.
Student protest leader Nahid Islam said on Tuesday morning that Yunus, who is “internationally renowned” and “has wide acceptability,” has agreed to take the position of chief adviser.
Yunus, 84, is an academic and entrepreneur who established the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh in 1983. Yunus and the bank were awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for working to “create economic and social development from below” by offering small “micro-credit” loans with favorable terms to poor people so they could launch their own enterprises.
Yunus has opened branches of Grameen Bank in other countries over the years, including one in China.