Fareena Arshad, the second secretary (political) in Pakistan High Commission, left Dhaka yesterday as Bangladesh asked the high commission informally to withdraw her.
“Two days back we asked the high commission to withdraw her, and they obliged,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry seeking anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media.
Airport immigration officer-in-charge, Shahidul Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune that Fareena had left the country around 1:35pm in a flight of the Pakistan International Airlines.
This is the second time this year Bangladesh asked the Pakistan High Commission to withdraw their officials.
In January, an official working at the high commission, Mohammad Mazhar Khan, was caught red handed with fake currency at Banani. He was asked to leave the country formally.
The controversy arose surrounding Arshad, who served Bangladesh for almost three years, when media reported about her alleged involvement with militants in Bangladesh.
Her involvement with militant organisations was reported in the media based on information given by Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) members. Later the high commission condemned local media reports as “utterly baseless.”
On November 29, the Detective Branch of police arrested four JMB members including a Pakistani national named Idris Sheikh from the capital. At that time, Monirul Islam, the joint commissioner of DB police, said that Idris had been spying in Bangladesh for a foreign intelligence agency for years.
Idris used to maintain communication with official of the agency with “spy mobile phone,” Monir told a press briefing following the arrests. Idris and the other arrestees Mogbul Sharif, Md Salam and Mostafa Zaman – all Bangladeshis – had been visiting and staying in Pakistan for years.
Soon after his arrest, Idris primarily informed about the diplomat’s name to the detectives and later told them about her keeping connection with the JMB men on behalf of the Pakistani intelligence agency.
Idris was earlier arrested by police’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion on May 1, 2011 with 47 passports.
After the latest arrest, detectives found in Idris’ mobile phone the number of Captain Ashim, an official of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. The DB officials also found evidence of conversation between Idris and Ashim, who used to work in Pakistan Airport.
Arshad’s name finally came clearly when Idris made confessional statement before a Dhaka court on December 6 in front of Metropolitan Magistrate Abdullah Al Masud.
According to court sources, Idris disclosed in the confessional statement that beside having a good communication with him, she once gave him a ride on her car from Baitul Mukarram to Fakirerpool and gave her Tk30,000. Besides, Idris had communicated with the diplomat several times over mobile phone between June and July this year.
Quoting the statement, a high official of DB police, requesting not to be named, mentioned that Idris, however, did not disclose clearly for which reason Arshad had given him the money. However, Idris give an idea, how, he got close to Arshad, the official told the Dhaka Tribune.
According to detectives, hailing from Bagerhat, Idris went to Pakistan first in 1985 through India. He also took part in election on behalf of Pak-Muslim Alliance once.
He was staying in Pakistan for a long period and visited the country for a number of times. According to his passport, he visited the country nearly 48 times in the last two years.
Idris married a Pakistani school teacher Shahnaj Begum in name and they have a son name Md Adil. Coming back to Bangladesh in 2000, he married another woman named Monowara Begum in Bagerhat. In the second married life, they have one son and two daughters. Idris started living in Dhaka in 2007 and was involved in cloth trading.
In 2012, Idris involved in air ticketing and visa processing business, where he met a Pakistani citizen name Kamal, through cloth trader Babul. Kamal later informed Idris that he is a member of the ISI, and before leaving the country, Kamal gave him the phone number of Arshad.
Since then, Idris was in touch with Arshad over different issues, according to the statement.
