The Saradha Group of India extended considerable financial assistance to Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh to help the party create unrest when Sheikh Hasina’s government began trying its top leaders for war crimes, Kolkata’s Anandabazar Patrika reported on Friday quoting a Bangladeshi intelligence report.
The intelligence report accused Ahmed Hassan Imran, a parliamentarian of Trinamool Congress, of playing the key role in sending the money to Jamaat, and added that the Bangladeshi authorities had officially complained to the Indian government about this.
A whopping sum of money, the intelligence report said, had reached Jamaat and its associate bodies through Imran in 2012-13 and a big portion of it came from Saradha. Although Imran denied the charge, saying he had no connection with Jamaat, the Indian intelligence report also largely supported the allegation.
Apart from money, Imran had a hand in sending several shipments of firearms and explosives to Jamaat, the Bangladeshi intelligence report claimed.
How the money was sent
The Indian intelligence reported that a number of ambulances of Saradha Group carried bundles of Indian currency to Noida, Basirhat, Bangaon, Malda, Balurghat and Cooch Behar border areas. It was then converted to Bangladeshi taka, US dollars and euros before handing over to Jamaat agents.
The Indian intelligence agency has a letter written by suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh, in which he mentioned the use of ambulances of Saradha Group to hand over the money to Jamaat agents.
Apart from ambulance, the money was also sent through hundi and hawala.
The Bangladeshi intelligence report said Saradha Group anonymously invested in several hospitals, banks and financial institutions run by Jamaat, and money from the investment was also spent on Jamaat’s protests.
Fazle Hossain Badsha, a lawmaker from Rajshahi, told Anandabazar that Jamaat resorted to terror across Bangladesh in order to foil the war crimes trials. The party killed countless people by removing rail tracks and torching buses and trains.
“The common people, in addition to the administration, took to the streets to prevent Jamaat violence. We first suspected that the money, arms and explosives came from India as violence reached the peak in border areas like Rajshahi and Satkhira. The police and paramilitary officials later conducted drives in the areas and made numerous arrests. Intelligence officials then got the information from the arrestees,” he said.
Mustafa Lutfullah, a parliamentarian from Satkhira, told Anandabazar that Jamaat miscreants crossed the border and entered India in order to avoid being caught.
“We have precise information that the ruling party leaders there are arranging shelter for the fugitives. The fundamentalists have also received regular financial assistance from border points when they perpetrated violence,” he said.
How Trinamool and Jamaat helped each other
India's central intelligence report said some Urdu-speaking Trinamool Congress leaders developed very close relationship with Jamaat before the Vidhan Sabha elections in West Bengal. In the 2011 elections, Jamaat activists worked for Trinamool and the party also received Jamaat funding at the time.
Later on, Trinamool not only helped Jamaat in return for the assistance it received during the polls, but also attempted to put the Bangladeshi government in a predicament by suspending the Teesta accord and land boundary agreement.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the intelligence report claimed, had always said yes to those Urdu-speaking leaders regarding Bangladeshi policy.
The Anandabazar report quoted an anonymous Bangladeshi diplomat as saying that Dhaka's relation with Kolkata became as sour as it improved with Delhi during the term of Sheikh Hasina. The diplomat blamed Mamata's vehement opposition to the Teesta accord and the land boundary deal for that.
The diplomat claimed the pro-Jamaat leaders of Trinamool succeeded in influencing Mamata in this issue. These leaders have sheltered the fugitive Jamaat men, who came from Bangladesh, in Kolkata and other places in West Bengal for months.
The Bangladeshi government wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs in India informing it of the matter but still the Jamaat men are under shelter, the diplomat claimed, adding that these Jamaat activists worked for Trinamool in Panchayat elections and Lok Sabha polls.
Indian ruling party BJP has questioned Imran's role in the context of such activities as central BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said Mamata had negotiated with Jamaat before singling out Imran.
Describing Mamata's action as seditious, Siddharth said this was resulting in militants and miscreants crossing the border and posing a threat to people's lives.
