BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has been accused before of connections with the Pakistani intelligence during the BNP government’s tenure from 2001 to 2006. Recent evidence suggests that he still maintains the link.
Bangladeshi counter intelligence investigations have revealed that in July this year, Tarique held a meeting with a man identified as Pakistan military agency Inter Services Intelligence’s (ISI) top official and number one policymaker, Javed Mehedi.
Records of conversations between BNP’s UAE unit chief Jakir Hossain and retired Pakistan army official Lt Col (retd) Shahid Mehmood Md Sharif, who is in fact ISI’s man in Dubai, show that they arranged a meeting between these two in Jeddah.
Bangladeshi intelligence launched an investigation into the matter after the leak of a seven-minute telephone conversation between senior BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Mehmood.
Mehmood and Jakir met in June, and the latter was briefed about an upcoming meeting between Jakir’s ‘boss’ and ISI’s ‘number one policymaker.’
Mehmood told Jakir he should tell his ‘boss’ the meeting was scheduled for the first week of July.
In a subsequent meeting he told Jakir the meeting would be held on July 4 at 4pm in Jeddah and Tarique Rahman’s attendance should be confirmed.
He also instructed that Tarique be told ‘to discuss everything’ with the Pakistani official, since he is the top decision-maker in the spy agency.
From several phone conversations between Jakir and Mehmood between July 4 and 8, it is clear that the meeting between Tarique and Javed Mehedi did take place.
In one phone cal Jakir described the meeting as a successful one.
These intelligence reports indicate that Tarique’s ISI connection is still running strong. The Dubai agent, Mehmood, is one of the means of communication between the two sides, but the conversations indicate there are other channels as well.
Mehmood is the man speaking to Khandaker Mosharraf on the phone. He maintains the link between leaders of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami and ISI policymaker Javed Mehedi.
