Rift in BNP over support to ULFA

GUWAHATI: The safe sanctuary providedby Bangladesh to Indian rebels, especially those belonging to the banned UnitedLiberation Front of Asom (ULFA), is believed to have stirred up a debate withinthat country’s ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).Alarm bellshave been set ringing among militant groups from the north-east followingreports about how a section of the party’s top leadership, led byBangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s son, Tariq Rehman, hadquestioned within BNP circles his uncle Syed Iskandir’s stand ofpatronising rebels from north- east India.Different rebel groups of theregion have bases in Bangladesh. Among these, ULFA perhaps has the strongestpresence there, with even shares in a number of money-spinning companies rangingfrom hotels to schools and poultry farms. In fact, a 1998 report by the Unionhome ministry, titled ‘‘Bleeding Assam: The Role of theULFA’’, had pinpointed how ULFA has begun business projects in notjust Dhaka, but also other Bangladeshi towns like Sylhet, Mymensingh andNarsingdi.Sources from across the border said that Tariq Rehman, believedto be the ‘‘rising star’’ in BNP circles who hadovertaken his till-recently all-powerful maternal uncle, Syed Iskandir, feelthat the economy of Bangladesh would receive a big boost if‘‘friendlier relations’’ were developed with India andthe militants holed up in that country extradited.‘‘Rehman isbacked by the powerful lobby of businessmen within the right-wing and normallyanti-India BNP, who believe that trade with India — more so, Assam, whichhas a long border with Bangladesh — would increase manifold with betterIndo-Bangla relations,’’ the sources said, adding that even foreignminister M. Morshed Khan belonged to the pro-India camp of theBNP.Interestingly, Syed Iskandir, a former army officer, reportedly enjoysa lot of clout within the DGFI (director-general of field intelligence),Bangladesh’s intelligence wing, which, in turn, is close not just to ULFA‘‘commander-in-chief’’ Paresh Barua, but alsoPakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.The only obstacle at thismoment seem to be a few Awami League leaders, accused of criminal activities inBangladesh and believed to be taking shelter inside India at thismoment.‘‘These include Joynal Hazari and Shamim Osman, formerAwami League MPs from Feni and Narayanganj, respectively. In fact, at a recentmeeting between officials of the two countries, the Bangladeshi side reiteratedits demand for handing over these Bangladeshi nationals when the Indian sideraised the issue of pushing back the north-eastern rebels,’’ thesources said. ‘‘There are chances of a trade-off if this is sortedout.’’The developments in Bangladesh come at a time when ULFAis already bogged down with reports of a strong disagreement between‘‘commander-in-chief’’ Barua and chairman AurobindoRajkhowa over the launching of a renewed offensive in Assam.Baruah’splan is reportedly at the behest of the ISI, which wants to create internaldisturbances in India in the event of a war with Pakistan, a situation verysimilar to ULFA taking the side of Pakistan during the Kargil war.However,Rajkhowa, citing shortage of funds and a scarcity of rice to feed the ULFAcadres holed up in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, had disagreed withBaruah’s stand. An angry Baruah is believed to have asked his‘‘deputy commander-in-chief’’, Raju Baruah, to confineRajkhowa for his ‘‘disobedience’’.