There is some speculation that Dhaka may, in fact, have been stung by Bhutan's year-end crackdown onanti-India separatist camps on its territory, a move for which the Royal Government in Thimphu has receivedwidespread appreciation from nations in the forefront of the global war on terror. But any actions that Dhakamay be initiating, do not appear to have been triggered off simply because another South Asian neighbour hasshown the way by launching an assault on anti-India rebels in the Kingdom, or because New Delhi has beenpersistent in its claim that an increasing number of camps of Indian insurgents are located inside Bangladesh.It is, rather, the rising pressure of international opinion that is forcing a reassessment in Dhaka.
The publication in part, on December 10, 2003, of a report on Bangladesh, prepared by the Canadian SecurityIntelligence Service (CSIS), and an advisory issued by the US State Department to its citizens and officialsposted at or visiting Bangladesh, have been particularly embarrassing for Dhaka. The CSIS report prepared inDecember 2003, said that the Bangladesh Government was not taking enough measures to prevent the country frombecoming a haven for Islamist terror groups in South Asia. The report expressed concern over the activities ofterrorists suspected to be connected with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. The CSIS report added that Dhakawas not willing to crack down on terror, and expressed fear of dangers to Canadian aid workers in Bangladesh.Significantly, the report also said, there have been a number of serious terrorist attacks on cultural groupsand recreational facilities in Bangladesh, but Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)has been blaming the opposition party (the Awami League of former Premier Sheikh Hasina) for such criminalactivities as a matter of routine, rather than zeroing in on the real people or group behind such acts ofviolence.
Dhaka has rejected the observations made in the CSIS report and has been consistently denying that Bangladeshhas become the latest hub of Islamist terror groups, including the AlQaeda. The fact remains, however, that a local terror group, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Bangladesh (HUJI-BD),led by Shauqat Osman, with the avowed objective of establishing 'Islamic rule' in Bangladesh, is indeed activein the country. Western media reports suggest this group has an estimated 15,000 cadres.
With increasing international attention focused on terrorist and insurgent activities in Bangladesh, Dhaka'spast pretence is becoming progressively unsustainable. Nevertheless, the flow of insurgents from India to safehavens in Bangladesh continues. Indeed, with ULFA having lost its bases and once-secure staging areas insideBhutan, it is expected to turn to two obvious alternate locations, Myanmar and Bangladesh. But Yangon isalready supposed to have turned on the heat on Indian insurgents in the country, leaving Bangladesh the onlyplace that rebels like those of the ULFA have to hold on to. This , too, may not be easy anymore. Dhaka mightcontinue to push ahead with its stand that no Indian insurgents are located or operating from the country, butmay have to move as quietly as possible to neutralize these rebels and choke them off within its territory toescape a possible foolproof indictment by the international community as a nation that has not done enough tocombat terror.