South Asia Terrorism Portal
Mystery Killings in Dhaka Ajai Sahni Editor, SAIR; Executive Director, Institute for Conflict Management Once again, news that otherwise has serious ramifications for Indo-Bangladesh trans-border terror politics, has come to be hotly contested by authorities in Dhaka. On the night of July 17, 2004, there were multiple attacks by unidentified gunmen in Dhaka's Segun Bagicha, Dhanmondi and Shyamali localities, in which an indefinite number, reportedly up to 24, separatist militants from Northeast India were killed and several others wounded. News about this incident originated from Guwahati and Agartala, capitals of the Northeast Indian States of Assam and Tripura respectively, citing senior police and intelligence sources. The incidents themselves had been confirmed - though fatalities reported were much lower - in initial reports by Bangladeshi newspapers including Inquilab, Daily Ittefaq, Janakantha, Daily Prothombhor, and Ajker Kagoz. Most such publications, however, have since 'retracted' their reports, possibly under Government pressure. Reports received indicate that rebels of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), had gathered for a meeting in the Bangladesh capital when they came under attack in four separate locations, leading to the death of at least 24 militants. Some reports suggest that most of those killed were ULFA cadres. Bangladesh was quick to deny that anything of that sort had happened. Dhaka Police Commissioner Ashraful Huda was quoted by an international news agency, saying, "There is no truth to these claims." Indian sources are sticking to their story about the July 17 incident, and there are reports of increased vigil along the porous Indo-Bangladesh border that runs 4,095 kilometres along the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and West Bengal. S.C. Srivastava, Inspector General of the BSF's Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland frontier, stated: "We have already alerted the border outposts after the killings (in Dhaka)." There have been several such incidents in the past involving Northeast Indian insurgents in Bangladesh, which authorities in India insist did happen, and Dhaka, as always, flatly denies. Despite Bangladesh's undiluted position that no Indian insurgents were operating from within its territory, New Delhi has been firm in insisting that there were, at last count, at least 210 camps of various Northeast Indian rebel groups in that country, and cite a number of incidents to reinforce their claim, including, most recently:
Dhaka chose to remain silent on the reports relating to the raid and the arrest of six NLFT rebels, as well as the bomb attack on the residence of the ATTF chief. However, Bangladesh did come out with a formal denial of reports about the arrest of 34 ULFA militants in Dhaka. "We would like to categorically state that the reports (about the ULFA rebels' capture) are false, baseless and concocted and have been fabricated to strain the friendly relations between Bangladesh and India. No such incidents took place in the capital city of Dhaka," a Home Ministry Press Release issued in Dhaka on January 3, 2004, said. The Bangladesh Home Ministry statement added: "We would also like to reassert the well-known position of the Government of Bangladesh that Bangladesh has never allowed or assisted insurgent groups of any country for acts against that country and this policy was being pursued by the Government consistently and rigorously." It is likely that Dhaka would continue to hold on to its position that Indian insurgents were not operating from the country. Under the circumstances, things are not going to move beyond claims and counter-claims. There is little scope in international law that could allow New Delhi to ascertain the identity of those of its citizens who it insists get killed from time to time in alleged shootouts inside Bangladesh, and any confirmation that these are separatist militants is nigh impossible without explicit - and highly improbable - cooperation from Bangladeshi authorities. Insofar as Bangladesh is concerned, simple denials of Indian claims of anti-India militants operating from that country cannot hold good for long. With claims of Northeast Indian insurgents getting involved in gun battles inside Bangladesh coming up more rapidly than ever, Dhaka will eventually have to come clean on the issue, better sooner rather than later. With global attention on Bangladesh, especially after Western media reports identified the country as an emerging hub of Islamist terror, Dhaka cannot afford to continue to pretend that rebels from across the border in India's Northeast have not been given a free run in parts of the country.