BNP may approach interim Govt to secure release of ex-ministers

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami are planning to approach Bangladesh's interim government to secure bail for two former deputy ministers and some senior army officers convicted for their role in the 10-truck arms smuggling case, considered the biggest arms haul in the history of Bangladesh.

BNP and Jamaat played a key role in the recent student protests in the country, which led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Bangladesh PM.

Sources said the two parties are likely to seek bail for former deputy home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and former deputy education minister Abdus Salam Pintu, despite their conviction in anti-terror cases.


Last week, BNP secured the release of its leader and former PM Khaleda Zia.

Pintu is facing death sentence in the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack case, which injured Hasina and several other Awami League leaders. Babar and Tarique Rahman, acting chairperson of BNP who is currently in exile in London, have also been held responsible for the attack.

In 2004 when Babar was the deputy home minister in the BNP-Jamaat government, an attempt was made to smuggle 10 truck loads of arms via the Chittagong port. The weapons were allegedly meant for Assam-based terror group ULFA and some other insurgents groups active in northeast India.

Most of the northeastern insurgent groups allegedly operated from Bangladesh territory when the BNP-Jamaat government was in power between 2001 and 2006.

ULFA chief Paresh Barua was said to be the mastermind of the plot to secure the weapons for intensifying the separatist movement in Assam and other northeastern states.

Barua, who was operating in close coordination with Bangladesh intelligence agencies, had close links with Rahman and his confidantes Babar and Pintu. The arms, which were confiscated in Chittagong in 2004, were allegedly purchased from China.

The smuggling attempt was foiled by an officer on duty at the port. The Jamaat chief and then industry minister Motiur Rahman Nizami also played a role in the smuggling attempt. He was later executed by the Hasina government for his role in the 1971 war crimes.