Dhaka, Dec 16 Bangladesh's former minister Lutfozzaman Babar, one of the main accused in the case of smuggling arms to fuel insurgency in India's northeast, was released from Dhaka's Central Jail on Thursday in yet another controversial move by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government that analysts believe will further embolden radical elements the crisis-ridden country.
Babar, who served as a Minister of State for Home in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamaat-e-Islami alliance government led by Khaleda Zia in 2004, was arrested in May 2007 for his involvement in cases of grenade attack on former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the attempted smuggling of 10-truckloads of arms and ammunition via Chittagong to banned terrorist outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) working to secede Assam from India.
Put behind the bars under the Arms Act and the Special Powers Act, he was serving death and life sentences before the Yunus-led government took charge and began the process of acquitting him in several cases after the fall of Hasina government in August, last year.
Last month, Babar and six others were acquitted by the High Court in the Special Powers Act case while ULFA chief Paresh Baruah's sentence was reduced from death to lifetime imprisonment.
Severely criticising the decision, several Bangladeshis termed it as "another disgraceful act" orchestrated by the "illegitimate government and its puppet judiciary" in a country "where politicization of justice and lawlessness has become the norm". They asserted that the judiciary in Bangladesh has now been reduced to a "mere tool" for shielding BNP.
"The High Court’s acquittal of Lutfozzaman Babar and others in the 10-truck arms haul case blatantly disregards overwhelming evidence of their involvement in one of South Asia's largest arms hauls. The weapons were meant for insurgent groups like ULFA and NSCN-IM, posing a grave threat to national and regional security. It (ruling) reinforces fears that the security and stability of the South Asian region is now at its most vulnerable in decades," Hussain Saddam, President of Bangladesh Students' League, posted on X.
Earlier this week, Babar was also acquitted in the '10-truck arms haul case', thus clearing all legal hurdles and paving way for his release after 17 years on Thursday.
As Bangladesh slides into the abyss, the Yunus government has been accused of giving a free hand to the Islamist forces in the country.
Several reports cited last week that the interim government has set in motion the process to acquit Syed Zia-ul Haque, a sacked Major of the Bangladesh Army who is linked to Al Qaeda and is desperately wanted by the United States.
In December 2021, the US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, through its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) office, offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Haque (aka Major Zia) and Akram Hussain, who along with four other individuals were found to be involved in a February 2015 terrorist attack in Dhaka that left US citizen Avijit Roy dead and his wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, seriously injured.
Both Bangladesh-born US citizens were visiting Dhaka to attend a book fair when they were attacked by assailants with machetes. Roy was killed while Ahmed survived with critical injuries.
According to the US State Department, Ansarullah Bangla Team, an Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist group based in Bangladesh, claimed responsibility for the attack through its team in Dhaka.
Zia, who reportedly fled to Pakistan later, was also wanted by the Bangladeshi authorities, which declared Tk 2 million for tracing him in 2016, in the murder cases of Jagriti Prokashon's Foysal Arefin Dipon and Kalabagan's Julhas-Tonoy. Previously, in 2011, he had also played a major role in the organisation of a failed coup attempt.
The policy of mandatory security clearance required for Pakistani citizens seeking visas was relaxed comprehensively recently, thus facilitating Zia's return to Dhaka on a Pakistani passport.
Reports cited that, immediately after his return, Zia formally applied for acquittal from all charges and removal from the 'most-wanted' list on December 29, 2024 while seeking to nullify all the convictions and withdrawal of the bounty.
Interestingly, local media reported that Justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury, the head of the disappearance committee of the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD) that will look into the entire matter, is Zia's father-in-law.
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