Bangladesh's DGFI under siege as ISI and Jamaat push for loyal security apparatus

New Delhi, Oct 11 The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) in Bangladesh started off as a stooge of the ISI. It took part in several meetings with ISI officials and had originally planned to scale up infiltrations into India in a bid to create demographic changes.

At the behest of the ISI, the DGFI roped in the Jamaat-e-Islami to undertake this mission. However, the DGFI over the years worked closely with the Bangladesh army and carried out a successful war on terror.

The ISI was however unhappy with the turn of events as it had lost a strong partner in Bangladesh. In the last couple of years, the DGFI has successfully conducted operations against terror outfits and worked closely with the Indian Intelligence to fight the ULFA. More importantly, it managed to keep Bangladesh free of transnational terrorism.

This has not gone down well with the radical elements in Bangladesh and the ISI. The result today is that like the Bangladesh army, the Muhammad Yunus regime has begun dismantling the DGFI and seeks to replace it with an agency that would work closely with the ISI.

Yunus has been under pressure to replace the Bangladesh Army with the Islamic Revolution Army (IRA).

The Jamaat along the ISI want an army in Bangladesh similar to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This would mean, a new agency on the lines of the DGFI would work closely with the IRA. The IRA on the other hand would be loyal to the government rather than the nation.

The Yunus regime has also set in motion to dismantle the DGFI and ultimately the army. While the Yunus regime was quick to outlaw the Awami League by barring the party from contesting elections, it has also filed a chargesheet against several leaders and senior DGFI officials.

Former DGFI Director General Lt Gen (retd) Mohammad Akbar Hossain, former DG Maj Gen (retd) Saiful Abedin, Lt Gen (retd) Md Saiful Alam, former DG Lt Gen Tabrez Shams Chowdhury, former DG Maj Gen (retd) Hamidul Haque, Maj Gen Towhidul Islam, Maj Gen Sarwar Hossain among others has been named in a chargesheet accusing them of crimes against humanity. Incidentally Sheikh Hasina too has been named in the same chargesheet.

This entire case began following a propaganda documentary film that was funded by the National Endowment for Democracy. This organisation has for many years played a crucial role in defaming both the Army and DGFI. The documentary went on to present false facts and fabricated testimonies against the Hasina regime.

The Yunus government was quick to pick on this documentary and went to launch an attack on the previous regime and several officials who worked under Hasina.

However, officials say that the primary aim is to dismantle the DGFI and ultimately the army. The DGFI had played a crucial role during the 2024 protests against Hasina. The ISI and the Jamaat were not happy about this and now that they have power, they are hell-bent upon dismantling these outfits which have effective fought terror over the last couple of years.

Dismantling these institutions works for the ISI as it would be able to carry out its nefarious activities in Bangladesh unabated. The only two institutions that stood in their way was the army and DGFI.

This is a clear signal that Yunus wants institutions that are loyal to him and not the country. The IRA would be a perfect institutions for both Yunus and the ISI. The IRA would be in charge of security and a wing under it would do the work of an Intelligence agency.

These developments have made the political class in Bangladesh jittery.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) National Citizens Party (NCP) have become very suspicious of Yunus after watching these developments. Both parties would like a democracy to survive and not be ruled by an IRA which would be under the direct control of Yunus. These moves by Yunus have also led the political parties and people to wonder if Yunus wants an election to held at all.

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