Explain RAW move report on Waqas: BNP

The BNP has asked the government to explain reports that the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, has whisked away a Pakistani ISI spy from the heart of capital Dhaka.

“How can members of a foreign intelligence agency come to another country and whisk off an agent of a rival agency!” BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said expressing dismay in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The ‘Times of India’ in a report claimed Zia-ur Rehman alias Waqas had been hiding in Bangladesh and was preparing to leave for Pakistan via Nepal when he was apprehended by India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Indian security sources quoted by the newspaper said they were clueless about Waqas’ exact whereabouts.

Waqas was reportedly an ISI agent who oversaw the Indian Mujahideen operations in India.

Dhaka immigration officials detained him and the RAW requested that he be handed over to India, as he was wanted in a string of bomb blast cases there, according to the TOI report.

The newspaper says Waqas was spirited away from Dhaka but does not elaborate how.

BNP leader Fakhrul asked, “How come the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence) agents came to Bangladesh?”

"We demand a clear explanation from the government on the report."

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that he learnt of the incident from newspaper reports.