Modi to brief Hasina on 'threats'

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will ask 'sister' Sheikh Hasina to be alert to threats she faces, when they meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.

Indian intelligence says it has already secured details on attempts by a Western intelligence agency to 'destabilise' Bangladesh by using elements of the army to bring down the elected government.

Senior intelligence officials here told bdnews24.com on condition of anonymity that this western intelligence agency is cultivating some elements in the top echelon of Bangladesh army and plans to create a government of 'national consensus' after toppling Hasina.

A senior defence intelligence official operating in Dhaka under diplomatic cover is said to be the mastermind of these covert operations, they said.

The government of 'national consensus' planned by this agency intends to bring together some Awami League renegades, the BNP and other parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jatiya Party on the same platform to provide the country with a government of national consensus, say the Indian intelligence officials.

Some army officials opposed to such machinations have already been sidelined to irrelevant positions, and efforts are also on to neutralise the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), so that there is no armed resistance to a military takeover to install the so-called national unity government.

Narendra Modi has been briefed about 'specific inputs' received by Indian intelligence.

Much of that has also been communicated to senior Bangladesh officials who visited Delhi as part of the delegation headed by Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali.

"But PM Modi will raise this issue when he meets Hasina. He will assure her of firm action on the Saradha issue and tell her Indians responsible for conspiring against her government will be severely dealt with," said a top official in the Prime Minister's Office.

"He will also seek Bangladesh's inputs on the Saradha illicit fund movements for facilitating the enquiry now being done by India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)," the official said.

India sees the reported Saradha money movement to Jamaat-e-Islami and other forces trying to destabilise the Hasina regime as part of the larger plan of the Western agency.

"This agency first got the Left out of power in West Bengal and now they want Hasina out. They want a base in Bay of Bengal and that is not possible with Hasina in power or the Left in some kind of position to influence Indian government," said one top intelligence official.

Modi will seek to assure Hasina that India will leave no stone unturned to 'foil such machinations' in its neighbourhood.