Bangladesh government looking for BNP leader Aslam’s ‘cohorts’ in ‘Israel plot’

The authorities are investigating Aslam Chowdhury and likely accessories in the BNP’s ‘conspiracy’ to overthrow the Bangladesh government ‘hatched in collusion with Israel’, the home minister has said.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. File Photo Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. File Photo

This group photo of BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury (centre) and Israel Likud party leader Mendi N Safadi (left) taken from Mendi N Safadi Center for International Diplomacy and Public Relations’ Facebook page has raised eyebrows in Bangladesh. This group photo of BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury (centre) and Israel Likud party leader Mendi N Safadi (left) taken from Mendi N Safadi Center for International Diplomacy and Public Relations’ Facebook page has raised eyebrows in Bangladesh.

The BNP joint secretary general will ‘face action’ once enough information is gathered on his role, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Sunday noon.

 

Police, however, arrested Aslam in Dhaka in the evening, after Chittagong Metropolitan Police earlier in the day said a travel ban will be slapped on him and he will be arrested the moment he is found.

 

Kamal also confirmed that the travel ban was in effect.

 

Aslam, a little-known BNP leader from Chittagong, came under spotlight recently after a Bangladesh daily ran a report on a meeting between him and Israel’s ruling Likud party leader Mendi N Safadi in India along with a photo of the two.

 

Media reports said Aslam did not deny his New Delhi visit and confirmed the authenticity of the pictures that had first surfaced on the social media.

 

The photos were found on the Facebook pages of DelAviv, an Indo-Israel relationship platform, and Mendi N Safadi Center for International Diplomacy and Public Relations.

 

The BNP leader, however, claimed that he did not know that Safadi was a Likud leader. He also told the media that his visit was purely personal.

 

The home minister said the government has taken ‘very seriously’ Aslam’s meeting with a politician of a country with which Bangladesh does not share diplomatic relations.

“We are looking for the others involved in this plot. Our detectives are working on it. 

 

“We’ll find all of them and make public how they are involved and how much damage they have caused,” Kamal told reporters at the Secretariat.

 

The ruling Awami League leaders have claimed that the BNP in collusion with Israel and its spy agency Mossad was ‘conspiring’ to topple Sheikh Hasina’s government.

 

On Saturday, the Palestinian envoy in Dhaka said it will be a ‘political suicide’ for any Bangladeshi party to have ties with Israel.

 

The BNP, however, has brushed off allegations of it having any ties with Israel or Mossad, and said Aslam Chowdhury’s India visit earlier this month was ‘personal’.

The home minister said Mossad was trying to carry out sinister activities in Bangladesh using different tactics. “They are working with the BNP. This has come to our attention and we are alert.”

 

“We have put under surveillance those whose names we have come to know of so far. Our detectives are also keeping an eye on people who have ties with them.”

 

“The BNP joint secretary general’s meeting with Mossad is the proof that the party’s stance is against national interest,” Kamal said.