Despite the masking possibilities the country offers-among them Islam, the religion of choice of a majority of people-Bangladesh was not considered an ideal destination on the fanatic's atlas. So intelligence officials literally went "over its head" to hunt for gun-totting Islamists in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Now a string of reports suggests Bangladesh has been the nesting ground for Al-Qaida for quite some time. After September 11, thousands of fighters of the banned Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HUJI) and Al-Qaida are alleged to have taken refuge in Bangladesh. And their targets are not just the US and its allies; India figures prominently on the list-a reason why India has upped the decibel on Dhaka's new status as the "nerve centre" of terrorist activities.

REBEL SUPPORT: A recent pro-bin Laden rally in Dhaka

"Some Al-Qaida elements have taken shelter in Bangladesh," Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha told Parliament last week. "Though the foreign media has also reported such instances, our own sources have confirmed many of the reports." Earlier in November, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had triggered a diplomatic row when he spoke out against "Bangladesh's continuing support to Al-Qaida and the ISI". Both the ministers had also talked about militant groups from the Northeast, like the National Liberation Front of Tripura and the All Tripura Tigers Force, finding shelter in Bangladesh.

A seemingly irate Indian Government is sending a report to its counterpart detailing the findings, including an interrogation report which suggests that Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been in Bangladesh since September. The accelerated pressure campaign will include sharing the information with the US.

Besides the evidence that Bangladesh is turing into Al-Qaida's regrouping ground in South Asia, what is of concern is that "they are getting legitimised with support from the Jamaat-e-Islami", says Ramesh Singh, outgoing additional DIG (general), BSF. The Jamaat is one of the two rabid partners-the other is Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ)-in Khaleda Zia's four-party coalition Government. That may explain her phlegmatic response to the developments in her country.

Sinha's statement, combined with the anti-Bangladesh Nationalist Party remarks made by Bangladesh Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who is on an India visit, put the leadership in Dhaka in cold sweat. Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, who called on media persons on November 28, said, "We have been totally disappointed by the utterances of the foreign minister of a friendly country." Chowdhury added that "following Sinha's visit to Dhaka in August, we were looking for solutions to our problems. Now he may have turned the clock back". The foreign secretary was, however, silent on the list of Al-Qaida members and anti-India terror gangs operating in the country that, according to Sinha, India recently handed over to Dhaka: "So have we heard. But then the list should have been with us by now."

BASES OF TERROR

Suspected campus run by the HUJI in Bangladesh

In October, when Khaleda pushed through a presidential decree to get the army to tackle "organised crime", the Government inexplicably did not bring the town of Ukhia, southeast of the coastal town of Cox's Bazaar, under the army's purview. Ukhia is the base of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), an Al-Qaida ally fighting for an Islamic republic in Arakans in Burma. A former chief of Bangladesh's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, who was recently in Kolkata for medical care, calls it "an extremely militant model of Islamic revolution".

Even the seven Arabs linked to Al-Qaida, who were arrested on September 23 in Dhaka, functioned under the cover of a Saudi Arabian charity that at one time was allegedly used by Osama bin Laden to channel his funds. Just before their detention, Indian and US intelligence officials lifted the veil off a crucial Al-Qaida sleeper cell, Al Hikmat, based at Rajshahi on the Indo-Bangla border. It was allegedly formed with around 25 Al-Qaida members in December 2001 to carry out attacks in India. The Jamaat is also suspected to lend its men to the HUJI.

According to a well-informed source in Chittagong, bin Laden had sent his private secretary to attend a HUJI meeting in Rajshahi and draft a strategy to intensify its campaign. The Islamic Shasantantra Andolan-the political front of the HUJI-is allegedly responsible for spreading the Jamaat's ideals and setting up more madarsas in the country. A Bangladeshi intelligence document obtained across the border details the huji's organisational structure. The Chittagong-Cox's Bazaar stretch is reportedly its stronghold and senior instructors of militant groups like the RSO are said to be training a new generation of Al-Qaida militants in Bangladesh.

"Al-Qaida elements have taken shelter in Bangladesh."

YASHWANT SINHA

In the first week of June, the Indian Home Ministry circulated a document-"ISI and its plans to infiltrate Indian security forces"-among intelligence agencies. The circular is more than a warning of possible plots against India; they provide insights into Al-Qaida's reach and its efforts to establish a base outside Afghanistan and Pakistan. It discloses how much support radical Islam enjoys among Bangladesh's clergy, one of whom is said to be Maulana Ubaidul Haq, cleric of the national mosque, Baitul Mukarram. A constituent of the HUJI's advisory council, Haq reportedly urged a gathering of thousands to engage in a holy war against "neighbouring infidels and the US" earlier this year. The report also shows how Bangladesh-based sleepers can cross the 2,132-km-long border with India and mingle with the locals who speak the same language as those on the other side of the border.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the BSF has begun expanding its presence at outposts along the Indo-Bangla border. And Khaleda, in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, is reportedly keeping herself posted on the "India front" on an hourly basis. With the war on global terrorism not losing steam, she can no longer afford to make reticence her virtue.

-with Sumit Mitra