An Ethiopian Airlines aircraft touched down at Dhaka’s Shah Jalal International Airport at 8:40 am on March 6. Two Bangladesh Army officers emerged from the plane and took the air bridge to clear security and immigration.
After the officers cleared immigration in no time, they parted ways at the exit. While General Waker-uz-Zaman got into his gleaming staff car, Lieutenant Colonel Sami ud Dowla Chowdhury hopped into his vehicle. The two went their different directions.
Rather late in the night – around 10:11 pm – at least one online media platform reported Gen Zaman’s arrival from the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui, where he visited to pick up the presidential medal conferred on him by CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
This was in recognition for Bangladesh’s significant contributions to the country’s development, particularly in the healthcare sector.
As many as five units of the Bangladesh Army, have been serving under the aegis of the United Nations (as a peacekeeping force) in the conflict-ridden West African country for the past few years.
“He was scheduled to return on March 6 and not March 7,” insisted Lt Col Chowdhury who is the Inter-Services Public Relations wing’s main spokesperson. He added that there was “an hour-long stop-over at Adis Ababa”, before the Ethiopian Airlines plane resumed its eastward flight to Dhaka.
Since his return from the CAR, Gen Zaman has found himself in the midst of a controversy allegedly involving a junior colleague, Lt Gen Faizur Rahman, who is the Quarter Master General (QMG) and has been described in recent times of being close to the Jamaat-e-Islami and, by extension, to the Pakistani establishment.
Indian media reports, both on TV news channels, newspapers and online platforms, have had a field day over the past three days, insinuating that a coup plot was nipped in the bud by Gen Walker who had played a critical role during Sheikh Hasina’s safe exit to India on August 5, 2024, and who adopted a balanced stand in dealing with domestic politics subsequently.
The rash of stories put out by the Indian media platforms – not a single Bangladeshi newspaper or online outlet followed up on the so-called coup attempt by Lt Gen Faizur – served to solidify the belief that it was a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
The story put out by the Indian platforms indicated that a group of senior Bangladesh Amry officers were in touch with each other and had discussed among themselves moves to replace Gen Zaman.
At least a dozen senior Army officers were allegedly involved in this nascent plan, if there was one.
Another report suggested that after Gen Zaman learnt of the plans, he moved swiftly to put Lt Gen Rahman, who had supposedly met Pakistani diplomats, under surveillance.
“There is nothing wrong in the Army and the chain of command has been functioning normally,” Lt Col Chowdhury told Northeast News over phone. Earlier, a “response” by the ISPR suggested that the Indian media reports were entirely baseless and false” and that they “appear to be part of a deliberate disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the stability and reputation of Bangladesh and its armed forces”.
Predictably, the Bangladeshi media – print, electronic and online – have refrained from reporting on a matter that involves the Army which is both feared and respected at the same time.
Late last month, angered by the deteriorating law and order situation in the country and allegations that the Army had failed to check the lawlessness and chaos, Gen Zaman had suggested that he might take action if such conditions continued to prevail.
In August 2024, when Sheikh Hasina was ousted to pave the way for a students-backed interim authority led by Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus, Gen Zaman played the role of a stabilising actor. But within a few weeks Bangladesh was plunged into uncertainty as lawlessness and continued students unrest took over large swathes of the country.
With a dysfunctional law and order machinery, the Yunus regime was unable – or was not interested – to contain such forces.
Over the past two months, the situation deteriorated further as murders by so-called vigilante mobs and anti-social elements, robberies and wanton rapes, snatchings and violence by Islamist forces went unchecked.
Curiously enough, the so-called “restlessness” within the Army and Gen Zaman’s putative action comes at a time when the Yunus-led Bangladeshi authorities suggested that the Constitution could be changed by an appropriate ordinance.
Now, Bangladeshi political analysts suggested that an ordinance, whenever it comes, could significantly transform the prevailing power balance as seen in the “symbiotic” relationship between President Mohammad Shahabuddin ‘Chuppu’ and Gen Zaman. After all, the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
In the event an ordinance was sought to be brought in swiftly, it could give the Yunus regime an instrument to act against both President ‘Chuppu’ and Gen Zaman. Who could the two be replaced with? Yunus as president and Lt Gen Faizur Rahman as Chief of Army Staff?
Lt Gen Faizur Rahman’s detractors allege that he, without clearance from senior officers, supposedly attended Yunus’ swearing-in ceremony on August 8, 2024.
Northeast News could not independently verify this claim, but what could, however, be ascertained is that Lt Gen Rahman does have a tenuous link with the Jamaat by way of matrimonially extended relatives. Other Army officers said that Lt Gen Rahman is a “professional and able” officer.
