The arrival of the freight vessel from Pakistan at Chittagong port on November 13 marked the re-establishment of direct maritime links between Bangladesh and Pakistani after 47 years.
Almost all of the cargo discharged at the Chittagong port reportedly contained industrial raw material, chemicals, onions, fabrics and potatoes.
But the ship, which mysteriously carried a Chinese name (Yuan Xiang Fa Zhan) and sailed under a Panama flag, also carried 65 unidentified Pakistani nationals who, within hours after the vessel docked, disappeared without a trace.
Now, a month after the ship from Pakistan sailed onwards to Belawan, Sumatra, in Indonesia, Indian security agencies are in a state of consternation about the disappearance of the Pakistani nationals.
By piecing together information at Chittagong port, Indian officials have been able to conclude that there “is no evidence of return of the 65 Pakistanis”.
The ship reached Chittagong “directly” from Karachi, government sources revealed, adding that neither Bangladeshi security nor port officials were given prior information of the presence onboard the ship of the Pakistani nationals.
Besides, the sources disclosed that two Bangladeshi Customs officials questioned the Pakistanis and wanted to check their travel and other documents when they “attempted to leave” without following due immigration procedure or clearance.
To make matters more mysterious, within a few hours of the disappearance of the Pakistani nationals, the Bangladeshi port authority officials were “immediately transferred”, the sources said, adding that the consignment was unloaded exclusively under the supervision of Pakistani personnel, without involving any Bangladeshi official.
Indian security officials suspect that the Pakistani nationals may likely have been sheltered in secret locations and may have already begun engaging in intelligence or clandestine activities.
Bangladeshi media reports suggested that the vessel discharged 370 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of “import-laden” containers at Chittagong. Of these, 297 and 73 TEUs originated in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), respectively.
The goods that originated in Pakistan were essentially industrial raw materials, including 115 containers of soda ash, 45 containers of dolomite, 35 containers of limestone, 24 containers of chemicals, 42 containers of onions, 13 containers of fabrics and 14 containers of potatoes.
The UAE TEUs contained marble blocks, gypsum plaster, copper wire, motor parts and food items such as raisins, dates, dry plums and an assortment of fruit juices.
The arrival of the ship at Chittagong port was hailed by the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government which is pulling out all stops to foster close ties with the Pakistani government.
The interim government, which has done little to shed its anti-India image, recently ordered 40,000 rounds of ammunition, 2,000 units of tank shells, 40 tonnes of RDX and 2,900 high-intensity projectiles from Pakistani ordnance factories.
Indian security agencies are now keeping a watch on Bangladesh-Myanmar border region, especially in the wake of “military exercises” that the Bangladesh Army and the Border Guards Bangladesh began conducting since November first week.
