Even as Bangladesh’s three service chiefs met Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus at the latter’s Jamuna State Guest House office in Dhaka this evening, General Waker-uz-Zaman tonight cancelled a visit to Mecca, Saudi Arabia’s holiest city, where he was scheduled to perform umrah.
Northeast News has reliably learnt that Gen Zaman, who was earlier cancelled a scheduled official five-day tour to Saudi Arabia beginning October 14, had fixed November 2 as the date for his departure to Jeddah from where he was to take another flight to Islam’s holiest city to perform umrah.
However, the decision to cancel his Mecca visit — his spouse Sarahnaz Kamalika Zaman was to accompany him – appears to have been taken following the meeting with Yunus.
This decision has raised eyebrows in Bangladesh Army and other security circles even as there is no concrete information on the reason behind this sudden cancellation.
Gen Zaman, who had earlier cancelled a visit to New Delhi between October 12 and 14, took the decision to not proceed with the “important” trip to Saudi Arabia in the middle of last month.
This perhaps had more to do with the arrival in Dhaka of an Indian Military Intelligence team of officers between October 14 and 17.
Around that time, Gen Zaman had to grapple with any likely adverse outcome arising out of the arrest of 15 Bangladesh Army officers charged by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
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The Saudi Arabia visit was aimed at discussing the possibility of sending Bangladeshi soldiers for a peacekeeping mission at a certain location in the Islamic kingdom where some 7,000 US troops are currently stationed.
These American troops are scheduled to move out in the next few months.
Bangladesh saw this as an opportunity to send its troops which have had a long history of performing peacekeeping duties under the aegis of the United Nations.
A few months ago, a few senior Bangladesh Army officers, including Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan, had performed the umrah while Gen Zaman had preferred to stay put in Dhaka to deal with the uncertainty surrounding the interim regime’s stability.
