For the first time in Bangladesh’s history, a serving head of an intelligence agency today met newly appointed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairman Tarique Rahman – not at the latter’s home but right inside the party’s Gulshan headquarters in Dhaka.
National Security Intelligence (NSI) Director General Major General Abu Mohammad Sarwar Farid drove over to the BNP office at 12:15 pm and was closeted with the Tarique Rahman, still recovering from the loss of his 80-year-old mother and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, till 1:21 pm.
This unexpected, surprising and unconventional meeting has caused stirrings within Bangladesh’s intelligence community and the armed forces.
Maj Gen Farid, who was appointed NSI DG on August 13, 2024 – five days after the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government took charge, was considered for transfer as the Ghatail-based 19th Infantry Division General Officer Commanding but this did not go through.
A second recent instance of “obsequious behaviour” on the part of senior Army officers was that Adjutant General Major General Muhammad Hakimuzzaman (of the 27th BMA Long Course) who is said to have produced and handed over a tissue paper to the BNP president during Begum Zia’s funeral.
It may be recalled that Maj Gen Hakimuzzaman had earlier spoken in public to provide the rationale for the arrest and incarceration of 25 Bangladesh Army officers who were allegedly found to have been involved in enforced disappearances, torture and other criminal acts that are in various stages of prosecution in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
The Army too appears to have violated tradition and strict practices that have been in place for years.
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On the day of Begum Khaleda Zia’s funeral, the Army provided and followed full protocol related to the last rites, but the deployment of a contingent, including two soldiers to hold and march with the wreath that Tarique Rahman placed at the South Plaza of parliament.
Bangladesh defence sources said that ever since Tarique Rahman landed in Dhaka on December 25, several “important personalities” have met him in private.
These visitors also included a range of serving Army officers who met him without due consideration to military regulations.
Besides, Tarique Rahman arrived in Bangladesh as heir apparent to Begum Khaleda Zia and was, till recently, the BNP’s acting chairman.
The meeting of Army officers and their “unbecoming behaviour” long before Tarique Rahman has even been elected as an MP, leave alone as the country’s executive, does not augur well for military decorum and regulations.
