DHAKA, 4 September 2004 — A key component in Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s four-party ruling alliance has found “a dangerous conspiracy against Bangladesh” in a hostile media campaign raging in neighboring India.
Matiur Rahman Nizami, who heads the Jamaat-e-Islami party, told a crowded news conference in Dhaka yesterday that he believes all terrorist acts, including bombings and grenade attacks, are “targeted against Bangladesh, democracy and Islam”.
Although he would not precisely name the conspirators, Nizami said they were deeply concerned over the e-mail threats to kill opposition leader Hasina Wajed and Prime Minister Zia as well as “instigations” by Indian newspapers — the Statesman, the Hindustan Times and the Hindu.
“The Statesman in its editorials on Aug. 26 and 29 directly urged the Indian government to interfere in Bangladesh. There is no doubt that the matter is very serious,” Nizami said.
He also accused a part of the media of launching deliberate campaign to brand Bangladesh as a den of fundamentalist forces.
Nizami said his party would stand against any Islamic groups if their links to the grenade attacks on the Awami League rally in Dhaka on Aug. 21 were proved.
“We don’t believe they have any links, but if their involvement is proved through investigation, we will take a firm stand against them,” he told reporters at Jamaat’s central office.
Nizami, however, said “known enemies of Islam” were using some organizations to stage subversive acts “in the name of Islam and damage the image of Islam” and Islamist parties.
He said those who launched the grenade attack at Hasina’s rally were “neither friend of the government nor the opposition”.
“They are enemies of Bangladesh, democracy, humanity and the religion of Islam,” Nizami said.
He said involvement of foreign investigators in the grenade attack probe “underlined the government’s sincerity and commitment to conduct an unbiased, untampered and transparent probe.”
The Jamaat leader admitted that the real perpetrators of bomb and grenade blasts in the past always escaped amid accusations and counter-accusations by the political parties and the media.
Hasina and other opposition leaders often accuse the Jamaat of being behind the bomb blasts which they say are aimed at eliminating “secular forces”.
