Exiled in London, here's how this BNP leader hatched a plot with ISI to end Hasina's Bangladesh reign
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and PM-in-waiting Tarique Rahman allegedly held meetings with Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in a Gulf nation where a plan was hatched to organise a campaign for ousting the Sheikh Hasina government, said people in the know.
Rahman allegedly travelled to the Middle Eastern country a few months ago for meeting the ISI officials where the plot was hatched for launching the campaign and creating conditions in Bangladesh for ousting Hasina, ET has reliably learnt.
ET had reported last week how the Pakistan Embassy in Dhaka allegedly played a role in instigating the move to hijack the student movement.
In the run up to Hasina’s ouster, Rahman became active on social media platform X, encouraging the movement to dislodge the elected government through street power and violence. Rahman has been in exile in London for over 15 years.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of a former deputy president of radical Hefazat-e-Islam in the interim government, has shocked progressive sections of Bangladeshi society. Hefazat-e-Islam was formed in 2010 in Chittagong where Jamaat-e-Islami has traditionally been strong.
Hefazat-e-Islam has been at loggerheads with the erstwhile Awami League government, and even organised protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hefazat wants to alter names of institutions in Bangladesh and bring in radical laws.
Rahman, who was the de facto PM between 2001-06 when his mother was the official PM, has deep and old links with ISI and radicals. He is planning a
