A war criminal and death row convict, along with the family members of some executed war criminals, financed the Gulshan militant attack, investigators have reportedly found. According to the sleuths, they have already collected all credible evidence against the accused and are now concluding their analysis of the evidence. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said the case has been solved and it was only a matter of time before the persons who had planned the Holey Artisan Bakery attack were arrested. He said, “We have enough evidence regarding who planned it and how it was planned. We are trying to arrest them as soon as possible.”
A source involved in the Gulshan attack investigation told The Independent exclusively that an influential country, which has always sheltered war criminals, coordinated the attack. The secret service agency of that country allegedly mobilised a huge amount of funds on behalf of death row convict and war criminal Mir Quasem Ali, who is an influential leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. The investigators are now trying to ascertain how the funds reached the attackers, the source said. He added that only after concluding the process would the suspects be arrested.
According to the source, another Jamaat leader, Barrister Abdur Razzak, Mir Quasem’s younger brother Mir Masum Ali, and executed Jamaat leader Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami’s son held a secret meeting in the US.
Even after the Gulshan attack, they held a meeting at Hotel Benjamin in New York’s Manhattan with the lobbyist firm that was appointed by Mir Quasem and the family members of other war criminals.
Some leaders of the Coalition of Bangladeshi Americans’ Association, a pro-Jamaat organisation in the US, also participated in the meeting. Mir Masum also tried to save the war criminals by establishing a TV channel in New York to launch anti-Bangladesh propaganda. As its design failed, the gang allegedly decided to carry out several militant attacks in a last-ditch attempt to save the war criminals.
In association with a foreign secret service agency, they brought several banned militant organisations under one umbrella to carry out militant activities across the country, investigators claimed. These organisations apparently include the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and the Hizb ut-Tahrir. Urging everyone to keep faith in the police, the DMP commissioner said, “Our efficient officers of the intelligence units and the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit are closely monitoring all matters related to the attack.”
On being asked whether there was a foreign link to the Gulshan attack, he said, “We have found that home-grown militant outfits are active in the country under different names. However, their root is one. Those who created anarchy in the country in the recent past to topple the government also have the same root. But, the names could be different.”
The inspector general of police, AKM Shahidul Hoque, said at a programme in Cox’s Bazar yesterday that after targeting the youths, the militant leaders inspire them by discussing jihad in mosques. They bring them away from their homes for the sake of Hijrat and engage them in militancy, he claimed. He urged the youths, who left their homes to serve militancy, to return, saying that the government would pardon them. The law enforcers will also help them, he promised.