International
Dhaka denies charge
By Haroon Habib
DHAKA
Feb. 7.
The Bangladesh Government has denied the charge by some politicians and a section of the media in India that it has become the springboard for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operations in India .The charge has assumed importance following the recent attack on the American Center in Kolkata.
While a section of the newspapers and TV channels, particularly in Kolkata, have directly alleged that the American Center attack mastermind had links with the Taliban and the ISI who had bases in Bangladesh, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, alleged that the ISI was sponsoring armed groups in Bangladesh to carry out subversive activities in India. A similar allegation was made by Tripura's Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, who said the ISI's growing activities in Bangladesh were causing problems in the North-East region.
But the Begum Khaleda Zia Government said in a statement that "Bangladesh does not allow its territory to be used by insurgents or terrorists against any other country''. A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also termed the remarks of the West Bengal Chief Minister as "unfounded''. He said "such allegations of foreign agents operating out of Bangladesh are unfortunate as they ran counter to fostering better Bangladesh-India relations''.
The Foreign Office summoned the Indian High Commissioner, Manilal Tripathi, to lodge a complaint. Mr. Tripathi told the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary that the views of the Indian media did not necessarily reflect India's official position.
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