International
No Taliban in my Govt.: Begum Zia
By Haroon Habib
DHAKA, JAN. 10. Though there was an angry denial from the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia , that there is no Taliban in her Government, Bangladesh's main Opposition seems serious in claiming that the present Cabinet has "several Ministers'' who have strong Taliban connections. The Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister , Sheikh Hasina, has recently remarked in the U.S. that Begum Zia's Cabinet has members having Taliban and terrorists connections. Awami League, the immediate past ruling party, also reiterated the allegation when the central leaders of the party led by the former Foreign Minister, Abdus Samad Azad , had a meeting with the visiting British Prime Minister, Tony Blair , in Dhaka .
Understandably, the main Opposition party has identified the Agriculture Minister, Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and the Social Welfare Minister , Ali Ahsan Mujaheed, who are president and general secretary respectively of the country's most organised Islamic radical organisation, Jamat-E-Islami. Jamaat has been the strongest ally of the Begum Zia-led four-party electoral alliance which got the stunning two-thirds majority in Parliament in the October 2001 election .
As the allegation goes, Jamaat-e-Islami was among the Islamic radicals which had strong links with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan .
These two Ministers in the BNP-led Government are also widely known as "War Criminals''of the country's war of independence against Pakistan 30 years ago. Meeting the journalists on Monday, for the first time after she formed her Government nearly three months ago, Begum Khaleda Zia strongly criticised Sheikh Hasina for spreading ``falsehood'' about her Government. Replying to a pointed question, she said Sheikh Hasina's claim had no basis .
However, the charge against the Jamaat, including several other Islamic extremist groups of Bangladesh, off having Taliban connections, is quite open and widespread . Even in the streets of Dhaka frenzied activists of some of these organisations proudly identified themselves as "Bangladeshi Taliban'' and chanted slogans to make Bangladesh ``another Afghanistan''.
But with the destruction of Mullah Omar's Taliban empire and the al-Qaeda network by the U.S.-led forces, the Bangladeshi fanatics now seem cautious. They have stopped identifying themselves as ``Taliban'' at least in public. The militant extremist groups had organised demonstrations in Dhaka and elsewhere denouncing the U.S.-led war `` to destroy Islam'', But they went out of the scene quickly .
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