Retired Bangladesh army chief says Indian intelligence had access to military facilities

ISLAMABAD: A retired Bangladeshi army chief has testified that Indian intelligence operatives maintained regular access to military intelligence facilities, working from dedicated rooms and providing target lists, according to his statement written for a local news outlet.

Retired Gen. Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan disclosed this in testimony before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 and in an article he wrote for Prothom Alo on Monday. He stated that the Indian intelligence operatives worked from dedicated rooms and provided target lists to Bangladeshi forces.

His statement came as he appeared as a prosecution witness in war crimes proceedings against former Maj. Gen. Ziaul Ahsan.

"Some people from the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) under the umbrella of Major General (Retd.) Tariq Ahmed Siddique regularly visited the DGFI office and were allowed to work in one of the seven meeting rooms there," Bhuiyan wrote.

The former army chief said RAW would identify individuals as militants and provide lists to Bangladesh's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, according to his article. Bhuiyan stated he did not know whether DGFI took effective action on these intelligence reports.

Testimony in crimes against humanity case
Bhuiyan concluded two days of witness testimony on Monday at the tribunal, which has charged Ahsan with crimes against humanity involving the disappearance and murder of more than 100 people during the previous government led by the Awami League party, according to his published account in Prothom Alo.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumder, set Feb. 18 for cross-examination by defense lawyers, as reported in tribunal proceedings.

Officers describe paid killings
The retired general wrote that he confronted multiple junior officers about killings conducted while assigned to the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite Bangladeshi security force.

In one encounter, an officer returning from RAB duty admitted killing six people — two directly and four others while present, according to Bhuiyan's article. "I asked him, how much money did you get for each kill? He replied, ৳10,000" — approximately $85 at current exchange rates — Bhuiyan wrote. The officer said he donated the money to his village mosque.

A lieutenant colonel told Bhuiyan he killed six people on superior orders, according to the article. When Bhuiyan asked whether the officer would follow an order to consume excrement, the lieutenant colonel said killing unarmed civilians was worse, but fell silent when pressed on why he complied.

"I asked him, which is worse, killing an unarmed civilian or eating hagu?" — a Bengali word for excrement — Bhuiyan wrote in Prothom Alo. "He said, killing an unarmed civilian. I asked him, then why did you do it? He remained silent in reply."

A major who had previously served under Bhuiyan justified killing alleged criminals by calling them "anti-social" with no right to live, according to the article. Bhuiyan wrote that he later saw the same officer in a Facebook post standing with Col. Zia at Shapla Chattar — a public square in Dhaka — following a deadly security force crackdown on a religious rally organized by the religious group Hefazat-e-Islam.

Body disposal in rivers
Bhuiyan wrote that he heard RAB personnel would cut open victims' stomachs, remove intestines, tie bodies with bricks and stones, and submerge them in rivers.

The tribunal has charged Ahsan with involvement in 50 killings at the Baleshwar River estuary in southern Bangladesh between 2010 and 2013, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the state news agency.

Halting officer assignments
The former army chief wrote that he stopped assigning officers to DGFI, the Border Guard Bangladesh — a paramilitary force — and RAB after determining that so-called "crossfire" killings, a term used to describe extrajudicial executions, would not stop.

"Many reminded me that what I was doing was tantamount to rebellion. My only answer was that I would have to answer to Allah on the Day of Judgment," Bhuiyan stated.

He received repeated phone calls from the military secretary to the prime minister requesting officer assignments, according to his article. RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed personally visited Bhuiyan's office to request officers, but received no commitment, he wrote.

Then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina — who led the Awami League government — directly asked Bhuiyan to provide officers to RAB during a hotel inauguration in Chittagong, Bangladesh's second-largest city, according to his account. Bhuiyan wrote that he cited officer shortages and maintained this position until retirement despite continued pressure.

Call for institutional dissolution
Bhuiyan wrote in Prothom Alo that he wants RAB abolished immediately or all military personnel withdrawn from the force. He also called for dissolving DGFI, writing that the intelligence directorate "has lost its legitimacy to exist after giving birth to a bad culture like a mirror house."

"No matter how much we try to deny it, the army has become corrupt," Bhuiyan wrote. "We should not waste the opportunity that has come to us for self-purification under any circumstances."

He argued that prosecuting guilty officers would enhance rather than diminish military honor. He wrote that successful accountability would show "the army never spares guilty people."

Indictment details
The tribunal indicted Ziaul Ahsan on Jan. 14 on three counts of crimes against humanity, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha and the tribunal prosecution.

The charges include the July 11, 2011, killing of three people in Gazipur's Pubail area allegedly in Ahsan's presence; 50 killings at the Baleshwar River estuary; and another 50 deaths in the Sundarbans — a vast mangrove forest spanning Bangladesh and India — and Bagerhat regions between 2010 and 2013 under the pretext of suppressing "forest robbers," as reported by BSS.
Ziaul Ahsan pleaded not guilty when charges were read, according to tribunal proceedings.

Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam told the tribunal that investigators have "exceptionally strong evidence" regarding Ahsan's leadership roles in the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre and RAB, as reported by the prosecution.

The trial formally began Feb. 8, with Bhuiyan appearing as the prosecution's first witness, according to court records.