Bangla says it'll never allow its soil to aid attacks outside

Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, Nov 2 (PTI) Dismissing as "baseless" reports about
suspected involvement of the Bangladesh-based outlawed
Harkat-ul Jehad-e-Islam (H.u.J.I.) militant group in the
deadly Assam blasts, the government here has said it would
never allow this country's territory to be used to aid attacks
on other nations.

"The allegations are totally baseless and, as in the
past, ... (there is) no evidence to back them up," the
Bangladesh Foreign Office said in a statement issued Saturday
night.

It said Bangladesh has adopted the strictest measures
against terrorists and would "never allow her territory to be
used to aid attacks on other countries."

"This is no time for finger-pointing without proof.
Instead, all efforts should be directed at apprehending
culprits and bringing them to justice. Bangladesh has strongly
condemned these acts of cowardice and shares the pain of the
people of India in this sad horror," the statement said.

The Bangladesh Foreign Office reaction came as Indian
security officials probed a possible link between H.u.J.I and
the United Liberation Front of Assam (U.L.F.A.) behind the
Thursday blasts in Assam that claimed 77 lives.

A senior Home Ministry official in Dhaka preferring
anonymity earlier said the allegation about the H.u.J.I.
engagement was being made without any proof which "is an
irresponsible act."

"The Indian authorities earlier also could not come up
with any evidence to prove the engagement of any
Bangladesh-based outfit in terror attacks on their
territory," he said.

A spokesman of the elite anti-crime Rapid Action
Battalion (R.A.B.) said the outlawed H.u.J.I. has lost its
"organisational strength" due to a massive security clampdown
in the past two years leading to the arrest of most of its top
leaders, including its chief Mufty Hannan.

Immediately after the Assam bomb attacks, the interim
government's Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury sent a
letter to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee
condemning the blasts and conveying Bangladesh's condolences
to the members of the victims' families.

"It is a cowardly act of terrorism. Violence cannot be a
tool for achievement of political objectives," Chowdhury said
in a statement.