A Russian government-sponsored multi-media news service, Sputnik, claims that the moment Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL or ISIS) is retreating in West Asia following Moscow-backed operations, the militant group is stepping into the South Asian scene.
In a column published on Monday, the Sputnik referred to the claim of credit by ISIS for three gruesome attacks, including killing of two foreigners, in Bangladesh over the past month.
“While the government denies that ISIL has a presence in the country, some are sceptical about that claim,” journalist Andrew Korybko wrote in the Sputnik.
He expressed the views that internal political factors have certainly contributed to making the country more susceptible to externally managed destabilisation attempts.
“Any breakdown of Bangladeshi society would result in strong regional aftershocks that would negatively affect India,” the journalist writer observed.
He pointed to the threat to India’s physical security and the viability of its ambitious Act East foreign policy initiative.
In the column titled “Who wants to turn Bangladesh into Bangla-Daesh?”, the columnist emphasised pondering over which actor would gain the most by turning Bangladesh into Bangla-Daesh.
ISIL, which is also called Islamic State, is referred to as Daesh in Arabic, especially in the Arabian countries.
Referring to hostile relations between the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP, the article said they “couldn’t be more different in their national vision, which makes their rivalry all the more intense”.
The article pointed out that the AL is “genuinely recognised as being more pro-Indian and strongly adheres to the country’s secular roots”. “The BNP is seen as being pro-American and pro-Saudi and supportive of the Islamisation of society.”
The article dwelt on the BNP’s boycott of the 2014 elections and said that due to their obstinacy, the BNP hasn’t had a single seat in parliament since. It also mentioned the BNP’s allegation that the current government is illegitimate and the party’s demand for “early elections”.
The author mentioned that Russian president Putin warned last week in Valdai that “some terrorists are used as a battering ram to overthrow the regimes that are not to one’s liking”.
“While spoken about the Mideast, it now looks to be applicable for South Asia as well,” added Andrew Korybko.
He also referred to prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s accusing of BNP chief Khaleda Zia (now in UK) of “conspiring from abroad to tarnish the country’s image through killing foreigners”. “She and her political allies were working with terrorists,” said the article quoting Sheikh Hasina.
It went on saying that an ISIL-initiated terrorist war in Bangladesh could ruin all of India’s regional initiatives. “The trans-border humanitarian and terrorist overflow could drastically destabilise India and set off a chain reaction of conflict inside the country itself,” cautioned the article.
“The viability of its Act East strategy and the ASEAN Road are dependent on internal conditions in Bangladesh that are beyond their control, but are dangerously threatening to explode and take the whole region down with it,” the author noted.
Expanding on this insight, he said, “It wouldn’t be unreasonable to wonder whether the same culprit responsible for destroying the Mideast might be the one that’s using the threat of terrorism in Bangladesh to blackmail India away from its Eurasian BRICS partners.”
Source: Prothom Alo