New Delhi: The foiled coup against the Sheikh Hasina Wazed Government in Bangladesh has raised serious concern in India, officials said.
They see the incident as an indication of the rising threat of extremist religious forces against the democratically elected Government, which they feel was neither in the interest of Bangladesh, nor of India, or the region as a whole.
“There is section of the establishment whose extremist religious and anti-India sentiments were no secret. They have a feeling that creation of East Pakistan was a blunder and they still look upto to Pakistan as their source of inspiration,” said an offical.
And it was this class of people who were out to destabilise the secular and India-friendly government headed by Sheikh Hasina, so the developments in the neighbouring country were naturally a cause of worry, having direct implications for the security of India, he said.
Sources here indicated that the Bangladesh authorities might have been tipped off by India about the attempts to overthrow the Hasina Wazed Government.
Such intelligence had been supplied to Bangladesh in the past too, they said.
The conspirators are said to have links with the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny only two months after Sheikh Hasina took over.
Up to 16 current and former Bangladeshi officers were reported to be involved in the conspiracy.
The Bangladesh army said the initial investigations revealed non-resident Bangladeshis’ (NRB) link to the plot, and at least one of the officers was connected to banned Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir. This group had been banned by Hasina in 2009.
She had recently warned in her speeches that such groups are conspiring against her elected government. Bangladesh has seen two successful coup and 19 other failed coup attempts.
The Sheikh Hasina Government has come down heavily on the terrorist groups operating against India. These groups were restive over the growing friendship between the two countries.
India and Bangladesh recently concluded a landmark boundary demarcation agreement that had been pending for long. (UNI)