Bangladesh Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed’s major reshuffle of his top brass last month, now turns out, was done to avert a coup by officers close to Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh National Party. Inputs from Dhaka suggest that Pakistan’s ISI could have had a role to play. This is the assessment of the security and diplomatic establishment in New Delhi a week ahead of Army Chief Deepak Kapoor’s visit to Bangladesh.Ahmed, who visited New Delhi first as Army chief in February this year, got a one-year extension in April and it was within weeks that the plotting of the coup began. The man behind it, according to the assessment,was Lt. Gen. Masududdin Chowdhury, a Principal Staff Officer in the Bangladesh Army, who had under his command the critical 9 Infantry Division located at Savar in outskirts of Dhaka. He is related to Khaleda Zia’s brother Maj Gen (retd.) Syed Shamim Iskander (their wives are sisters).While Chowdhury was shunted out to the Foreign Ministry for an Ambasadorial assignment, Iskander was arrested three days ago in Dhaka under corruption charges by the dreaded Anti-Corruption Commission that has filed a case against him and his wife. Sources said it’s learnt that Chowdhury planned to replace Ahmed — some say even “eliminate” him — to install Lt. Gen. Abu Tayab Mohammed Zahurul Alam, head of Bangladesh’s National Defence College.Alam’s choice was a well thought out one, said sources. He is said to have agreed to play the role of a “figurehead” while Khaleda Zia’s family called the shots. Sources said Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rehman Zia, who is in prison under charges of corruption, was in close touch with Chowdhury.Sources said that Pakistan has been uncomfortable with Ahmed’s reluctance to assume direct control over political power — he has served as Defence Attache in Islamabad — and instead allow the caretaker government to go after Khaleda Zia and her family. Indian agencies believe Islamabad may have also offered help in funding the coup plot via Khaleda’s brother Iskander.The other straw in the wind was the arrest of industrialist Salahuddin Qadir Chowdhury, considered close to Islamabad. His industrial house and his son’s TV station have been under Dhaka’s scanner for their alleged “links” with the ISI. All this is said to have set the stage for the coup plot and Chowdhury emerged as the rallying point given his connections with the Khaleda Zia family. It’s learnt that he developed his network among chosen officials in the Anti-Corruption Commission and Bangladesh’s powerful Directorate General of Foreign Intelligence (DGFI). As the plot advanced, Chowdhury’s queries regarding Ahmed were said to have raised suspicion prompting Ahmed to activate his network and abort the plot. The key indication, sources said, came when a DGFI official close to Chowdhury fled the country.Chowdhury was transferred twice in a week, first to NDC and then deputed to the Foreign office. Hassan Mashud Chowdhury, who heads the corruption panel and was said to be digging up dirt on Ahmed, fled the country and is now suspected to be in Australia. Alam, the supposed successor, has been removed as well and he will possibly move to a lower-profile diplomatic assignment. Officials in New Delhi said that the coup thwarted and given Dhaka’s dependence on Pakistan and China for military assistance, Ahmed is unlikely to take a hardline stand on Islamabad but, instead, work with it to reduce “mistrust levels.”
