& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Govt on war paint to fight militants

Law-enforcers placed on high alert, asked to launch massive manhunt

Rezaul Karim
The government has put law enforcement and secret agencies on high alert across the country and ordered them to launch a massive manhunt for clandestine Islamic extremists.
Highly placed sources said Prime Minister Khaleda Zia instructed the home ministry and intelligence agencies to find out militants' hideouts and root out the so-called militants preparing for a
so-called jihad and sabotage.
Apart from the agencies, the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), Armed Police Battalion and other law enforcement agencies have been instructed to keep a close watch on their operation areas.
"Intelligence networks have been strengthened across the country and special teams of Bangladesh Rifles and police have been put on standby in all districts so that they can rush on receipt of
any information about secret congregation," a home ministry official said.
The instruction came afresh following the August 14 firefight between the police and the operatives of Jama'atul Mujahidin in the bordering district of Joypurhat and arrest of about two dozens of militants in its wake.
"In fact, we began a drive against militant groups after the February
SEE PAGE 11 COL 3 Militants
FROM PAGE 1
13 bomb explosion (at a Dinajpur rooming-house) as well as arrest of Islamic militants in Chapai-nawabganj in the second week of March."
"But the drive was stalled during the war on Iraq in fear of kindling a sentiment at home," said a key minister, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The drive has been stepped up again and the government is determined to root out militancy, he said.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, a junior minister admitted that more than half a dozen intelligence agencies, including the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence and special and detective branches of police were asked to launch the drive.
"The government has definite information and documents that the secret agency of a neighboring country is backing the militant groups with arms, training and fund."
"It's very difficult to check the foreign agency because of its strength, but we're now closely watching militant activities so that none can provoke them," the junior minister said.
Sources at the home ministry said militants arrested recently confessed that they got fund from abroad to disrupt peace and stability in Bangladesh.
They said the militants arrested in recent months appeared highly trained and they kept a mum on their bosses.
Intelligence agencies believe that they were preparing to launch a so-called jihad in Bangladesh.
A joint cell will interrogate the militants arrested in Joypurhat to uncover their
networks and activities.
"Steps will be taken on the basis of information extracted from them," said a high official of the home ministry.
He said the government was convinced that the operatives of the Dinajpur bomb blast and of the Jaypurhat firefight were from the same outfit or closely connected.
A policymaker of the ruling BNP, however, denied reports of strong militants' presence in Bangladesh.