New Delhi:Three Bangladeshi politicians have unexpectedly found themselves in a fortunate turn of events. Two hail from Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which claimed victory in the country’s first national election since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while the third is from Jamaat-e-Islami, which suffered a defeat. All three had previously faced serious legal accusations, including the death penalty. However, after Muhammad Yunus returned from the United States following Hasina’s exile to India, he intervened and had all charges against them dropped.
Two leaders from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Lutfozzaman Babar and Abdus Salam Pintu, along with ATM Azharul Islam of Jamaat-e-Islami, are now set to enter the new parliament of Bangladesh, a nation that has recently experienced strained relations with neighbouring India.
In December 2024, a Bangladesh High Court cleared Tarique Rahman, Babar and others who had been convicted in two cases related to the August 21, 2004 grenade attack targeting Sheikh Hasina. While Hasina narrowly survived the attack, 24 people were killed in the attack.
Lutfozzaman Babar secured a decisive victory in the election, defeating his closest rival by a margin of 1.6 lakh votes.
His party colleague, Abdus Salam Pintu, is viewed as more sensitive from India’s standpoint. About a year after Babar was acquitted in the grenade attack case, Pintu too received legal relief, with the charges against him being dropped, according to a report by NDTV.
However, the controversy surrounding Abdus Salam Pintu does not end there. He had previously been accused of supporting Pakistan-based militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), which was linked to attacks in India. These included the 2006 blasts at a court complex in Varanasi, the 2007 explosion at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, and bombings in Delhi in 2011.
Despite the allegations and past legal troubles, Pintu went on to win his seat by a margin of at least two lakh votes.
The third beneficiary of this turn of events is ATM Azharul Islam, a longtime figure in Jamaat-e-Islami. He has been active in politics since 1998 and even served as the organisation’s secretary general until 2012.
But what exactly were the charges that had been brought against him?
ATM Azharul Islam had faced some of the most serious allegations among the three. He was accused of being responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 people during Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and was also named in 13 rape cases. In 2014, he was sentenced to death over these charges.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
