A high court bench in Bangladesh has acquitted former minister Lutfozzaman Babar and five others in the 2004 Chattogram arms-haul case. The death sentence of Paresh Baruah, the chief of the banned terror organisation Ulfa, has been reduced to a life term, according to Prothom Alo. The case pertains to 10 truckloads of arms and ammunition meant for terror organisations working against India.
The huge consignment of weapons was seized during the regime of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh in 2004. There was evidence of the involvement of Lutfozzaman Babar, then junior minister for home affairs, in the smuggling of arms to anti-India forces.
The regime had also sheltered Ulfa’s Paresh Baruah in Bangladesh. Baruah is now reported to be operating out of China.
The Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina, who was forced into exile in August after massive protests, had cracked down on anti-India forces in Bangladesh.
The acquittal of Babar and five others, and the reduction of the death sentence for Baruah comes even as a caretaker government under Muhammad Yunus has taken charge in Dhaka after Hasina’s exit. The new regime in Dhaka hasn’t been particularly friendly with India amid violence against minorities, including Hindus, of which New Delhi has been critical.
