The Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, has emerged as the main architect of the student protests and subsequent chaos in Bangladesh, sources told India Today.
The radical student organisation is believed to have the backing of Pakistani's intelligence agency ISI, which wanted Sheikh Hasina out of power. Hasina had to resign as Prime Minister on Monday after the army gave her 45 minutes to step down and leave the country.
Sources said that in the last two years, many Islami Chatra Shibir cadres have been admitted to various universities in Bangladesh. It is from here that the work of instigating university students started. Thus, the protesters who took to the streets in the last two months over a controversial quota system for government jobs were university students only.
The main centres of the ICS are Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Jahangir University, Sylhet University, and Rajshahi University. Interestingly, all the student organisations that won university elections in the last three years won with the support of Islami Chatra Shibir. The ICS is believed to have very deep connections with ISI and many of its cadres have also gone to Pakistan.
According to sources, ISI members had joined the student movement by putting fake DPs of students and were engaged in instigating them on social media. The students of the Islami Chhatra Shibir got trapped in the clutches of ISI and the movement turned violent, sources said.
Sheikh Hasina had alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing were exploiting the protests and instigating violence.
Most of the JMB members arrested in India in recent years are cadres of Islami Chatra Shibir. Nurul Islam, Bulbul Mohammad, Najrul Islam and Kamal Ahmed Sikdar are the main leaders of this organisation, India Today reported.
Sources said the "India out" campaign that gained momentum this year following Hasina's return to power was also instigated by Islami Chhatra Shibir. The entire conspiracy behind the 'India Out' campaign was of Pakistan and the ISI.
Citing intelligence reports, India Today also reported the blueprint for Operation Regime Change was drafted in London in collaboration with ISI and implemented in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi officials claimed to have evidence of meetings between Tarique Rahman and ISI officials in Saudi Arabia.
Bangladeshi authorities also had evidence of Tarique Rahman's collusion, the acting chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and son of Khaleda Zia meeting ISI operatives.
The Pakistan Army and ISI aimed to destabilise Sheikh Hasina's government and restore the opposition BNP.
The intelligence establishment also sees the hand of China through Pakistan’s ISI in escalating the protests that forced Hasina to flee the country. Information points to the involvement of the student wing of hardline Jamaat-e-Islami, which is known for its anti-India stance, in inflaming the streets and turning the protests into a determined effort to replace Hasina with a regime that is friendly to Pakistan and China.
(With inputs from Jitendra Bahadur Singh and Shivani Sharma)