TMC MP Imran had links with Bangla Jamaat: Intel
According to the dossier prepeared by intelligence agencies, Ahmed Hassan Imran - Rajya Sabha MP - had links with Soukat Ali, a close associate of Siddikur Rahaman alias Bangla Bhai – a Taliban veteran of the Afghan war who reportedly masterminded the 2005 serial blasts in Bangladesh.
A dossier prepared by intelligence agencies — which HT had access to — on 61-year-old Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Hassan Imran has claimed that the politician was in touch with top leaders of Bangladesh-based Jamaat-e-Islami, previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.
According to the dossier, Imran and top Jamaat leaders attended seminars in Kolkata and Howrah in 2000-01 where anti-India and anti-Awami League speeches were made. It said Jamaat leaders Abul Kasem Ali and Abu Jafar spoke against India and the Awami League at a seminar at Jibanananda Sabhagriha in March 2000. The seminar was organised by Imran’s magazine, Kalom.
Later, Imran sold off the magazine at a huge premium to Saradha group chief Sudipta Sen. The intelligence agencies, probing the Saradha scam, are now investing this deal too.
It alleged that Imran had links with Soukat Ali, a close associate of Siddikur Rahaman alias Bangla Bhai – a Taliban veteran of the Afghan war who reportedly masterminded the 2005 serial blasts in Bangladesh. “Soukat was in touch with Imran,” said the report.
Imran refuted all the allegations labeled against him in the dossier. “I was not present in any seminar at Jibanananda Sabhagriha where Jamaat leaders were allegedly present. If there was any evidence about my links with Jamaat, or any other terrorist outfit, the CBI and the ED would not have given me a clean chit,” Imran told HT.
According to the dossier, Imran used to frequent Bangladesh regularly after 1977 when his sister got married there. “There, Imran met several Jamaat leaders like Golam Azam, Motiur Rahaman and Dilwar Hossain,” it said. Incidentally, all these leaders have been awarded capital punishment for their role in the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence.
The report said in 2001 a seminar on Islamic Philosophy was organized by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) at Howrah’s Rashid Ali Park between March 15 and March 17. IDB’s managing director Masul al Azam was present at the seminar. “Jaamat’s top leader Golam Azam’s son was also present where he said that Islam is greater than a nation,” the dossier stated.
“I went to the Howrah seminar as a counselor. The seminar was on Islamic philosophy. I have no idea about the presence of any Jamaat leader there,” Hassan said.
According to the report, in March 2000, ‘Kalom’ organised a seminar at Jibananada Sabhagriha where Jamaat leaders such as Abul Kasem Ali and Abu Jafar targeted India and the Awami League.
“All these intelligence reports are baseless. I went to Bangladesh a number of times since my sister lives in Dhaka. But I never met Jamaat leaders,” claimed Imran.