A bench of the high court in Bangladesh has cleared former minister Lutfozzaman Babar and five others in the 2004 Chattogram arms-haul incident. The capital punishment of Paresh Baruah, the leader of the outlawed terror group Ulfa, has been converted to a life sentence, as reported by Prothom Alo. The matter involves 10 truckloads of weapons and ammunition intended for terrorist groups operating against India.
The large shipment of arms was confiscated during the rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh in 2004. There was proof of Lutfozzaman Babar’s involvement, the then junior minister for home affairs, in smuggling weapons to forces opposing India.
Babar held the position of Minister of State for Home in the Khaleda Zia administration from 2001 to 2006, representing the BNP.
The government had also provided refuge to Ulfa’s Paresh Baruah in Bangladesh. Baruah is currently said to be conducting operations from China.
As reported by Prothom Alo, Baruah is one of six convicts on death row to receive clemency. Although Baruah’s sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment, the others have received 10-year prison sentences, as reported by the Dhaka-based newspaper.
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What’s the case all about
The 2004 Chittagong Arms Haul constituted one of the most significant weapon confiscations in India’s vicinity and occurred in the port city of Chittagong.
The shipment of 10 truckloads of illicit weapons and munitions contained 4,930 guns, 27,020 grenades, 840 rocket launchers, 300 rockets, 2,000 grenade launch tubes, 6,392 magazines, and more than 1.1 million rounds of ammunition.
The arms were thought to have been trafficked from China, aimed at being sent to rebel factions in India’s northeastern regions.
In a unique interview with India Today in 2023, the former deputy director general of India’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) stated that the arms provision occurred via the coalition between the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat.
Singh added that the entire scheme to acquire the weapons for escalating the separatist movement in Assam was masterminded by Ulfa chief Paresh Barua.
