US embassy cable - 05DHAKA1860

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 001860 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR I/FW, B/G, IIP/G/NEA-SA, B/VOA/N (BANGLA SERVICE) STATE 
FOR SA/PAB, SA/PPD (LSCENSNY, SSTRYKER), SA/RA, INR/R/MR, 
AND PASS TO USAID FOR ANE/ASIA/SA/B (WJOHNSON) 
 
CINCPAC FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR, J51 (MAJ TURNER), J45 
(MAJ NICHOLLS) 
 
USARPAC FOR APOP-IM (MAJ HEDRICK) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR, OIIP, OPRC, KPAO, PREL, ETRD, PTER, ASEC, BG, OCII 
SUBJECT: Media Reaction: Admiral Fallons's Visit to 
Bangladesh;Dhaka 
 
 
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Admiral Fallon's Visit to Bangladesh 
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Summary: "The Daily Star" op-ed says that there is no reason 
to question the veracity of Admiral Fallon's statement, 
since, one would like to believe, it stems from very sound 
intelligence. If what the Admiral has said is based on 
specific information, then perhaps all the speculation 
regarding the presence of terrorist groups in Bangladesh be 
proven correct. 
The following are excerpts from the op-ed article: 
"Pacific Commander's Expos" 
Independent English language newspaper "The Daily Star" op- 
ed by security expert Brigadier General (retired) Shahedul 
Alam Khan opines (4/21): 
It seems that everybody except the relevant persons in 
Bangladesh has indubitable intelligence on the doings of the 
militants in this country, that have turned, or are in the 
process of turning, Bangladesh into a hotbed of terrorism 
and a safe haven for terrorists. And, all that is happening 
in our neighboring country, or that is going to happen in 
the future years, related particularly to its security in 
its Northeast, is being planned and fomented by extremists 
housed in Bangladesh. 
Now we have the Chief of the Pacific theatre of the U.S. 
Military Command reveal in no uncertain manner that 
international terrorist organizations are active in 
Bangladesh. There is no reason to question the veracity of 
his statement, since, one would like to believe, it stems 
from very sound intelligence. And, if what the Admiral has 
said is based on reports and specific information, then 
perhaps all the speculations regarding the presence of 
terrorist groups in Bangladesh will have been proven 
correct. Although the U.S. admiral was very careful not to 
attribute religious label to the terrorist group or groups, 
it is a safe guess that it is Islamic terrorists he was 
referring to. It is quite natural for the Americans to be 
concerned at this development. And so must we in Bangladesh 
also be, if what the U.S. admiral said is an accurate 
representation of the facts on ground. 
But is there anything new in the Admiral's remarks? 
Absolutely nothing, to be frank. That Bangladesh has become 
a convenient route of transit of both illegal weapons and 
drugs, that complement each other, is a well-established 
fact. It does not need a Mahan or Mackinder to determine the 
likely destination of these weapons. And, even the most 
uninformed would not suggest that these were smuggled in to 
be used as agricultural inputs. However, merely being a 
conduit does not necessarily make a country a suitable 
operational area for international terrorists with an agenda 
to implement or a message to convey, for that is what 
terrorism has come to be now, a way of expression, vile that 
may be. Of course there is hardly any doubt that many of the 
illegal weapons meant for other destinations have found 
their way into the hands of local criminal. 
Nobody will take issue with the admiral's general 
formulation regarding the whys and wherefores of terrorism; 
i.e. why does the phenomenon emerge after all. Given the 
current divisiveness in our society and the flux that we are 
encountering, one can say, even at the risk of being labeled 
a heretic, that terrorism may well become a mode of 
expression, unless we wake up and take notice of the 
developments in and around us. 
Apparently, acts of terrorism in Bangladesh have been 
limited to bomb attacks that have taken more than 150 lives. 
No one has claimed responsibility for these acts. This is 
not quite the way of the hard core terrorists, whose first 
objective is to announce their presence and their political 
and religious agenda by taking credit for acts of damage and 
destruction perpetrated primarily on innocent civilians, 
such as those we have seen committed in Bangladesh, 
particularly in the last two or three years. 
None of the government investigations into these incidents 
has been made public, and we are not to know whether the 
government has any definitive information on the presence of 
terrorist groups in Bangladesh. However, if one were to take 
the Foreign Minister's remarks to be factual, there are no 
such groups in Bangladesh with trans-border linkages. In 
this context, I can hardly resist quoting a portion of 
yesterday's Daily Star editorial, which the government 
should do well to consider while addressing the issue. It 
says: "We ought to keep in mind that the thread of 
international terrorism in our part of the world runs right 
across the Middle East to South East Asia. One must not, 
therefore, discard out of hand the possibility of its 
tentacles existing in Bangladesh, without a serious 
investigation into the matter. We are not sure whether that 
has been done with any seriousness." 
That there has been no classical terrorist activity in 
Bangladesh does not mean that there are no latent groups 
waiting for an opportune moment to spring into action. And 
there are perhaps telltale signs that are clear enough to 
compel action on the part of the government. 
Thus, the U.S. offer of cooperation to address the issue 
must be viewed objectively. It would however not be wrong to 
suggest that the remarks of our Foreign Minister, whose 
first reaction, according to press reports, was that the 
issue of terrorism did not come up for discussion at all, 
yet in the same breath said that Bangladesh would not 
countenance the growth of terrorism in its territory, is 
demonstrative of the denial syndrome of our government 
insofar as it relates to this sensitive issue. 
It may be that the Admiral has left more things unsaid than 
what he has said. What we would like of the U.S. government 
is to share with the Bangladesh government information 
regarding the presence and operation of terrorist groups on 
our soil. We should not be satisfied with statements that 
merely restate what is already known. Tangible evidence must 
come forth so that concrete action can be implemented. 
It is just not enough to merely proscribe parties or groups 
suspected of links with international terrorism. Effective 
action must be taken not only to render these groups 
ineffective and incapable of cooperating with outside 
agencies in fulfilling their agenda, whatever that might be, 
but also to prevent germination of such elements in our 
country in the first place. 
Thomas