Dhaka, April 27 (IANS) Bangladesh is once again facing concerns over the spectre of militancy, with the issue re-emerging in public discourse following recent developments, including the alleged detention of some Bangladesh Air Force officials and a letter issued by Police Headquarters, a report said on Monday.
Citing several sources, leading Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported that around 20 individuals, including two officers, several warrant officers and airmen, as well as over 10 civilians, were detained over the past week on allegations of links to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), widely known as the Pakistani Taliban and regarded as one of the deadliest militant groups in the region.
Report suggest that when contacted on Sunday night, Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury, Director of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media division of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, refused to comment on the matter.
“We are not making any comments in this regard. If necessary, we will inform you later,” Dhaka Tribune quoted him as saying.
According to the report, a warrant officer of the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF), who went missing from a base in Chittagong, has been located at a hideout of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), prompting an extensive internal investigation into suspected extremist links within the force.
"We came to know that the Pakistan government has informed our authorities that your forces members are working with the TTP in Pakistan, as TTP is an anti-Pakistan and a pro-Afghanistan network,” Dhaka Tribune quoted an official as saying, who is familiar with the development.
The report stressed that Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies cited multiple reasons behind the recent resurgence of militancy in the country. On August 5, 2024, during the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, prisoners escaped from the Kashimpur High Security prison in Bangladesh, most of whom had been held under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act.
Highlighting data from police headquarters till December 2025, it indicated that 202 prisoners escaped during the 2024 Kashimpur prison break, with 133 still at large and the rest subsequently arrested.
When asked about handling escaped prisoners, a high official of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit under Dhaka Metropolitan Police told Dhaka Tribune: “We do not have a specific direction so far on how to deal with these prisoners who escaped from the prisons and who are roaming around after securing bail despite being charged with militant activities.
“The home advisor and the IGP during the interim government repeatedly said that there is no presence of militancy in Bangladesh; then what can we do after such directions from the top brass of the government?” the official questioned.
The CTTC believes that leniency towards the militants during the previous Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has contributed to the recent upsurge.
Officials said that while it was previously difficult to obtain a Pakistani visa from Bangladesh, travel to Pakistan increased after August 5, 2024.
Several officials suggest that the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government’s stance of downplaying the issue, along with the inactivity of CTTC and other agencies tasked with countering militant insurgency across the country, may have fuelled the recent resurgence of militancy in Bangladesh, the report mentioned.
--IANS
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