A Bangladeshi diplomat deployed in the office of the Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata has been “missing” for over two months, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Aminul Haque, the second secretary (local) of the mission, was relieved from his duties on November 7 last year and he was asked to return to Dhaka within November 15. “But the Bangladeshi Government’s Foreign Affairs Department informed the Indian High Commission in Dhaka that Haque did not return and they had no information about the diplomat’s whereabouts,” said an official of the MEA.
Sources in the Indian intelligence agencies working on the soil of Bangladesh said Haque was a leader of Chhatra League, the student’s wing of Bangladesh’s erstwhile ruling party Awami League, at Buet University in Bangladesh.
“Haque was the president of Chhatra League at the university. He joined Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence (NSI) and was sent on deputation as a visa officer at the Deputy High Commissioner’s Kolkata office in March last year. Within a month, he was promoted as the second secretary (local) and given the status of a diplomat,” said the MEA source.
Sources in the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata said Haque was given a farewell on November 7 last year he acted normally as if he gladly accepted the government’s decision.
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“He applied for six-day leave before joining Dhaka office and the government approved it. Haque again applied for an extension of his leave till November 23 which was turned down. Since then, he is untraceable. His mobile number is switched off and WhatsApp account is not working. Immigration points in Bangladesh did not record Haque’s return to his country,” said an official of Bangladesh Deputy High Commission.
Sources in the central Intelligence Bureau (IB) said the Bangladesh government requested the MEA to give them details of Haque if he had left India.
“Haque was seen active on his social media account recently. He made several posts after being relieved from his duty in Kolkata. In one of the posts on December 17 last year, he criticised the attack and looting spree at former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s residence Gana Bhavan on August 5 last year and left a message saying ‘Debt will be paid in full’. We shared all this information with our counterparts in Bangladesh but we are not investigating to find out from where Haque accessed his social media account. Because it does not serve our interest,” said an IB officer.
The officer said Haque, probably, anticipated harsh action against him by Bangladesh’s interim government and that was why he decided not to return to Dhaka.
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