Maulana Tajuddin: First he was let go to Pakistan, then he vanished into the blue

Maulana Tajuddin, who got grenades from a Pakistan-based terrorist group to carry out the heinous August 21 grenade attack, has remained traceless since he left Bangladesh 13 years ago.

He enjoyed a trouble-free life in the country for over two years after the attack but went to Pakistan on October 10, 2006, barely three weeks before the BNP-Jamaat alliance government completed its tenure.

Instructed by government high-ups, some officials of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) ensured his safe escape with a fake passport.

Now, there is no concrete information about his present whereabouts.

However, several sources in the police and intelligence agencies said Tajuddin did not stay in Pakistan only.

According to one source, he recently moved out of Pakistan for Canada. The source could not give any details about it, though.

An intelligence agency official, who maintains regular contacts with foreign intelligence agencies, said Tajuddin was in South Africa one to two months back.

The official, however, could not confirm whether the militant was still there or left the country for another sanctuary.

“Once we heard he was trying to form a militant group but could not. Possibly, he is now working under one of the militant groups based in Pakistan,” the official said preferring not to be named.

Maulana Tajuddin, brother of BNP’s former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, got the grenades – used in the August 21 attack on an Awami League rally – from Abu Yusuf Butt alias Abdul Majed Butt, a leader of the militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

Formed in 1989, Hizbul Mujahideen is among the oldest militant groups operating in the conflict-ridden valley of Kashmir and has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States.

Majed, in his confessional statement before the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1, Dhaka in 2009, said the grenades came from Pakistan through the sea route.

According to the statement, the grenades first came to the Chattogram port in a ship and were later brought to Dhaka for the attack.

For years, grenades and other ammunition used to come to Bangladesh from Pakistan in ships, and Tajuddin was in charge of sending those to India through different land border points.

The grenades used in the August 21 attack also came for the same purpose, but by the time Maulana Mufti Hannan of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (Huji) was planning an attack on Sheikh Hasina with the help of some politicians in the BNP-Jamaat ruling alliance.

In this respect, a series of meetings were held at Pintu’s Dhanmondi residence to discuss the attack.

They decided to launch an attack on Sheikh Hasina’s anti-terrorism rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. Mufti Hannan and his men were assigned to carry out the attack.

Last year, Maulana Tajuddin was sentenced to death by a court for his involvement in the attack.