Bangladesh seeks new supply of ammo from Pakistan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 24
Just three weeks after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and a new interim government was installed, Dhaka has ordered for fresh supply of artillery ammunition from Pakistan.
Sources in the security establishment said the Indian Government had been informed of the development and added that the order from Bangladesh was for thousands of rounds of ammunition to be delivered in three tranches, starting September.
The order was placed just days after Hasina quit. This is not the first time that Pakistan is supplying ammunition to Bangladesh. However, the numbers are far greater than usual. The ammunition is to be used in artillery guns that can fire at targets between 30 kms and 35 km.
Bangladesh is surrounded on three sides by India and on its fourth side is the Bay of Bengal, often forcing New Delhi to question, where Bangladesh army intends to use the ammunition. On its part, the export division of the Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) board has sent out the list of order to all its factories for ramping up production.
The details of military exports to Bangladesh from Pakistan are mentioned in a letter sent from POF to Managing Directors of various divisions at Havelian, Sanjwal and Gadwal. The export is to be carried out in three shipments starting 1st week of September and ending in December.
This includes more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition, 40 tonnes of RDX in wax consistency for explosives and projectiles of high intensity, 2900 in number. The previous order in early 2023 was for 12,000 rounds of ammunition.
The Indian security agencies opine that the protests in Bangladesh leading to ouster of PM Sheikh Hasina on August 5 were supported by Jamaat-e-Islami in conjunction with Pakistan and Chinese intelligence agencies.
The role of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, in converting protests over quotas into efforts to establish a regime favourable to Pakistan and China, undermining the previously installed Awami League government, has not been ruled out in the information provided by security agencies to the Indian Government.
