HOME MINISTER ASSURES PEACE CORPS OF FULL

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000361

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2011
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC BD BG
SUBJECT: HOME MINISTER ASSURES PEACE CORPS OF FULL
PROTECTION

REF: A. DHAKA 0352


B. DHAKA 0353

Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.4d


1. (C) Summary: Home Minister of State Babar told Peace
Corps Chief of Security that security would be tightened at
all Peace Corps sites and urged Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV)
are staying and urged that the organization remain in
Bangladesh so as not to give in to the terrorists.


2. (SBU) On January 23, Charge and Peace Corps Chief of
Security Pat Hogan called on Home Minister of State
Lutfuzzaman Babar to discuss the prevailing security
situation in Bangladesh. Peace Corps Bangladesh Country
Director Silas Kenala, Home Secretary Hossain, Joint
Secretary Akthar Ahmed, and RLA (notetaker) also attended.

SIPDIS
Reftels report Babar's remarks on the massive manhunt for
fugitive JMB leaders and the BDG's determination to prevent
the opposition's nationwide strikes from infringing on the
rights of non-participants.


3. (C) Hogan stated security is a paramount concern for our
Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV),and that volunteers and their
families, as well as the USG, have been watching with concern
the JMB campaign of violence starting with the August 17 bomb
blasts. He specifically raised our concerns about reports
that a detained JMB activist had contemplated an attack on
PCV in Gazipur, about 30 kilometers north of Dhaka.


4. (C) Babar replied that he could not rule out problems for
the PCV or anybody else in Bangladesh, but that the BDG is
determined to protect the volunteers and would enhance
security at PCV sites. He promised that RSO and a FSNI
interpreter would soon get access to the JMB detainee who
allegedly targeted the PCV in Gazipur. JS Ahmed interjected
that MHA is also responsible for protecting volunteers from
Japan and Korea.


5. (C) The randomness of JMB attacks, Babar resumed, showed
that they can strike anywhere, and undercut JMB's claim that
it was fixated on achieving sharia law by overturning
institutions that perpetuate secular rule. He asked that the
Embassy give MHA plenty of advance notice on PCV venues and
events so he could ensure proper security coverage. The BDG,
he added, would also review safety issues for PCV's, their
host families, and whether PCV use of rickshaws should be
revisited. Babar urged the PC to remain in Bangladesh and
not to act preemptively in a way that would undercut the
BDG's strong counter-terrorism stance. "We are fighting very
hard. . .Terrorism is everywhere and we should not give in to
it," he stressed.


6. (C) Babar briefly reviewed the BDG's security plan for the
so-called mini-hajj, the annual Tablighi Biswas Ijtimah that
starts next week just north of Dhaka and is expected to
attracts two to four million participants from around the
world. This year, he said, everyone will be searched at
least three times before entering the site, and a huge
deployment of uniformed and plainclothes security personnel,
under the overall command of the Rapid Action Battalion,
would be alert to any potential problem. Foreigners will be
pre-screened through the visa process but no one has been
targeted for additional surveillance, he said.


7. (SBU) Babar stated that MHA and Bangladesh Bank are
working out details of the draft Anti-Terrorism Act. The two
are cooperating well, he claimed, and there is a plan for a
"special cell" where police and bank officials would work
side by side to combat terrorism financing. He also asserted
that there is no language from the draconian Special Powers
Act incorporated into the new draft. (Note: A copy of the
draft provided to RLA prior to the meeting has language
giving police extremely broad arrest powers.)


8. (C) In response to Charge's query, Babar once again to
provide to us case documents pertaining to arrested JMB
leader Ataur Rahman Sani.
CHAMMAS