Islamist coup plot foiled in Bangladesh, says army
Bangladesh Coup Attempt

By Shafiq Alam (AFP) – Jan 19, 2012
DHAKA — The Bangladesh army said on Thursday that it had foiled a plot by more than a dozen “religiously fanatic” Islamist officers to overthrow the elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“We have unearthed a heinous conspiracy to overthrow the democratic government through the army,” army spokesman Brigadier General Masud Razzaq said in a written statement.
“The attempt has been thwarted with the whole-hearted efforts of army soldiers,” the statement said, adding that the plot had been fomented by Bangladeshi expatriates in touch with “religiously fanatic army officers”.
Giving details about the failed coup, which was unearthed in December, Razzaq said a major who was now on the run circulated emails to different serving officers detailing a plan to overthrow the government on January 9-10.
The outlawed Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir, banned in Bangladesh in 2009 after it was linked to a car bomb on a politician, was accused of helping to circulate the messages.
Razzaq told local media that the plot involved up to 16 Islamist officers, both active and retired, raising fears about the prevalence of hardliners in the upper ranks of the 140,000-strong military.
Hasina’s government, which came to power in early 2009, made changes in June last year to bolster the secular character of the Bangladesh constitution, although Islam was retained as the state religion.
The move sparked a series of angry protests by Islamic activists in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries and which has a long history of coups and counter-coups.
Two retired officers including a colonel have been arrested and will be presented before a court of inquiry, while an alleged “co-planner” called Major Syed Ziaul Haq, a serving officer, had fled.