Who is Abdus Salam Pintu? Bangladesh leader accused of funding terrorists to attack India released by Yunus govt

Abdus Salam Pintu, the vice chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the country's former deputy minister of education, was released by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

Pintu was in jail since 2008 when he was arrested for the grenade attack at an Awami League rally in 2004. Exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also injured in the attack.

He was accused of colluding with Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), to whom he allegedly handed grenades to carry out the attack, which killed 24 people, and injured over 300.

Who is Abdus Salam Pintu?

A Bangladeshi politician belonging to the BNP, Pintu was the country's deputy education minister from 2001 to 2003, and its deputy minister of industries from 2003 to 2006.

While in prison, Pintu was made the vice chairman of the BNP's executive committee.

Because of his alleged connection to the 2004 grenade attacks, Pintu was sentenced to death in 2018, which was on December 1 overturned by a Bangladesh HC.

Mufti Abdul Hannan, the then chief of HuJI, in his confessional statement before the trial court had given a detailed description of how the 2004 attack plot was orchestrated and his outfit was entrusted with the task to kill Hasina and other front-ranking AL leaders.

In his statement, Hannan had given names involved in the attack along with the then junior home minister Lutfozzaman Babar and Pintu.

"Tarique Zia (Rahman) assured us of giving all kinds of cooperation...then we held a series of secret meetings at several places, including Mohammadpur, to kill Sheikh Hasina and Awami League leaders," Hannan had deposed before a magistrate in his confessional statement.

Pintu's alleged involvement with terrorists

An organiser from India-based militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), which works with the LeT, supplied the bombs directly to one Tajuddin, who is reportedly Pintu's brother.

These grenades were later sent to HuJI.

HuJI has carried out a number of small-scale attacks on India. It's commander-in-chief Bashir Ahmed Mir, was shot down in 2008 by Jammu and Kashmir police officials in Doda.

This same outfit was also linked to the attack on the American Center in Kolkata in 2002. India-based The Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), which claimed responsibility for the attack, is affiliated to HuJI.

HuJI was also linked to the October 12, 2005 suicide attack on the Hyderabad Police's Special Task Force (STF), the Samjhauta Express bomb blasts in 2007, serial bomb blasts in Jaipur in 2008, and other several attacks in India, as per the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Pintu is also accused of funding terrorists from PoK and Bangladesh to launch attacks on India.

(With PTI inputs)