Lutfuzzaman Babar, former Minister of State for Home Affairs, suddenly discussed. Before returning to Bangladesh to lead the interim government, Nobel laureate professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus said in an interview given to the Indian media NDTV, “He fears that if the current unrest in Bangladesh is not controlled, it may spread to the Seven Sisters (seven states in the northeastern region) of India, including neighboring Myanmar.” After his speech, suddenly there is a discussion about Lutfuzzaman Babar on social media. Seven Sisters are – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya in India. These seven kingdoms together are called the Seven Sisters.

Many people think that Lutfuzzaman Babar is a name of fear for the Indian government. Lutfuzzaman Babur destabilized India by creating a rebel group in the Seven Sisters. Lutfuzzaman Babar has been able to do more damage to India than China-Pakistan combined. In 2004, he wanted to send 10 trucks full of ammunition and rocket launchers to India. Then they started a civil war in their country. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya wanted to secede from core India. And this Lutfuzzaman Babar wanted to supply 10 trucks of weapons to the agitators there. But in the end he couldn’t.

Lutfuzzaman Babar was born on October 10, 1958. His formal education is up to HSC. In 1991, Babar was elected Member of Parliament for the first time from Netrakona. Then he was elected Member of Parliament in the controversial election of February 15, 1996. Last in 2001, Lutfuzzaman Babar was elected Member of Parliament from a seat in Netrakona. When the BNP was preparing to form the government immediately after that election, many within the party thought that Lutfuzzaman Babar would be given the responsibility of ‘an important ministry’.

After the BNP-led coalition formed the government in Bangladesh in 2001, Lutfuzzaman Babar was one of the few people who rose to power. Babar’s rise to power is believed to have been close to Tariq Rahman, the elder son of BNP leader and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. In the 21 August 2004 grenade attack case, on 18 March 2012, the names of 30 newly listed accused including Tariq Rahman and Lutfuzzaman Babar were added. He was sentenced to death in this case on 1 October 2018. In 2004, Babar was shown the arrest of 10 truckloads of arms in the 10 truckload arms case on 3 October 2010. He was sentenced to death in this case as well. One of the incidents that created a stir and great uneasiness within the government when the Khaleda Zia-led BNP government was in power in 2001-2006 was the recovery of 10 truckloads of weapons. The largest shipment of arms and ammunition in the history of Bangladesh was seized on the night of April 1, 2004. These weapons were brought by sea to the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer or CUFL jetty in two large trawlers.

Many observers believe that the recovery of a large quantity of weapons marked the beginning of a chilly relationship between India and the then BNP government. Officials at the time claimed that the BNP government seized the weapons under pressure from India. Otherwise those weapons would have gone into the hands of Indian separatists. The BNP, however, has always claimed that the weapons were seized because the government took action then. If the government wanted, they would have gone to the separatists of India. But whatever the statement, India’s relationship with the BNP government hit rock bottom after the arms recovery incident. Indian officials believe that, although not on such a large scale, arms have entered India’s northeastern region through Bangladesh at various times. The seizure of 10 truckloads of weapons has shown that. It was reported in the media that when these weapons were released at the CUFL jetty, they were seized with the help of the police headquarters. Among the recovered firearms were Chinese-made AK-47 rifles, semi-automatic rifles, rocket launchers, rocket shells, pistols, hand grenades, large quantities of ammunition and explosives. When these weapons were counted, they found 1,790 different types of weapons, 1.15 lakh bullets, 6.5 thousand magazines, 27 thousand grenades and 150 rocket launchers. The then DC (Port) Abdullahel Baki and AC (Port) of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police led the rescue operation from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. that day. Members of the Coast Guard participated in the rescue operation along with about thirty policemen.

Even before the recovery of 10 truckloads of weapons, India’s relationship with the BNP government was not going well. At the root of this was the security issue. India was very concerned about the security of its seven northeastern states. India’s complaint was that the BNP government was supporting insurgent groups in the northeastern region of the country. Ten trucks of weapons were caught in such a situation. Veena Sikri was the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka at that time. He said that the then rebel groups of Northeast India were doing various activities inside Bangladesh. When a large amount of weapons were caught in Chittagong, the then government’s involvement in these incidents came to light.

Towhid Hossain, Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, expressed doubts about whether the recovery of ten truckloads of arms had led to the final deterioration of relations between the BNP and India. He said, I don’t think that incident was final. These events have affected the relationship. But the main point is that they did not want BNP to be in power. If it was at all happening with full government support then two lower ranking police officers went and stopped it. What is it? It doesn’t happen. But some within the government may have been involved. Otherwise, the incident could not have progressed so far.

The then Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar said that 10 truckloads of arms and ammunition seized in Chittagong were brought inside the country for use and sabotage. Without directly referring to Awami League, the then State Minister of Home Affairs said, since they said that they will bring down this government by April 30, this issue cannot be ruled out. On the other hand, the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina demanded an international investigation into the seizure of arms.

 But in recent times, Lutfuzzman Babar has gained immense popularity among Gen-Z. Everyone is in awe of her boldness and smart moves and are sharing stylish pictures of her various poses on social media.