This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

241213Z Jan 06

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