Shahriar Kabir at the meeting in Calcutta on Monday

Calcutta, Sept. 22: Bangladeshi human rights activist Shahriar Kabir today asked the Trinamul leadership to explain why it was “trying to protect” Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Hassan Imran before investigating agencies questioning him in the Saradha case give him “a clean chit”.

Imran has already been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with charges that money from the Saradha scam was also part-financing the Jamaat-e-Islami group in Bangladesh.

The role of the Rajya Sabha MP — one of the founder members of Students’ Islamic Movement of India (Simi), which was subsequently banned in Bengal — is also under the scanner of the CBI.

“There are reports about Imran’s connection with organisations such as Simi and Jamaat-e-Islami. But it seems Trinamul leaders are trying to protect him…. My question is why? Let the investigating agencies give him a clean chit,” Kabir said at a meeting of the Committee for Upholding Secularism.

The committee is an India-Bangladesh forum to protest communalism. Kabir was the main speaker at its first meeting today.

The comments by Kabir come at a time the role of the Trinamul MP in alleged cross-border money laundering has figures in both political and bilateral talks.

BJP’s national spokesperson and the party’s Bengal minder, Siddharth Nath Singh, had recently spoken about Imran’s alleged connection with terror outfits in Bangladesh, referring to intelligence reports.

Bangladeshi foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, who was in India recently, had also conveyed to national security adviser Ajit Doval the neighbouring country’s concerns about how Saradha funds could be helping terror outfits.

While Imran had rubbished the allegations, saying he had nothing to do with Jamaat, a political outfit in Bangladesh with alleged extremist leanings, the Trinamul leadership put its weight behind him.

“A representative of the minority community is being given a bad name only because he is a Trinamul MP. This reminds me of the film My Name is Khan,” minister Firhad Hakim had said in a news conference at Trinamul Bhavan some days ago.

No one from the Trinamul camp was available for comments on the allegations.

Officials in the Bangladesh government had said they expected Mamata Banerjee to walk the extra mile for better ties between the two countries, but her resistance to the Teesta Water Accord and the Land Boundary Agreement — to swap enclaves — has dashed those hopes.

“Now, there are reports that a Trinamul MP is involved with Jamaat, which is trying to de-stablise our country,” a senior Awami League leader said.

Kabir today tried to alert the Trinamul leadership about the manner in which Jamaat has been allegedly trying to infiltrate into its organisation.

“Jamaat has been a traditional ally of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, but recently they are trying to penetrate into the Awami League organisation… The Trinamul leadership should not allow that to happen,” Kabir said.

There have been intelligence reports that some Jamaat leaders crossed over to India to escape the Bangladeshi police — after the Sheikh Hasina government started a crackdown on extremist elements trying to unsettle the country — and some Trinamul leaders allegedly provided them shelter.

Kabir today made it clear that support from India for organisations such as the Jamaat was a matter of grave concern for his country.

“Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has tried her best to flush out Indian insurgent groups like the Ulfa from Bangladesh. If it is true that Bangladeshi terror outfits are getting support from Bengal, it is unacceptable,” Kabir said.

“If organisations like Jamaat are allowed to spread, it poses a security threat to the entire South Asia,” he added.