Conspiracies against Bangladesh are not a new phenomenon. Myriad plots and intrigues have taken place since its birth. The ulterior motive was to prevent Bangladesh from developing as a non-communal state imbued with the spirit of the Liberation War. And the character of the conspirators is clearly perceptible. The communalist forces that opposed the birth of the Bangladesh, have repeatedly tried to change its socio-cultural and political character. The organized clique of communalists with their domestic and international allies has been constantly conspiring against the country. And the level of this conspiracy increased manifold after the trial of the war criminals had started, especially after the execution of their judgments one by one. Despite investing a huge amount of money in employing international lobbyists, when they failed to save the notorious war criminals like Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mujahid, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Motiur Rahman Nizami, they started weaving a web of intrigue against the judges and trial arrangers in particular and the country in general.

The conspirators' links have a multi-dimensional trajectory. In their camp can be found people directly aggrieved by the execution of war crimes, the lunatic fringe involved in their communalist and violent politics, and the people and parties, who were wolves in sheep's clothing. It was the nation's biggest irony that, they were in power, and still are trying to grab it. The conspirators have reached such an extent that their collaboration with Israel's central intelligence agency called 'Mossad' is now common knowledge. As part of the conspiracy to overthrow the ruling Sheikh Hasina government, they met the high-ranking officials of 'Mossad' in Kolkata, Delhi and London. Intelligence sources have preserved the pictorial record of the meetings which first appeared on a website called Jerusalem Online.com. Several other reports published in the newspapers also mentioned the date and time of the meeting of two influential leaders of BNP and Jamaat with the influential Israeli leader and Mossad agent Mendi N Safadi. A video conference with a BNP leader of Bangladesh has been in the limelight. The video footage of the conference has reportedly come to the hands of the detectives on the basis of which an initiative to arrest the person concerned had been taken. Above all, Safadi's assurance of total funding to the government has also been public knowledge. The news of the inclusion of Safadi in the conspiracy is certainly not a light matter to be dismissed.

The arrest of 27 expatriate Bangladeshi nationals by Singaporean law enforcement agencies in 2016 for their alleged involvement in militancy-related activities can also be considered as an expression of the conspiracy against Bangladesh. Out of those 27 people arrested in Singapore on charges of terrorism, 26 were forcibly deported back to Bangladesh. The main goal of the radicalized Bangladeshis receiving training in Singapore was to be involved in the armed Jihad ideology of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but in reality, when it became a bit too complicated, these brainwashed people planned to carry out Jihad activities in their own country. And they are engaged in the conspiracy to topple the pro-liberation government with Sheikh Hasina at the helm.

The main objective of the conspirators is to prove Bangladesh as a failed state. If the conspiracy is successful, the western world including the liberal democratic countries and the donors will turn their backs on Bangladesh. India also will turn its back. America will look for a way to establish military dominance in the name of curbing militancy. And Sheikh Hasina's government, being unable to bear so much pressure, may step down. Then, once again, the unexpected course of events will happen. The trial of war criminals will come to a grinding halt. The defeated forces of 1971 and their allies will seize power once again. This is the possible scenario if the conspiracy comes true.

The incidents of the killings of the noted bloggers and writers Abhijit Roy, Ananta Vijay Das, Niladri Chattopadhyay and publisher Deepan, Italian citizen Cesar Tabela, Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi, Shia mosque muezzin in Bogra, the killing in the Tajia procession at Hosseini Dalan, and the killing of the Rajshahi University progressive intellectual-- Professor Rezaul Karim Siddiqui and two gay activists are harrowing examples of plots hatched by the rabid wright-wing fanatics to assert their existence in the country. There is no particular reason to think of this serial killing spree as isolated incidents, even if there are differences in time and place. The killing of progressive people also points to the unbridled dominance of the reactionaries. Islamabad's unsolicited advocacy for the impunity of convicted war criminals can also be regarded as a conspiracy against the sovereignty of Bangladesh. By interfering in the internal affairs of Bangladesh, Pakistan proved that the country, once enemy of Bangladesh, is still an enemy even in the fast-changing world order.

Conspiracies are still being hatched up to discredit Sheikh Hasina Government. The World Bank's cancellation of Padma Bridge loan, US sanctions on the elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh police called Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the publication of US State Department's report on alleged human rights violations in Bangladesh without any prior discussion with the Government smack of a conspiracy theory. Indian analysts are also of the opinion that the sequence of events leading to violence during Durga Puja celebrations is part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize Sheikh Hasina government. Besides, the creation of so-called 1/11, Professor Yunus' all-out effort to form a political party, quite unbecoming to a Nobel Laureate, the British Jewish blogger--David Bergman's nose poking into Bangladesh's internal affairs, the organized smear campaign by hired hands are acts of criminal conspiracy.

If not properly countered, these conspiracies can pose serious threats to the very existence of our secular Bangladesh. The government should identify the crux of the problem and realize the urgency of the matter. There is no question about Sheikh Hasina's success in the politics of development. Now it's time to see how successful she becomes in suppressing the conspiracy against the country.

Dr. Rashid Askari: Bilingual writer, academic, translator and former vice chancellor, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh. Email: rashidaskari65@gmail.com