Ambassador Daud Ali Excluded from PM's Japan Visit Over Alleged Jamaat Links

The government has directed Bangladesh's ambassador to Japan, Md Daud Ali, to stay away from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's Tokyo visit over allegations of links with Jamaat-e-Islami. Such a step on the very eve of a head of government's visit is being described as unprecedented, and the matter is now at the centre of discussion in the country's leading newspapers.

According to the report, Foreign Secretary Md Nazrul Islam has been sent to Tokyo to handle preparations for the visit in the ambassador's absence. Replacing the serving ambassador with the foreign secretary for an event of this level has generated wide discussion in diplomatic circles.

An intelligence agency report claimed that Daud Ali is linked to Jamaat. The report said that, believing in the party's ideology since his student life, Daud Ali had helped organise a week-long Japan visit in May by Jamaat Ameer and opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman.

On that basis, the foreign ministry took action against the diplomat, who has 31 years of experience. He was urgently asked to return to the country by 16 October. After his return, he was directed to remain in Bangladesh until the Prime Minister's Japan visit is over.

Once the visit ends, Daud Ali will return to Tokyo to complete his farewell duties. He is scheduled to go on post-retirement leave (PRL) on 27 December. In other words, he has faced this decision at the very end of his career.

The report comments that this incident has once again brought to the fore the old wound of politicisation in Bangladesh's bureaucracy. Questions over diplomats' political links, and such action on the eve of a visit on the basis of those questions, have created fresh debate within the administration.

There are also major economic expectations surrounding the Prime Minister's Japan visit. Another leading report said Bangladesh is moving to attract 100 trillion yen — 6.36 billion dollars — in Japanese private investment over the next five years. The investment could come in setting up car and other manufacturing plants and in building energy infrastructure.

Discussions are under way between the two countries over this investment arrangement centred on the upcoming summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. A joint statement after the two prime ministers' meeting may mention this five-year private investment arrangement. The entry of Japanese companies, including Sumitomo Corporation, into the Bangladesh Special Economic Zone could also be part of the initiative.

It is because of the visit's importance that the ambassador's exclusion has become even more significant. The absence of Bangladesh's top diplomat in Tokyo during a visit involving such large investment talks, and the foreign secretary's presence in his place, are both now under observers' scrutiny.

Meanwhile, other leading national stories include the government's policy on energy security, a worldwide cyber alert over security flaws in the PHP programming language, and a government plan for market-based property valuation to curb tax evasion. Above all of them, however, today's most discussed story is this unprecedented decision to exclude the ambassador from the visit.

It remains to be seen how the Prime Minister's Japan visit proceeds under the foreign secretary's supervision and what formal explanation the government offers next regarding Daud Ali. The chapter is expected to close with his return to Tokyo after the visit and the completion of his farewell duties.