PM seeks global effort to combat terrorism:Daily Sun

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 7th Asia-Pacific Intelligence Chiefs Conference at a city hotel on Tuesday. BSS Photo Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday reiterated her firm resolve to address multifaceted terrorism and called for investing a great deal of joint and coordinated global efforts to this end. “It’s in no way possible by any country to face th
e growing security challenges confronting the mankind. The world should work in a coordinated effort to combat the menace,” she said while inaugurating the 7th Asia-Pacific Intelligence Chiefs Conference in Dhaka. Hasina hoped the five-day conference will “remove the walls that divide you and reduce physical and psychological distance between and among you. It will help develop better cooperation and understanding”. Laying the conference’s importance under the present global context, she said, “The globe is going through hard times over the sharp rise of militant outfits which have been posing a serious threat to the mankind.” The PM said it is a great challenge for the peace-loving countries to face militancy. Expressing her firm resolve to tackle terrorism, she said any sort of threat would not discourage her tougher stance on violence. Referring to her 2009 UNGA speech, Hasina said, “Yet today, I would like to declare once again that not an iota of threat will be able to stop me from going after militants. I won’t step back even if it endangers my life.” “I’ll remain obligated until my death to the pledge of eradicating terrorism that I made at the United Nations General Assembly in 2009.” Putting emphasis on her political will in curbing terrorism, Hasina said Bangladesh has a zero-tolerance policy on terrorism. “Our experience shows that militancy spreads through the patronisation of political parties. We have taken measures so that no militant outfit can use the soil of Bangladesh for militant acts.” Bangladesh is an active partner of all international pacts, conventions and initiatives dealing with terrorism and militancy. “The country itself has framed necessary laws and took measures to face terrorism,” the premier said, adding that her government formulated a National Counter-terrorism Strategy in 2011. On action against terror-financing, she said the country has enacted laws and taken steps to check terror-financing in line with global laws and conventions. “Bangladesh Bank has taken effective steps to curb terror-financing.” “Owing to Bangladesh’s successful reforms to anti-money laundering and anti-terror-financing measures, Financial Task Force, an inter-state organisation comprising 34 developed countries and two regional organisations, removed Bangladesh’s name from their ‘grey list’,” Hasina noted. Bilateral deals and memoranda were also signed with the USA, the UK, India, Australia and few other countries to curb terrorism and militancy. Bangladesh plays a pivotal role in implementing the SAARC Anti-terrorism Agreement. Enhancement of law-enforcers’ capacity is the key to combating terrorism, Hasina observed. In view of this, she said, Bangladesh has taken measures to train and equip the country’s forces to prepare them better for fighting terrorism. Hasina said, “Terrorists don’t have any boundary. They are the enemies of the country, its people and the humanity. They are a bar to the world peace.” Terrorism has now a global facet like trade and commerce, she remarked. “In the past, terrorists used to work in isolation and had hardly any coordination with their associates in other parts of the world. But now, they work in a more coordinated manner with cooperation among different groups everywhere, thanks to technological boom.” Terrorists now enjoy increased mobility as they communicate with greater ease and have the vast territory to hide, the PM observed. She hoped that the conference would come up with better and effective ways to tackle terrorism and security issues so that the key goal of intelligence efforts, “establishing world peace”, can be achieved. Defence Intelligence Agencies director Douglas H Wise and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence director general Maj Gen Akbar Hossain also spoke. Ministers, PM’s advisers, chiefs of three services, foreign envoys and 27 defence intelligence chiefs of the Asia-Pacific region were present at the event jointly organised by Pacific Command of the USA and DGFI.