Bangladesh remains guarded against ISIS recruitment, says state minister

Bangladesh in compliance with the UN resolutions remains on guard against “possible enlistment” of its nationals with the ISIS and other international terrorist organisations, the state minister for foreign affairs has said.

“Bangladesh fully supports any initiative under the UN umbrella to combat the Foreign Terrorist Fighters,” Md Shahriar Alam said, as he highlighted the government’s efforts to advance “zero-tolerance” policy against terrorism.

Alam was speaking at the ‘Counter-Terrorism Conference 2016’ in Jaipur on Wednesday.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the conference on Tuesday, organised by the India Foundation in collaboration with the Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice, Jodhpur.

The UN Security Council in 2014 adopted resolutions on prevention of entry, transit, recruitment, organising, transporting and equipping of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) and the financing of fighters travel and activities.

This has been adopted in the wake of the global threats of the radical group Islamic State (ISIS) which recruits Muslims from different countries.

The state minister said Bangladesh remained committed to implement through its national mechanisms all relevant provisions of the Security Council Resolution.

He, however, said given the trans-national nature and spread of terrorism, “no single country can adequately contain this scourge”.

“It is, therefore, imperative to embark on global and regional cooperation”, according to his speech circulated in the media.

He condemned all terrorists attacks including those in India and Afghanistan and said Bangladesh had also been victims of terrorist attacks, apart from challenges posed by the fundamentalism and anti-liberation forces.

He, however, said that “terrorism cannot and should not be linked to any religion, civilization, nationality or ethnicity”.

He highlighted the need of women empowerment, education and job creation for all and a strong legal-institutional regime to counter root causes of extremism and terrorism.

“Terrorism and violent extremism is the result of critical and complex socio-political disorder and its solution is even more complicated.

“Counter radicalization is vital in minimizing the threat of extremism. The struggle is ultimately ideological,” the state minister said.

As for Bangladesh, he said, “we need to operate within our resources constraints”.

At the national level, Bangladesh has undertaken a series of legal, policy and administrative steps to combat terrorism including its financing.

At regional level, Bangladesh is engaged with the SAARC and BIMSTEC mechanisms to combat terrorism.

Internationally, Bangladesh is a party to all 14 universal anti-terrorism instruments.

He said Bangladesh also continues “to advocate for relevant human rights and humanitarian principles” in counter-terrorism efforts.

Bangladesh “strongly believes that terrorism and extremism remain major impediments to global peace and development”, he said.

The state minster also highlighted Bangladesh’s bilateral engagements with India, and said “we are enjoying the best of relations”.

“Our two countries have been cooperating in all sectors of political, security, economic, trade, and cultural relations”.

“Security cooperation particularly has been a high point of our bilateral relations,” he said, adding that the Burdwan blast case was “a good example of our close cooperation in this sector”.