Government can’t handle situation alone, says US envoy Bernicat

The security situation in Bangladesh is too intense for the government to handle alone, US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has said in a remark about the rise in killings of secular activists and minorities.

She said the US wanted to provide help while speaking with Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

Their meeting followed the latest attack by machete-wielding assailants which claimed the lives of USAID official Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy at Dhaka’s Kalabagan on Monday.

On Saturday, Rajshahi University professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee was killed in the same manner while catching a bus to the campus.

It was not possible for any government or police to handle the situation alone,she told reporters after the meeting.

The US, she said, wants to help because a combined effort can solve the crisis at hand.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned Monday’s killings, saying Xulhaz, also an editor LGBT magazine Roopbaan, embodied the spirit of Bangladesh.

But the home minister, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said the US envoy lauded police’s work.

“I am not aware of what she (Bernicat) has told you. But she has praised police to us.”

“You know, how police went to the site in five minutes.  A policeman grabbed one of the attackers and was also hacked. Police fired. But they could not continue firing because there were people in the alley.”

The US ambassador during the meeting said militants from the Islamic State may be involved, but the minister denied that possibility, reiterating that the killers belonged to home-grown terror outfits.

“I’ve told her there are killings everywhere in the world and in your country too.

Two innocent Bangladeshis were brutally murdered.

“We proposed to her that we combat this together. We said please provide information if there is any… and take measures for training the police units we have.”

Home Minister Kamal said the US ambassador had welcomed the request for information sharing.

He said the envoy had been told about the directives issued by the prime minister on Tuesday in which she had stressed information-sharing so that the “initiatives and positions of the criminals became known to all.”

“We finally talked about sharing everything and doing everything to resist this type of terrorism.”

As per the advice of the US ambassador, an additional secretary (political) has been made the points man to handle the matter, the home minister said.

He also said a ‘cell’ would be formed in this connection in accordance with the prime minister’s instruction.

When asked about the prime minister’s other directives, he said: “She has asked all wings to work together. The steps to combat the terrorists have also been discussed.”

In reply to another question, he said Bernicat had not been emphatic about the alleged presence of the IS in Bangladesh.

According to the minister, Bernicat had said incidents were taking place despite the government’s claim that the IS had no organisational presence in Bangladesh. He added she was told that the incidents were the work of “home-grown” terrorists out to destabilise the country.

The talks also focused on strengthening the information-sharing mechanism with the FBI of the US and intelligence agencies of other countries, the home minister said.