Sheikh Hasina has said liberal forces are dominating Bangladesh now as she spoke on global as well as regional terrorism and extremism issues in an interview with a Dubai-based newspaper.
“Extremism has reduced considerably (in Bangladesh),” the prime minister told the Gulf News during her just-concluded visit to the United Arab Emirates.
“Bangladesh is committed to secularism.”
Hasina came back to Dhaka on early Tuesday ending a crucial three-day official visit when Dhaka signed number of agreements including security co-operation and transfer of sentenced prisoners with this major manpower destination.
She discussed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interests during the meeting with her counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
In her interview, on her arrival at Abu Dhabi on Oct 25, she spoke about her views on threats of terrorism in South Asia, in the Middle East and the world as a whole to the newspaper.
She was also asked about the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami, a party that the Gulf News said is accused of holding an extremist religious ideology in the subcontinent.
Hasina, however, said Jamaat had not been able to secure a “mentionable” political space in the subcontinent in the last 60 years or so.
“I do not think they will ever be able to set their feet strongly here and become a security threat at all,” she said.
The prime minister spoke of her government’s ‘zero tolerance’ on religious extremists and terrorists in Bangladesh since she assumed power for a second time in 2009 with a vow to eliminate them completely.
“In last five and a half years, we have achieved significant success in this regard,” she said, “the country is almost free of terrorism.”
She credited Bangladesh’s army, police and paramilitary forces with containing extremism.
“Extremism has reduced considerably and liberal forces are dominating Bangladeshi society.”
Hasina said she did not see ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq as “a major threat to anyone” and believed that Middle East had enough resources to combat it.
“It’s a matter of time when this will be over,” she said expressing Bangladesh’s readiness to support to join the international fight “if needed”.
She, however, reiterated Bangladesh’s position that it wants to see “a peaceful solution” to this threat keeping in tact the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Iraq and Syria.
“Our country is united in supporting Arab countries in combating these forces as and when needed,” she said.
Having said that, the prime minister said, Bangladesh would be engaged in Syria and Iraq crisis only under the United Nation’s humanitarian assistance programmes.
On Pakistan’s battle against the Taliban and other extremist forces, she did not think “the internal issues of Pakistan will have any bearing in the political situation of Bangladesh”.
She said no internal and external forces can harm South Asia if all countries remained united in their core objectives.
Poverty eradication, providing food, shelter, health care, sanitation, education, employment and empowerment of the people are the core objectives of the region, Hasina said.
Asked on the reports of young men from the Indian subcontinent joining ISIS, she said she was “proud to say she had not heard of anyone from Bangladesh joining (it)”.
“(Therefore) we do not consider them a security threat for Bangladesh,” she said.
Source: Bd news24