Reiterating her government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy against terrorism and violent extremism, prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said there would be no mercy for such acts, says news agency UNB.
The prime minister expressed this view when Italian deputy foreign minister senator Benedetto della Vedova met her at her official residence Ganobhaban in the afternoon.
After the meeting, PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.
Referring to her government’s steps to contain militancy and terrorism, Hasina said her government is trying to find out suppliers of arms and money to the terrorists.
Sheikh Hasina said her government has taken programmes to alert people about terrorism and militancy. “We’re getting tremendous response to this end from people.”
The premier said she has already talked to people of all levels of 64 districts through videoconferencing to create a mass awareness against terrorism and militancy. “People have become vigilant about these social menaces due to such campaigns and we’re going to resume such programmes soon,” she said.
About the barbaric attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on 1 July, the Prime Minister said, “We never expected such an incident. We’ve been able to tackle the situation within 10 hours, and subsequently our law enforcement agencies carried out some successful operations, killing and arresting some militants.”
At the outset of the meeting, Hasina reiterated her heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims killed in the Gulshan cafe attack.
In reply, the Italian deputy foreign minister said he would convey the prime minister’s condolences to the families of the Italian victims.
Senator Benedetto underscored the need for international cooperation in combating terrorism and militancy.
Expressing satisfaction over the Bangladesh government’s measures to tackle militancy and terrorism, the Italian deputy foreign minister said the government has a commitment to restoring the confidence of people in this regard.
Benedetto said terrorists want to divide and scare people, and stop their movement.
He highly praised Bangladesh’s achievement of GDP growth rate of 7.11 percent in the last fiscal year, describing it as ‘incredible’.
Benedetto said the Italian businesspeople want to come to Bangladesh to make investment. He, however, said security will have to be ensured.
He said Italy wants to cooperate with Bangladesh in ‘Blue Economy’ apart from RMG and textile sectors. “We want to help Bangladesh in its Blue Economy by providing expertise,” he said.
Source: Prothom Alo
