Bangladesh will counter terrorism and violent extremism jointly with the United States in the backdrop of the growing interest of Washington to have a concrete partnership with Dhaka to tackle the global spread of terrorism.
“We always say that terrorism is a global threat. This is not only in Bangladesh. The threat is more or less under the control of our security and intelligence forces. We want to face it unitedly [with the US],” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters on Monday.
The US has recently sent in a number of delegates in Bangladesh to discuss the security issues and understand the situation in Bangladesh as the attacks and killings of foreigners, bloggers, publishers, teachers and members of the religious community has increased significantly.
After the killing of US government staff Xulhaz Mannan in Dhaka, Secretary of State John Kerry had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Kerry also sent State Department Assistant Secretary Nisha Desai Biswal to Dhaka followed by his deputy William Todd, who came to Bangladesh on May 12 and left on May 18.
Todd’s delegation had many meetings with officials of the home and foreign ministries and the police to understand what Bangladesh needs to face counter terrorism and violent extremism.
The US official visited Dhaka last November following the killing of two foreign nationals, and another operational level security delegation in January.
State Department Civilian Security Undersecretary Sarah Sewall and Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Alan Bersin also visited Dhaka in March.
Home Minister Kamal said Bangladesh shared a “need list” with the US to tackle the threat.
The minister said the police need modern technology to counter cybercrimes and training to increase capacity in order to curb terrorism and violent extremism.
“We requested for these things and let’s see what Washington gives us,” he added.
A senior government official, seeking anonymity, said Xulhaz’s killing changed the whole scenario.
Police have done an assessment of their needs and provided the list to Washington, which is a very significant development for forging cooperation with the US.
The senior official said Xulhaz was an employee of the US government and very close to the ruling class of Bangladesh, however, he ended up as a victim of extremism.
The US embassy felt troubled after the murder and sought extra security for their officials and the government has boosted security for them, he said.
The upcoming partnership dialogue at the foreign secretary level will be held in Washington on June 24 and 25, and the security issue will get priority, the official said.
After the killing of Xulhaz, US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat said in April on CNN: “What’s been happening here is not at all characteristic of Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh is also closely working with India to fight terrorism and violent extremism.
“This is an issue which is of direct concern to us as neighbours and we are in touch and we work closely bilaterally and closely together on those matters,” Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said while in Dhaka early this month.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque had agreed with his Indian counterpart and said both of them discussed eliminating terrorism and extremism.
“For this, we are working bilaterally, regionally and internationally,” he said.
Source: Ittefaq