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Editorial

Hasina’s ‘zero tolerance against terrorism’

A role model to the rest of the world


Bangladeshpost
Published : 09 Aug 2019 07:09 PM | Updated : 04 Sep 2020 08:13 PM

It is encouraging to note that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday highly acclaimed his counterpart Sheikh Hasina’s “zero tolerance” policy against any sorts of terrorism and religious extremism and called Bangladesh a role model for religious harmony. This he mentioned when Bangladesh home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal called on him in New Delhi. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s zero tolerance policy against terrorism has been hailed by the governments, Intelligence agencies and media all over the world.

Following the government’s zero tolerance policy against terrorism and drugs, over the last few years, law enforcing agencies have been trying to destroy militancy with an iron-hand by conducting countrywide anti-militant drives. Reports show that from 2013 to January 2018, law enforcers conducted 93 anti-militancy drives from 2013 to January 2018 aimed at eliminating militants and terrorists from the country. During the anti-militancy drive, 58 militants were killed and 265 terrorists were arrested. And thus Bangladesh has become a blazing instance to the rest of the world in curbing militancy and terrorism.


Bangladesh has done a lot to counter extremists’

ideology in the physical space and now 

the country needs to counter that in virtual space too


Since the Holey Artisan attack, we have seen some strong anti-militancy campaign around the country to curb the growing risks of militant attacks. Three years on, law enforcers now claim that militant groups have mostly been demolished, but fear of terror attacks continues to grow as terrorists are now being recruited through internet. Bangladesh has done a lot to counter extremists’ ideology in the physical space and now the country needs to counter that in virtual space too.

It is clear that as long as militancy is an ideological paradox and there are anti liberation forces, it would be a challenge to wipe out militancy from this soil. The war against terrorism is a form of asymmetric rivalry. The odds are in favor of terrorists. All they have to do is succeed once, no matter how many times they try. These days, it is necessary to consider any place where crowds congregate as “easy targets” for the attackers. Hence, keeping Eid-ul-Adha in focus, law enforcers should intensify their security measures to avert any terror attack during the celebration. All the major bus stops, train stations, launch terminals, shopping malls and cattle markets should be monitored by law enforcers and all such public places must be under CCTV surveillance. We all need to be vocal against terrorism and militancy to make the pertaining development sphere sustainable.