Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) Chief Additional Inspector General of Police (Add IGP) Md Rezaul Karim has said that, just because there is no militant activity at the moment, does not mean it can be guaranteed that there won’t be in the future. As such, he said, there is no room for complacency on the matter.
He made these comments in response to questions from journalists at a views-exchange meeting with journalists at the ATU headquarters in the capital’s Baridhara area on Thursday afternoon.
The newly appointed ATU chief said that Bangladesh is a peace-loving, tolerant Muslim country that believes in communal harmony. He highlighted the importance of freeing the country from militancy, terrorism, extremism, drugs and the growing online and cyber-crimes, especially among the youth.
“We will remain steadfast in the truth. If someone commits a crime, there is no way exemption for that crime. We have not seen anything like this in the country with militancy yet. If someone goes astray on their own or because of social media, we have opportunity to work there. We will monitor that and see if anyone suddenly goes astray,” he said.
When asked about the 36 Bangladeshis arrested in Malaysia, the ATU chief said that they have interrogated each one separately. “They are all working class people. During the interrogation, we learned that none of them were in on the crime.
“They thought that they had to help the distressed and helpless. For that, the Malaysian government has also cleared them. However, our interrogation is ongoing to find out who is behind this,” he added.
The Add IGP also said, “The people of our country do not believe in extremism, militancy and terrorism. However, sometimes there is a fear that some may deviate due to social media or after being influenced by someone or even due to domestic and foreign conspiracies. For that reason, we will keep these matters under surveillance, so that no kind of terrorism and extremism can be created in the future.”
He further said that the country’s soil and people belong to everyone – so a united effort is essential to deal with these problems. In this case, just as the role of specialised units is important, he said, the role of public cooperation, especially the media, is undeniable.
To help the common people with accurate information, the ‘Inform ATU’ app and a contact number have been launched, where the confidentiality of the informant will be treated with the highest importance.
