The root causes of violent extremism should be sought out and communities should be engaged to fight the malice of terrorism, speakers at a seminar said yesterday.
Speaking at a lecture series programme organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) in the city, they also called for more investment on countering terrorism.
Addressing the programme, Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque said Bangladesh has joined the Global Community and Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) – a US initiative – as peace and development are the main pillars of its foreign policy.
“The definition of peace includes extremism and violence and by definition we are committed to work in a global initiative where we talk about violence, extremism and radicalisation,” the foreign secretary said.
He said two phenomena – climate change, and radicalisation and lack of peace – could wipe out all the achievements of Bangladesh.
At the programme, GCERF Executive Director Khalid Koser also gave a lecture on “Countering Violent Extremism: The Global Experience.”
Koser said it was very important to build trust between government officials and community members, and within communities.
He emphasised on raising community awareness about the threat of violent extremism and empowering communities to intervene and prevent recruitment to violence.
Also addressing the programme, Lt Gen Mainul Islam, chief of general staff of Bangladesh Army, said Bangladesh is not an extremist country and it was the responsibility of the political power to bring all the communities together. Democracy itself gave a platform to get communities together, he added.
Lt Gen Mainul also pointed out that the imams and maulanas in Bangladesh received throw-away payment, which could be compared to expenses of cigarette or internet or mobile bills of high-end officers.
“The facility, honour and respect are less in the grassroot level,” he said, urging the GCERF to address the issue of low payment.
On a separate note, he alleged that the United Nations was supporting the interest of former colonial powers and keeping their eyes closed against their wrongdoings.
As an example he cited the situation of one the places he served as a peacekeeper – Ivory Coast, which had a French colonial legacy.
“When UN troops fire for self defence, there is an inquiry but when French troops open fire there is no inquiry [in Ivory Coast],
Speaking there, Maj Gen (retd) Abdur Rashid, executive director of Institute of Conflict, Law and Development Studies, said not much investment was seen in countering extremism in Bangladesh.
He added that poverty-stricken society was not responsible for extremism, rather it was the enlightened societies that supported extremism and tried to give legitimacy to the destruction.
The GCERF, an initiative taken at the sideline of the 67th UN General Assembly meeting in 2013, registered in Geneva last September and selected five countries to float several pilot projects to aware the community about extremism.
The countries are Bangladesh, Mali, Nigeria, Morocco and Pakistan and initially the GCERF has $25m fund from eight countries and the European Union.
The pilot projects in the five countries would be funded by September this year.