The cabinet has ordered a nationwide intensification of anti-militancy security, and intelligence vigilance, against the backdrop of recent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.
The order came at a council of ministers meeting, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, on Monday.
“Directives were issued [at the meeting] for anti-militancy precautions and the enforcement of an intensified nationwide intelligence vigilance,” Dr Md Shamsul Arefin, the cabinet division’s senior secretary for coordination and reforms, said at a media briefing at the Bangladesh Secretariat, reports BSS.
He said the cabinet issued the directives referring to the terrorist attack in Sri Lanka. The meeting simultaneously condemned the assault and took two condolence motions for the victims, in general, and particularly, Zyan Chowdhury, senior Awami League leader Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim’s grandson.
The cabinet conveyed its deep sympathy to the bereaved family members, prayed for peace of the departed souls, and wished for the speedy recovery of the injured including Zyan’s father Moshiul Haque Chowdhury.
The meeting, Arefin said, also asked all people to stay alert against militancy and terrorism, reports BSS.
A series of near-simultaneous terror attacks killed 253 people—including 36 foreigners—and wounded some 500 others on April 21 in Sri Lanka. According to the official the meeting, held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), reiterated Bangladesh’s “zero-tolerance policy” for terrorism and vowed to stand by the Sri Lankan government and its people.
Arefin said the cabinet, in principal, approved the draft of Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistant Centre Act, 2019, aimed at increasing the skill of labourers both in public and private industries, revising a 1962 ordinance.
He said the proposed law prescribed the formation of an 11-member board of directors to run the Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistant Centre (BITAC).
The meeting, he said, also approved the draft of “Agreement on Cultural Cooperation” with Lebanon through exchange of views and expertise, acknowledging the Middle Eastern nation’s rich cultural heritage.
