Ministers asked to keep vigil against militant attacks

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday asked her cabinet colleagues to keep vigil all the time and launch ‘intensive campaigns’ against militancy among people from every walk of life amidst fear that more militant attacks might take place.
The PM gave the directives while presiding over the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Dhaka and Kishoreganj that rocked the country.
She asked all ministers to hold meetings with officials and employees of their respective ministries and agencies under them to motivate all against extremism, now a global threat, said a minister.
‘The prime minister has asked for constituting anti-terrorism committees at the grassroots level with social leaders and people from all walks of life to begin intensive campaigns against militancy across the country,’ the minister told New Age.
He said that the government feared more militant attacks to destabilise the country.
The prime minister criticised the role of some electronic media outlets in covering the overnight terror
attack at a Gulshan restaurant, saying that they did not behave responsibly.
Hasina lambasted a Bangla language tabloid in particular for projecting the actions immediately taken by police and Rapid Action Battalion as ‘futile exercises’ in a follow-up report on the Gulshan restaurant carnage, according to the minister.
The attack left 22 people including 17 foreigners and two police officers killed on July 1. Six suspected gunmen were killed in an army-led operation that brought the hostage incident to an end in the following morning.
Just within a week of the Gulshan attack, the militant attack near the country’s biggest Eid congregation at Sholakia in Kishoreganj killed four people including two cops on July 7.
The cabinet approved a draft of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Bill, 2016 that would replace a similar law promulgated in 1976 during a military regime, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told a news briefing.
It also endorsed a proposal for the ratification of the agreement signed with Kuwait for the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments. Another proposal for the ratification of a similar agreement signed with Bahrain for promotion and reciprocal protection of investments was also approved by the cabinet, Shafiul said.
Replying to a question, he said investors of Bangladesh would also be able to invest in Bahrain and Kuwait.
These agreements would facilitate investments from both Bahrain and Kuwait, he added.
The industries ministry placed the proposals in the cabinet meeting for ratifications.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net