Country’s image tainted by extremist attacks: PM

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said on Sunday that the country’s image was tainted by the recent extremist attacks.
She made the remarks at a press conference at her Ganabhaban residence in the capital.
Asked if she would take steps for a national unity against extremism as called for by different political parties and professionals, Hasina, also the ruling Awami League president, said that a national unity had already been formed among the mass people against extremism after the recent extremist attacks.
Different political parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jatiya Party, which play as opposition in parliament in spite of having representation in the cabinet, called for a national unity or a national dialogue to resist extremism in the wake of extremist attack on a restaurant in capital’s diplomatic zone Gulshan and a police checkpoint near the country’s largest Eid congregation at Sholakia in Kishoreganj.
Indicating BNP, Hasina said that with the call for a national unity to stop ‘militant activities’ they wanted to mean that they would continue ‘militant activities’ if a unity was not formed with them.
‘There is no reason to take those who had supported terrorism, militancy and war crimes, into our confidence,’ she said.
During an hour-long press conference, basically organised to brief the press on the outcome of her recent participation in the Asia-Europe Meeting in Mongolia, the prime minister also ruled out any possibility of holding a dialogue with the political parties to resolve the crisis.
Asked about investigations into Gulshan and Sholakia attacks, she said that people would be astonished to see what would be revealed in the probe.
She said that her government and party had already taken a number of steps including formation of committee at each of the localities to create mass awareness and resist any sorts of extremism.
Hasina said that the extremists were now active not only in Bangladesh but all over the world and they were carrying out attacks everywhere including the United States, United Kingdom and France.
As for the Gulshan restaurant attack, the prime minister admitted that the attack pushed Bangladesh to a questionable positional and tarnished the ‘hard-earned image’ of Bangladesh.
She, however, said that if Bangladesh was to lose its honour because of the Gulshan attack, the world would need to lose it as such extremist activities were occurring across the globe.
Hasina said that the defeated force of the liberation war and their foreign allies started hatching conspiracy to tarnish the country’s image as they could not tolerate when Bangladesh became a role model for development.
The prime minister urged the people to stay alert to any sorts of extremist activities and to take steps on their own besides of the law enforcement agencies to resist such activities.
Asked if the government would take any action against North South University as some of its students were reportedly involved in extremism, Hasina said that the government would not stop the academic activities of the university.
‘It is unfortunate…How a teacher could derail his students…Parents should be aware so that none of their son and daughter get involved in the militant activities,’ she said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net