Bangladesh at high terrorism risk: Report
Bangladesh is at substantial risk of terrorist activity, according to a report released by non-profit think tank Institute of Economics and Peace.
The country ranked 23 among 162 nations in the Global Terrorism Index.
Bangladesh is among the 13 countries listed vulnerable to high terrorism risk and the third South Asian country at such a position besides Sri Lanka and Mayanmar, a press release said.
“At least 13 countries are facing a greater risk of substantial terrorist activity in the coming years,” the report said.
The countries are: Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Uganda.
The risk was calculated assessing “various political social and violence indicators,” it said. “In these countries there are currently low levels of terrorist activity.”
There are three statistically significant factors associated with terrorism: state sponsored violence, group grievances and high levels of criminality, according to the report.
“Political terror refers to human and physical rights abuses as measured by Amnesty International and US State Department. This includes violations of human rights, state-sanctioned killings, torture and political imprisonment,” the report said.
However, the report strongly dismissed any correlation between poverty and terrorism.
“Terrorism doesn’t arise on its own; by identifying the factors associated with it, policies can be implemented to improve the underlying environment that nurtures terrorism,” said Steve Killelea, Executive Chairman of IEP.
“The most significant actions that can be taken are to reduce state-sponsored violence such as extra-judicial killings, reduce group grievances and hostilities, and improve effective and community-supported policing,” he said.
In the report, Iraq continued to be the country worst impacted by terrorism.
Terrorism rose by 44% in 2013 and resulted in nearly 18,000 deaths. Terrorism was dominated by ISIL, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
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