Block supply of arms, money to terrorists

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for a concerted global initiative to block supply of weapons and money to terrorists to ensure the effectiveness of anti-militancy campaigns.

“We must stop the source of supply of arms to the terrorists and we have to stop the flow of financing to the terrorists and their outfits,” she said in a written statement to the Arab Islamic American Summit at King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre in Riyadh Sunday.

The PM urged the Muslim nations to shun divisions within the Islamic Ummah and pursue the principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes through dialogues.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, US President Donald Trump and presidents and premiers of some other Arab and Islamic countries also spoke at the programme.

Hasina said terrorism and violent extremism posed a major threat not only to global peace and development, but also to human civilisation.

She said Bangladesh maintains “zero tolerance” policy to all forms of violent extremism.

“Terrorists do not have any religion, belief or racial identity,” she said, calling upon the world leaders not to use the term Islam to refer to terrorists.

Being a religion of peace, Hasina said, Islam never supports violence or killing.

The war-ravaged countries like Iraq and Syria became centres of recruitment and operation for terrorist outfits, she added.

The PM called for launching a reconstruction and development plan for such Middle Eastern countries following the instances of the US-sponsored post-Second World War Marshall Plan.

Hasina, however, feared that the global refugee crisis could largely contribute to the rise of terrorism and violent extremism as “refugees could be a potential breeding ground of terrorists and extremists”.

About Bangladesh's initiatives to combat terrorism, she said the law enforcement agencies were well prepared and equipped with proper training to combat extremism and they effectively dealt with homegrown terrorists.

Besides, the government launched a massive campaign to make people aware against the menace, she told the programme.

The premier said she was holding meetings and exchanging views with people, specially with public representatives, teachers, students and Imams of mosques, to build a social movement against terrorism and militancy.

Hasina expressed her gratitude to King Salman for inviting her to the summit. She also thanked the King for his initiative to set up the Islamic Counter Terrorism Centre in Riyadh.