Deradicalisation Programme: Rab gets warm response on hotline
People looking for a window to shun the path of militancy have been calling a hotline number and writing to an email address the Rab has dedicated for its deradicalisation programme.
Rab launched the hotline number and email for its Deradicalisation and Rehabilitation Program on January 18.
Officials said most of the callers first wanted to be sure that they are actually communicating with Rab officers.
Intelligence Director Lt Col Mohammad Khairul Islam told The Daily Star that several suspected militants have contacted the officials.
"The suspects from different militant outfits called the hotline and asked how they could surrender. They told us that they were wanted in different cases.
"We asked them for the case documents so that we could examine the papers and give them feedback," said the intelligence director.
People willing to go back to normal life will have Rab's cooperation. But those wanted in criminal cases must go through the legal procedure, he added.
Nine members of different militant outfits surrendered to Rab on January 14.
The Rab initiative is the first institutional deradicalisation programme in the country, officials said, adding that a team of 12 experts are running it.
Additional Director General (operation) Colonel Tofail Mostafa Sarwar is its chief coordinator and Intelligence Director Lt Col Khairul is the member secretary.
Other Rab officers in the team include: a director of the legal and media wing, two members from the intelligence wing, one member from the investigation wing, and one other officer from the legal and media wing.
Other members include two religious thinkers, one psychologist, and one journalist, Rab officials said.
Major Roisul Azam, additional director of legal and media, said arrangements had also been made to rehabilitate the militants willing to surrender.
"Everyone is being helped to find the profession that is right for them," he said.
Officials said the programme is not for those who had crossed a certain line. There is no alternative to legal action at that point.
He said there were five stages of extremism that culminated in violent activities. Initially, the subject is sympathetic to extremism. At the second stage, they become supporters of extremism.
At the third phase, they take part in different programmes of the extremists and at the fourth, they become full-on extremists. Finally, they carry out violent attacks.
According to a Rab study, only 25.7 percent of the militant activities could be stopped by the law enforcers.
Col Sarwar said, "We wondered what could be done besides legal action against extremists. It is difficult to solve this problem by [traditional methods].
"That is why we have involved people from different walks of life."