Bangalee culture anti-radicalisation shield for youths

Engaging the young generation in Bangalee culture can be an effective way to prevent them from becoming radicalised, said Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique at a discussion on the rise of militancy yesterday.

“English medium schools, madrasas and private universities should have a common curriculum designed to instil a secular Bangalee culture in students,” he told the programme organised by the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in its auditorium.

A handful of students of English medium schools, madrasas and private universities have turned into militants, but that does not mean that those institutions should be blamed indiscriminately, he stressed.

Chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism unit Monirul Islam said militants often try to recruit students of English medium schools and madrasas where the practice of Bangalee culture is the least.

He also pointed out that imams and religious clerics have a responsibility to refute misleading interpretations of Islam. Journalist leader Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul also spoke at the event, presided over by IBA Director AKM Saiful Majid.

Earlier, a Counter Terrorism officer, citing the Federal Bureau of Investigation sources, told The Daily Star that forensic examination revealed that the Gulshan attack militants had not taken drugs.

Monirul, however, said police were yet to know for sure as the test results had not arrived.

“The viscera test did not find evidence of drug use. Since the viscera test cannot detect drugs taken over 12 hours before death, samples were sent abroad for examinations,” he said.