Govt remains vigilant

The government has been successful in controlling militancy in the country only because the citizens responded to calls from the prime minister and helped fight back, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said yesterday.

"However, we haven't been able to entirely uproot [militancy] yet," he said, adding that efforts are ongoing to this end and that the government remains vigilant.

He was addressing a discussion marking the launch of a whitepaper titled "2,000 Days of Fundamentalist and Communal Violence in Bangladesh", published by Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee at the capital's Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.

The whitepaper, prepared by a "people's inquiry commission" spearheaded by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, incorporates research on different militant and communal attacks in the country, from the Holey Artisan attack in July 2016 till December last year.

It makes a number of recommendations for government actions.

Speaking as chief guest, the home minister said he will place the recommendations before the PM and discuss it with her.

Saying that Bangladesh has created an example by successfully eliminating militancy at the root level, Nirmul Committee president Shahriar Kabir said they have suggested enhancing capacity of law enforcement agencies to aid the process.

However, a number of victims of communal attacks were facing harassment after police cases were filed against them, he said, urging the government to withdraw these cases.

Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon said he hopes that the government will pay due importance to the paper's findings and take effective steps.