The inspector general of police has rejected the comments of a terrorism analyst on the presence of Islamic State in Bangladesh.
Prof Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said on Sunday that Bangladesh Police needed to tell the truth about the recent bout of terrorism.
“The Holey Artisan attack was mounted by Islamic State, influenced by the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria,” the professor said while presenting the keynote paper for an international conference of chiefs of police in Dhaka.
IGP AKM Shahidul Hoque told journalists yesterday that Gunaranta’s comments were his personal opinion and they were groundless.
“Prof Gunaratna expressed his personal views at the conference. He does not have any ground-level practical experience regarding militant issues in Bangladesh,” Shahidul said.
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“There is no Islamic State in Bangladesh,” he reiterated.
The Gulshan Holey Artisan Bakery attack last year was carried out by home-grown terrorists, but they may have contacts with the Middle-Eastern terrorist group through the Internet, the IGP said.
“Prof Gunaratna is not a police officer. He is not even a military officer. He does not deal in security issues as he is an academician. He is a university teacher and he has done some research. His claim is nothing but his personal opinion,” he said.
“We have arrested many people from the group he calls Islamic State. None of them have said they are IS,” he countered.
“They usually say their spiritual leader’s name, or Sarwar Jahan’s name.”
Many militants were killed in police drives, but the Islamic State has not hailed any of them as members, the police chief said.
“We do not endorse Prof Gunaratna’s statement,” he added.
The three-day long regional conference of police chiefs of South Asia and neighbouring countries began Sunday at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka. The theme of the conference is “Regional Cooperation in Curing Violent Extremism and Transnational Crime.”
Thursday, April 25, 2024
