Staff Reporter :
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Tuesday formally declared conclusion of the three-day International Police Chiefs Conference saying that it opened potential avenues for the engagement in various fields of law enforcement.
The conference ended with adoption of a ’17-point Dhaka Declaration’ with a call for intensifying cooperation among the South Asian nations to combat transnational crimes and extremism.
As many as 14 countries and four international organizations, who took part in the conference, adopted the 17-point Joint Declaration aiming at curbing transnational crimes and extremism in the region.
Shahriar said, “In the last couple of years, we have seen rise of terrorism and militancy in global plain, we need to stay alert and vigilant so that we do not fall victim to global terror networks.”
He said, “There can be spill-over effects of IS’s ongoing terrorist activities in the Middle East and other places, disturbing peace and security of our countries.
“As far as Bangladesh is concerned, there is no existence of Islamic State (IS) and other international terror outfits in the country,” he said.
The State Minister said that home grown militants carried out recent attacks in the country, adding, “There is no evidence till date to support the claim that they (Militants) had links with IS or other global outfits.”
Briefing reporters after the closing session, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque expressed satisfaction over the outcome of the conference saying that it was a successful conference.
“To implement the joint Dhaka Declaration we will have to sign MoU with law enforcement agencies of other countries. The Dhaka Declaration will become successful if our government gives consent to sign MoU with the law enforcement agencies of other countries,” the IGP said. In Dhaka Declaration, they vowed to promote exchange of information to curb terrorism and transnational crimes effectively in order to strengthen counterterrorism capabilities, he said.
The Dhaka Declaration stresses on efficiently dealing with the regional challenges of violent extremism and transnational organized crimes through cross-border cooperation among all police organizations in South Asia and its neighbouring countries, Shahidul Hoque said. The joint declaration included devising a common strategy to combat transnational crimes and violent extremism and establishing one to one communication through the National Central Bureau (NCB) of Interpol member states, he said.
The police chief said, “The main features of the Dhaka Declaration include working together to identify the recent trend of crimes that pose immense threats to this region and the world and from a common platform to enhance cooperation among chiefs of police of the region.”
The IGP said the declaration comprises promoting exchange of information to curb terrorism and transnational crimes effectively in order to strengthen the counterterrorism capabilities, developing and strengthening partnerships among law enforcement agencies of the countries and organizations.
“We will create professional network and strategic alliance among law enforcement agencies and leading organizations of the world and promote cooperation among respective investigators and prosecuting offenders involved in terrorism and transnational crimes,” he said.
We will strengthen cooperation to enhance capabilities to act against money laundering, cybercrime and financial crime as stated in the Dhaka Declaration, according to him.
The IGP said that he held bilateral talks the police chiefs of Myanmar, Afghanistan, South Korea, China, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Of them, he said, the Myanmar, South Korea, China and Malaysia police chiefs agreed to sign Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with the Bangladesh Police aimed at curbing transnational crimes.
“Agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar to prevent burning issues like human trafficking and drug smuggling is very important and the Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka gave his consent on police cooperation in this regard between the two countries,” he said.
Shahidul Hoque said, “I talked to the Facebook authorities and conveyed our concerns about the spread of propaganda on militancy, luring youths towards militancy, communal instigation and hurting religious sentiment through facebook and other social media.”
The social networking giant Facebook authorities refused to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh Police and said that their policy does not allow to sign MoU with a country but they assured of cooperating Bangladesh in this regard, the IGP said.
A total of 58 foreign representatives, including Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock and police chiefs from Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, China, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, South Korea, and Vietnam participated in the conference. Besides, high officials of Facebook, American IGCI and FBI, and ASEANPOL and International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), also attended the programme.
