The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

A senior security official yesterday ruled out the possibilities of foreign terrorist networks engagement in Bangladesh despite existence of several such local groups inside the country.

"So far Bangladesh has not imported or exported terrorism," a counter terrorism expert of Bangladesh Army Brigadier General Dr ATM Amin told a session of Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) here.

He said several terrorist groups with different objectives existed in the country while some of them operated with political sponsorships. In this regard he referred to 12 such so-called ultra-left "outlawed" groups and four "ideology-based" ultra- right outfits.

Amin, without elaborating, said drug trafficking or arms proliferation were also "relatively low" in the country despite existence of such outfits.

"But these groups could appear as threats to the national economy if they were not taken into consideration," he said.

Speaking at the same function, Home Secretary Abdul Karim, however, said with the launching of a massive drive against militancy the extremist outfits largely lost their strength while Bangladesh witnessed an extensive clampdown particularly on Islamist militants in the past one year.

Amin said an estimated easily derivable 10 billion US dollar investment by expatriate Bangladeshis could revamp Bangladesh economy while the stake of the black money was believed to be about seven billion.

He said Bangladesh so far got foreign investments from the other spill over economies while the "expatriates can contribute to a large extent to the economic growth in the country.

"We should look forward towards a sustainable economic growth," he said.

US-based financial institute executives Nasim Ali and Sabbir Ahmed presented another paper on investment environment saying expatriates were missing factors in economic partnership while the public and private sectors needed to form an engagement with the Bangladeshis living abroad.

They also asked policymakers and others concerned to view the investment issue from the perspective of "foreign investors" to redesign the policies and strategies to make the country an attractive destination of FDI.

"Its not the strength or higher intelligence, rather it is the adaptation capacity which Bangladesh needed most," they said in the presentation.

Former adviser of the caretaker government Manzoor Elahi chaired the session while managing director of UK-based Risk Advisory and Corporate FX Asia-Pacific Barlays Capital Lutfey Siddiqui presented another paper on practical challenges of attracting investment.

Siddiqui said while Bangladesh must fix a sustainable relation with India and China as even advanced countries were looking for economic partnership with those emerging economies.

Finance Secretary Dr Mohammad Tareque and executive chairman of Board of Investment Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed and Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad also spoke on the occasion.

BSS, Dhaka

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury on Sunday signed the condolence book opened at the Pakistan High Commission here on the tragic death of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

He was the first to sign the condolence book, said a foreign ministry press release.

Dr Iftekhar, who had earlier expressed his own condolences, signed the condolence book, on behalf of the government and people of Bangladesh, the release added.

Pakistan High Comm-issioner Alamgir Bashar Khan Babar received the foreign adviser on arrival at the high commission.

Later, the foreign adviser remarked, "The government and the people of Bangladesh are united in solidarity at the time of grief with the government and people of Pakistan, and with the bereaved Bhutto family."