The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Speakers at a dialogue in the city yesterday said the new government in its fight against terrorism should put emphasize on the role of student community.

"Students have a big role to play - to understand and combat terrorism. Terrorists use students in their nefarious activities, often luring them with cash incentives and exploiting their religious beliefs and even some international incidents," they said.

The dialogue, titled 'Understanding Terrorism in Bangladesh and Its Impacts on Youth', was organized by BEI Student Forum at Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) conference room in the city's Gulshan.

BEI president Farooq Sobhan chaired the inaugural session of the dialogue while Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Dr SMA Faiz was the chief guest.

Speakers blamed poverty, unemployment, lack of trust in political culture, especially in student politics, as well as drug addiction, availability of illegal arms and explosives, and police-criminal nexus for students to become a terrorist in South Asia, including Bangladesh.

Terrorists also misguide the madrasah students exploiting their emotions and religious values, they said, adding that lack of proper Islamic knowledge creates "Islamist militants."

BEI president Farooq Sobhan said they have already made some recommendations to the immediate past caretaker government on counter- terrorism measures. These recommendations could be considered by the new government, he suggested.

BEI vice-president and former Ambassador Tariq Karim, Canadian High Commissioner Robert McDougall, Turkish Ambassador Sakir Ozkan Torular, Prof Dr Imtiaz Ahmed of the Dhaka University and Air Commodore (retd) Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury of University of Asia Pacific, among others, took part in the working sessions of the dialogue.

Dhaka University student Sifat Uddin, Ishtiaque Alam Russel of Jahangirnagar University and a madrasah student, Aminul Islam, presented three keynote papers at the dialogue.