The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Sunday strongly suggested destroying all illegal arms for ensuring security and peace in the country.

The Finance Minister said this while inaugurating a two-day regional seminar on small arms control in the city.

He criticised candidly the practice of keeping all illegal arms and ammunition intact after capturing those from smugglers, illigaly arms traders and miscreants.

"We see illegal arms and ammunition are captured, but often those disappear," he said adding, "Those must be destroyed right away after seizure, otherwise, all of the items just come back."

Official delegates from Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and host country Bangladesh, representatives of relevant UN agencies and SAARC secretariat, and major think-tanks in South Asia are participating in the seminar to devise their role in the global approach to control small and light weapons.

Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and UK-based Saferworld jointly organised the seminar.

Director General of the BIISS Major General Sheikh Md Monirul Islam and Saferworld Head of Asia programme Rosy Cave also addressed the inaugural session.

The Finance Minister termed the illicit arms trading a monster and cautioned about its threat to security, peace and development. He cited some statistics to show how much resources had been exploiting in producing arms and ammunition, trading those illegally and trafficking cross-borders.

"The amount is gigantic," Muhith said referring to the numerous incidents of arms conflicts around the world, which also cost huge to different nations.

He suggested giving more attention to the social and national risks of illicit arms trafficking.

The Finance Minister said, "Small arms do not get much attention from this point of high risk factor. So far, the world addresses only the landmine issue with significant success."

Like landmine, he said, risks of other weapons should also be addressed with due importance. He hoped that the seminar would recommend some measures to lessen the threat of the illegal small and light weapons.

Major General Sheikh Md Monirul Islam said the main purpose of the seminar was to support continuation of dialogue on the issue among South Asian states to ensure regional peace and security.

Rosy Cave said small arms had been a problem for countries around the world for long, but the magnitude of the arms conflicts was higher in this region.

She said her organisation had been working in Bangladesh since 2006 and endevouring efforts for security and peace.

The seminar will end today (Monday) with recommendations especially for the governments and law-enforcing agencies to control illicit arms trafficking in the region.