PM seeks global effort to block terrorists' weapon supply line

Desk Report: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday called for a concerted global initiative to block supply lines of weapons and money to terrorists to ensure the effectiveness of anti-militancy campaign.

"We must stop the source of supply of arms to the terrorists and we have to stop the flow of financing to the terrorists and their outfits," she said in a written statement to the Arab-Islamic-American Summit at King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in the Saudi capital here.

The Bangladesh premier simultaneously urged Muslim nations to shun divisions within Islamic Ummah and pursue the principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes through dialogues for "addressing the divides leading to a win-win situation for all".

Saudi Arabia's King and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, US President Donald Trump and Presidents and premiers of Arab region and other Islamic countries also spoke on the occasion.

Sheikh Hasina said terrorism and violent extremism posed a major threat not only to global peace and development but eventually also to human civilization.

"Its spread would not spare any country, religion or people," she said.

The premier said Bangladesh maintains "zero tolerance" policy to all forms of violent extremism and always stood firm against any terrorist individual or entity barring them to use its territory or resources.

"Terrorists do not have any religion, belief or racial identity though they may come from any religious background," she said calling upon the world leaders not to use Islam to refer to the terrorists.

Being a religion of peace, the premier said, Islam never supports violence or killing and "we denounce the use of religion to justify any form of violent extremism".

The Bangladesh premier said war-ravaged countries like Iraq and Syria became centres of recruitment and operation for terrorist organizations and called for launching a reconstruction and development plan for such middle-east countries following the instances of US-sponsored post-Second World War Marshall Plan.

BSS


risingbd/Dhaka/May 22, 2017/Saif/Nasim