A new US report says that terrorist activities in Bangladesh continued to decline in 2018.
In its ‘Country Reports on Terrorism 2018’, released on Friday (Nov 1) in Washington, the Department of State said that though the security forces claimed to disrupt attacks, captured terror suspects and seized weapons, explosives, judicial "impediments" to prosecutions of suspects have "inhibited broader counterterrorism successes".
It also said that the unsuccessful prosecution of allegations of extrajudicial killings by law enforcers during counterterrorism raids has also dented the success.
The "pace and magnitude" of attack declined last year, according to the report, which also said that despite the secular writer-publisher Shahjahan Bachchu was murdered in Munshiganj and Professor Muhammed Zafar Iqbal was "seriously injured" in an incident in Sylhet.
"While the Bangladeshi government often attributed terrorist violence to local militants, al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and ISIS have together claimed responsibility for nearly 40 attacks in Bangladesh since 2015. Terrorist organizations used social media to spread their ideologies and solicit followers from Bangladesh. Bangladeshi militants have been featured in multiple publications, videos, and websites associated with ISIS and AQIS," reads the State Department report.
It said though the attacker of Zafar Iqbal identified himself as a member of an AQIS-affiliated group, Bangladesh investigators concluded that he had no ties to AQIS or other terror groups.
However, Bangladesh law enforcers suspect that perpetrators in the murder of writer-publisher Bachchu murder were affiliated with the AQIS, says the US report.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Security forces, including the Rapid Action Battalion and the Dhaka metro police's counter-terrorism unit, continued its campaign of arrests and raids against suspected terrorist, says the report before adding: "Many suspects died in these operations, sometimes described as the result of “shootouts” or “crossfire,” often euphemisms for extrajudicial killings."
Observers have questioned the veracity and significance of some of the reported terror raids, "describing them as either staged by law enforcement or inaccurately portrayed by the media", says the state department.
LEGISLATION AND BORDER SECURITY
According to the US state department, Bangladesh is yet to fully implement the 2012 and 2013 amendments to the anti-terror act.
However, despite lacking laws specific to foreign terrorist fighters, Bangladesh arrested suspected FTFs or facilitators of such fighters, says the report.
On border control, it, however, said the international community remains concerns about security procedures at the international airport in capital Dhaka despite the fact that the International Civil Aviation Organization certified it as 77.46 percent effective in safety standard compliance in 2017.
While law enforcement agencies shared information with INTERPOL, Bangladesh does not have a dedicated terrorist watchlist, the report.
Emphasising on an interactive Advanced Passenger Information system at ports of entry, it said the US is assisting Bangladesh in developing an 'Alert List' of known and suspected to terrorists to better screen for persons of interest.
TERROR FINANCING
Pointing out an absence of significant terrorist financing and money laundering cases last year, the US report described Bangladesh's judicial sector as 'under-resourced' to carry out prosecutions and obtain convictions in complex financial and material support cases.
"The Evidence and Criminal Procedure Codes date back to the nineteenth century and there is no provision for plea bargaining," it reads.
The state department says its Bangladesh counterparts agreed that the lack of a career civil service prosecution unit was a serious problem.
"Civilian attorneys are appointed ad hoc to prosecute cases. There is little coordination between law enforcement and prosecutors. Consequently, the overall conviction rate is below 20 percent, and a case can take as long as seven years from the filing of charges to sentencing," says the report.
