Women tilting towards militancy

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Nuruzzaman Labu
Published : 07:30, Dec 11, 2019 | Updated : 07:30, Dec 11, 2019

FILE PHOTOThe number of women associated with militancy is rising. Some are becoming radical willingly while others are being indoctrinated. In many cases, husbands are responsible for wives becoming militant. Many women are being influenced by their friends at college and in the name of religious education getting sucked into the vortex of fundamentalism.
In the last three years, 85 women radicals have been arrested by law enforcers and 11 women died either by committing suicide or during raids by law enforcers.
The information came out at the two day seminar against extremism organized by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC). Here, the main essay “women in terrorism and preventing extremism” was read out by deputy police commissioner Abdul Mannan.
The event was inaugurated by speaker of the national parliament Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury. It is organised jointly by CTTC, USAID and the UN.
Abdul Mannan said: “The trend of women becoming radical is rising and the main reasons are: “loyalty to husbands, lack of education, indoctrination through online and off line religious education.”
FILE PHOTOSince women do not have economic security, they are reliant upon their husbands. As a result, if the husband becomes involved in militancy, he takes the wife into his ideological sphere and as a duty, the wife cannot refuse, said the paper.
The moderator of the seminar, Dr Tania Huq of the department of Women Studies of Dhaka University, said: “The inherent empathy in women needs to be used to fight militancy.”
FILE PHOTOHuman rights activist Nur Khan Liton, added: “In matters of radicalism, there’s no way to separate women and men. All stakeholders need to work together. For this, the family bond has to be strengthened.”
Media worker Sheikh Sabiha added: “To prevent radicalism, the first focus has to be on education. Children must have entertainment and creative pursuits.”
In one session, additional police commissioner, Monirul Islam, shared information regarding efforts taken to prevent violent militancy and radicalization.

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