TERROR ATTACKS

Building image main job now

A day after the claim made by Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali that  the image of the country was not tarnished due to the terrorist attacks at Gulshan and Sholakia,  a number of senior government officials said they are engaged in a frantic effort to rebuild the image apparently lost due to the twin attacks. The government appears to have a tough job in hand to rebuild the image that might have been lost due to the recent militant attacks including in Gulshan and Sholakia and this is going to take a long time, senior government officials told The Independent yesterday. Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, at a press conference on Wednesday, declared unequivocally that the image of the country was not tarnished due to the terrorist attacks at Gulshan and Sholakia. Many officials, including some at the foreign ministry, however, disagree and were critical of the minister for his blunt denial. “He could have better handled the question. It is obvious that the image of the country was damaged due to these incidents,” said a senior official. European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon told The Independent in an interview on July 3 that the terrorist attack at Gulshan will definitely affect the image of Bangladesh.
“Of course, the image of Bangladesh internationally will be affected by this incident. At this time of global coverage of world affairs, it has already received massive attention from the international media,” he said. Always being in denial mode does not bring positive results, said the government officials yesterday, placing greater emphasis on proper strategy and planning to fight the menace of terrorism in order to introduce the country as a safe and secured one on the face of the globe.
“The job to rebuild the country’s image has already started with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leading the awareness campaign involving the whole society to de-radicalise people, preventing measures through the education ministry to stop young people from being radicalised and urging families to pay attention to their children’s activities,” said an official.
“It is not possible to address the problem by the government alone,” said another official.
Couple of foreign ministry officials, when asked, said that when foreigners express their concerns to them, they try to assure them and tell the measures that are taken by the government to fight terrorism. “We explain to them to the best of our ability to reassure them that the government is determined to ensure security of them and the foreign investments,” a senior foreign ministry official said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is now in Mongolia to attend ASEM Summit, will also brief the world leaders during bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
She is scheduled to hold meetings with nine leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni Silveri, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk.
Due to the fact that nine Italians and seven Japanese were killed in the Gulshan attack, naturally the issue will get prominence during the meetings with the prime minister of Japan and the foreign minister of Italy, said the officials.
European Commission president and European Council president, in their meetings with Hasina on Saturday, are likely to raise the issues related to terrorism, human rights and the recent arbitrary arrests, they said.
These meetings are very important because the European Union is Bangladesh’s largest market, Japan is the largest bilateral development partner and Italy is a big trading partner.
The Prime Minister will brief them on the security situation and detail the measures taken by her government to combat terrorism and ensure safety of the foreigners and foreign investments, the officials said.
She will lay emphasis on combatting terrorism collectively as it is not only a problem for Bangladesh, but also for the whole world.
“We are doing our job to control the damage. But, there needs to be a strong message of assurance from the prime minister in this regard and we hope the prime minister will do that. It is essential at this crucial moment,” said a senior government official.
“We somehow managed to contain the damage caused by the elections on January 5, 2014. Lately, officials from development partners did not mention polls or dialogue or new elections. When we managed that, then started the killing of writers, bloggers, publishers and members of the minority communities,” said a foreign ministry official in a dismayed voice. “When we were dealing with the latest killings, then we had the incidents in Gulshan and Sholakia,” he added.

 

TERROR ATTACKS

Building image main job now

A day after the claim made by Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali that the image of the country was not tarnished due to the terrorist attacks at Gulshan and Sholakia, a number of senior government officials said they are engaged in a frantic effort to rebuild the image apparently lost due to the twin attacks. The government appears to have a tough job in hand to rebuild the image that might have been lost due to the recent militant attacks including in Gulshan and Sholakia and this is going to take a long time, senior government officials told The Independent yesterday. Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, at a press conference on Wednesday, declared unequivocally that the image of the country was not tarnished due to the terrorist attacks at Gulshan and Sholakia. Many officials, including some at the foreign ministry, however, disagree and were critical of the minister for his blunt denial. He could have better handled the question. It is obvious that the image of the country was damaged due to these incidents, said a senior official. European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon told The Independent in an interview on July 3 that the terrorist attack at Gulshan will definitely affect the image of Bangladesh. Of course, the image of Bangladesh internationally will be affected by this incident. At this time of global coverage of world affairs, it has already received massive attention from the international media, he said. Always being in denial mode does not bring positive results, said the government officials yesterday, placing greater emphasis on proper strategy and planning to fight the menace of terrorism in order to introduce the country as a safe and secured one on the face of the globe. The job to rebuild the countrys image has already started with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leading the awareness campaign involving the whole society to de-radicalise people, preventing measures through the education ministry to stop young people from being radicalised and urging families to pay attention to their childrens activities, said an official. It is not possible to address the problem by the government alone, said another official. Couple of foreign ministry officials, when asked, said that when foreigners express their concerns to them, they try to assure them and tell the measures that are taken by the government to fight terrorism. We explain to them to the best of our ability to reassure them that the government is determined to ensure security of them and the foreign investments, a senior foreign ministry official said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is now in Mongolia to attend ASEM Summit, will also brief the world leaders during bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. She is scheduled to hold meetings with nine leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni Silveri, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk. Due to the fact that nine Italians and seven Japanese were killed in the Gulshan attack, naturally the issue will get prominence during the meetings with the prime minister of Japan and the foreign minister of Italy, said the officials. European Commission president and European Council president, in their meetings with Hasina on Saturday, are likely to raise the issues related to terrorism, human rights and the recent arbitrary arrests, they said. These meetings are very important because the European Union is Bangladeshs largest market, Japan is the largest bilateral development partner and Italy is a big trading partner. The Prime Minister will brief them on the security situation and detail the measures taken by her government to combat terrorism and ensure safety of the foreigners and foreign investments, the officials said. She will lay emphasis on combatting terrorism collectively as it is not only a problem for Bangladesh, but also for the whole world. We are doing our job to control the damage. But, there needs to be a strong message of assurance from the prime minister in this regard and we hope the prime minister will do that. It is essential at this crucial moment, said a senior government official. We somehow managed to contain the damage caused by the elections on January 5, 2014. Lately, officials from development partners did not mention polls or dialogue or new elections. When we managed that, then started the killing of writers, bloggers, publishers and members of the minority communities, said a foreign ministry official in a dismayed voice. When we were dealing with the latest killings, then we had the incidents in Gulshan and Sholakia, he added.