SECURITY FOR FOREIGN DIPLOMAts

Missions can avail bulletproof cars

The government has decided to allow the foreign diplomatic missions to have bulletproof cars and use ordinary number plates for their cars for enhanced security, foreign ministry officials have told The Independent. It also addressed the issue of enhanced security of the diplomatic mission along with the personnel in addition to the beefed-up security by forming a pool of Ansars to be recruited by the missions on payment, they said. On August 30, the foreign ministry sent note verbale (diplomatic communication) to all the diplomatic missions in Bangladesh with the proposal that they can hire armed Ansar personnel for enhancement of their security on payment, said the officials, adding that the government earlier decided to turn down the requests of foreign diplomatic missions including the United States embassy to allow private security personnel to carry arms for their additional security.
But, not a single diplomatic mission has yet contacted with the authorities concerned to receive the on-payment service of the Ansars, they said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali will brief the foreign diplomats today at the state guest house Padma on the prevailing situation including security issues.
“It’s about two weeks we have sent the note verable proposing to deploy armed Ansars on payment for enhanced security, but not a single mission is yet to express willingness to avail the service,” a top foreign ministry official said. When asked about the mechanism of hiring Ansars, he said that there are contact points to contact for receiving this service.
“We cannot allow their request to allow private security forces personnel to carry arms because our laws don’t allow this,” he added.
The official also informed, “We have also decided to comply with some missions’ request to use white number plates (ordinary number plates) in their cars instead of diplomatic number plates. Their diplomatic number plates will also be kept into the cars to show if or when required.”
“By doing this, cars carrying diplomats will not look different from other ordinary cars,” he said.
“Some of the missions’ request of having bullet-proof cars will also be entertained. There will be no restriction as to how many cars a mission will have,” said the official.
With this, he added that all the three requests of some of the missions are being entertained.
About the diplomatic briefing today, the official said that last briefing was held over two months ago and things have changed for better since then.
“We will listen to what they have got to say. We will also tell them what we have to say,” he said.
According to the officials concerned, the diplomats will be apprised of the measures taken by the government in last two months and will be reassured about the
security.
They also said that the decisions regarding on-payment Ansars, white number plates and bullet-proof cars were taken in four meetings of the Taskforce for Security for Diplomatic Missions and Foreign Nationals on Tuesday headed by Foreign Minister Ali. The officials also said that there precedence in many countries of allowing private security guards with arms, ordinary number plates and bullet-proof cars. “Since our laws don’t allow, we cannot allow the first one. But, we can allow the remaining two as those are doable,” said a senior official.
According to the officials, a pool of Ansar personnel has already been selected and trained to be hired. The training includes etiquette and manners, they said.
The cost of service of an Ansar will be $250 per month, the officials said.
Any diplomatic mission can avail this service, they informed. Following the killings of Italian national Cesare Tavella and Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi last year, some missions including embassies of the US and Spain became worried about their security and thought of additional security for them, the officials said. They floated this idea of armed private security guards in addition to the beefed-up security already provided by the government, they said.
Following the death of USAID Bangladeshi official Xulhaz Mannan and his friend, the US embassy and some other embassies started pressing on this issue prompting the government to come up with a plan to provide additional security for the diplomatic missions and foreigners, said the officials.

SECURITY FOR FOREIGN DIPLOMAts

Missions can avail bulletproof cars

The government has decided to allow the foreign diplomatic missions to have bulletproof cars and use ordinary number plates for their cars for enhanced security, foreign ministry officials have told The Independent. It also addressed the issue of enhanced security of the diplomatic mission along with the personnel in addition to the beefed-up security by forming a pool of Ansars to be recruited by the missions on payment, they said. On August 30, the foreign ministry sent note verbale (diplomatic communication) to all the diplomatic missions in Bangladesh with the proposal that they can hire armed Ansar personnel for enhancement of their security on payment, said the officials, adding that the government earlier decided to turn down the requests of foreign diplomatic missions including the United States embassy to allow private security personnel to carry arms for their additional security. But, not a single diplomatic mission has yet contacted with the authorities concerned to receive the on-payment service of the Ansars, they said. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali will brief the foreign diplomats today at the state guest house Padma on the prevailing situation including security issues. Its about two weeks we have sent the note verable proposing to deploy armed Ansars on payment for enhanced security, but not a single mission is yet to express willingness to avail the service, a top foreign ministry official said. When asked about the mechanism of hiring Ansars, he said that there are contact points to contact for receiving this service. We cannot allow their request to allow private security forces personnel to carry arms because our laws dont allow this, he added. The official also informed, We have also decided to comply with some missions request to use white number plates (ordinary number plates) in their cars instead of diplomatic number plates. Their diplomatic number plates will also be kept into the cars to show if or when required. By doing this, cars carrying diplomats will not look different from other ordinary cars, he said. Some of the missions request of having bullet-proof cars will also be entertained. There will be no restriction as to how many cars a mission will have, said the official. With this, he added that all the three requests of some of the missions are being entertained. About the diplomatic briefing today, the official said that last briefing was held over two months ago and things have changed for better since then. We will listen to what they have got to say. We will also tell them what we have to say, he said. According to the officials concerned, the diplomats will be apprised of the measures taken by the government in last two months and will be reassured about the security. They also said that the decisions regarding on-payment Ansars, white number plates and bullet-proof cars were taken in four meetings of the Taskforce for Security for Diplomatic Missions and Foreign Nationals on Tuesday headed by Foreign Minister Ali. The officials also said that there precedence in many countries of allowing private security guards with arms, ordinary number plates and bullet-proof cars. Since our laws dont allow, we cannot allow the first one. But, we can allow the remaining two as those are doable, said a senior official. According to the officials, a pool of Ansar personnel has already been selected and trained to be hired. The training includes etiquette and manners, they said. The cost of service of an Ansar will be $250 per month, the officials said. Any diplomatic mission can avail this service, they informed. Following the killings of Italian national Cesare Tavella and Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi last year, some missions including embassies of the US and Spain became worried about their security and thought of additional security for them, the officials said. They floated this idea of armed private security guards in addition to the beefed-up security already provided by the government, they said. Following the death of USAID Bangladeshi official Xulhaz Mannan and his friend, the US embassy and some other embassies started pressing on this issue prompting the government to come up with a plan to provide additional security for the diplomatic missions and foreigners, said the officials.