Dhaka desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked ministers and the Awami League's (AL's) members of Parliament (MPs) to involve party leaders and workers in checking militant activities in their respective areas. She said this at a cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat yesterday.
After the meeting, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters: “In view of the present situation, the Premier asked all of us (ministers) to remain alert and involve our local activists in checking militant activities.” He said the Prime Minister also asked the media to play a responsible role, vis-à-vis militancy, because media coverage has been helping militant groups. The minister claimed that the sudden rise in militant activities in the country is part of international and national conspiracies. “Conspirators are trying to throttle the nation's development and also staining Islam. The situation could have been worse, but that hasn't happened because of our stepped-up efforts against militancy,” he said.
He said they have been able to control militant activities to a large extent. “People are no longer feeling panicky, as they are able to continue with their normal life,” he added. He claimed that the conspirators were trying to create panic among the people. On whether senior political leaders and ministers are under threat, the home minister said: “There is no such threat. But they (militants) may create any incident at any time.”
Asked how could they stock such a large quantity of explosives and weapons at Atiya Mohal in Sylhet, Kamal replied: “They might have done it over a few months. But law enforcement and intelligence agencies detected them.” Two militants have been killed so far in a para-commando operation, codenamed “Operation Twilight”, he said. They have not yet been identified. When asked about the identities of people inside Atiya Mohal, the minister said: “It is suspected that someone very big in the ranks of the militants is holed up there. You will come to know about their identities after the operation ends.”
The counter-terrorism unit of the police, in cooperation with the Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP), cordoned off Atiya Mohal, a housing complex in the Shibbarhi neighbourhood in South Surma upazila, last Friday. After the Army’s commando and para-commando units took charge of the operation on Saturday morning, a large quantity of explosives and weapons were found in the five-storied building.
