Dhaka protests US Secretary of State’s remarks
Bangladesh offers strongly protested against "baseless remarks and falsification" by US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo tagging Bangladesh with terrorist group al-Qaeda.
In his latest statement, Pompeo brought up Bangladesh as a location where in fact the terrorist group al-Qaeda completed attacks, falsely apprehending similar terrorist attacks in future.
"Such irresponsible comment by a senior leader is quite unfortunate and unacceptable," stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a protest note on Wednesday.
Bangladesh strongly rejected this kind of "baseless remarks and falsification", it said, pointing out that there surely is no proof any existence of al-Qaeda on Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, beneath the bold leadership of Primary Minister Sheikh Hasina, maintains a “zero-tolerance” policy against all forms of terrorism and violent extremism, and has been undertaking all practical methods and actions to address the menace, MoFA said.
"Our track record in countering terrorism offers earned us global appreciation," it said.
Good commitment to countering terrorism, Bangladesh has become a party to all or any 14 foreign counter-terrorism conventions and so are actively involved with worldwide ‘preventive’ initiatives to counter terrorism.
"Bangladesh considers that the US Secretary of State’s referring to Bangladesh as a possible location for al-Qaeda procedures, is indeed unfounded and offers no evidence," MoFA said.
If any such claim could be substantiated with facts, the federal government of Bangladesh will be pleased to take necessary methods against such activities, Dhaka said.
"However, if such a good statement is manufactured out of speculation, Bangladesh considers it incredibly unfortunate, specially found in the context of the ever-developing bilateral ties between your two friendly countries based on shared ideals, peace and prevalent goals," reads the affirmation issued by MoFA.
