The United States is deeply concerned about the situation in Bangladesh, US Intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told NDTV World today, speaking about the persecution of religious minorities. She said that the Trump administration is focused and committed to defeat “Islamist terrorism” globally.
In an exclusive interview to NDTV World, United States’ Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said, “The longtime unfortunate persecution, killing, and abuse of religious minorities like Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and others has been a major area of concern for the US government and President Trump and his administration.”
She went on to say that the new Cabinet under Donald Trump has begun talks with the interim government in Bangladesh. “The talks are just beginning between President Trump’s new cabinet coming in and the Government of Bangladesh, but this continues to remain a central focus area of concern,” she said, while speaking about the rise of Islamic extremism and terrorist elements in Bangladesh.
In her remarks she spoke about the ideology of an “Islamic Caliphate” and how extremist elements and terror groups globally aim for such an outcome. “The threat of Islamist terrorists and the global effort of different terror groups are routed in the same ideology and objective – which is to rule or govern with an Islamist Caliphate,” she said, adding that “This obviously affects people of any other religion, other than the one that they find acceptable, and they chose to carry this out with terror and very violent ways and means.”
Ms Gabbard went on to say that Donald Trump is determined to identify and defeat such an ideology and end the rise of what he calls “radical Islamic terrorism”.
“President Trump remains committed to identifying the ideology that drives Islamist terrorism, and working to defeat this ideology and their ability exact that terror on people,” Ms Gabbard said.
Besides the violence and religious persecution in Bangladesh, its growing synergy with Pakistan’s notorious ISI has become a major cause of concern over the last two months.
Last month Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi stated that he was concerned about the presence of ISI officials in Bangladesh areas close to India’s border regions, especially the Siliguri corridor. Speaking to news agency ANI, General Dwivedi said that they must make sure that those anti-India elements must not be able to use that soil to send terrorists to India.
“I had used the word epicentre of terrorism for a particular country (Pakistan). Now those countrymen, if they go to any other place and they happen to be our neighbor, as far as I am concerned, I should be concerned about it. That they should not be able to use that soil to send terrorists to India,” General Dwivedi said.
When PM Modi and Donald Trump met in Washington in February, the US President had said that he will let Prime Minister Modi handle the situation in Bangladesh. “This is something that the Prime Minister has been working on for a long time. Frankly, I have been reading about it. I will leave Bangladesh to the Prime Minister,” President Trump said at a joint press briefing.
