A Bangladesh foreign ministry statement says ‘there is no evidence of al-Qaeda’s presence’ in the South Asian country.
Bangladesh has strongly criticized comments from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a South Asian country as a place where the al-Qaeda group carried out attacks.
“These irresponsible comments from a senior director are very unfortunate and inappropriate. Bangladesh strongly rejects such comments and unfounded falsification, ”Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
In a statement published a day earlier on the U.S. Department of State website, Pompeo described some countries as “terrorist hubs”, drawing criticism from several quarters.
He also said that Iran is the new home of al-Qaeda, a statement Tehran also protested.
“Also consider the possibility of completely exploiting fragile areas with an established al-Qaeda presence such as Libya, Yemen, and the Maghreb, or rising unrest in places like Bangladesh, where al-Qaeda cells have launched attacks,” Pompeo said in the statement.
In response, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry statement said “there is no evidence of al-Qaeda’s presence” in the Muslim-majority country and stressed that it maintains a “zero tolerance” policy against its -all kinds of “terrorism and violent terrorism”.
“The Bangladeshi government has been alerted to a recent statement by US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo. In the statement, Mr Pompeo described Bangladesh as a place where the al-Qaeda terrorist group carried out attacks, gaining a false grip on future terrorist attacks, ”the ministry said.
“Our reputation for counter-terrorism has earned us global value. In line with our commitment to counter-terrorism, we have been a party to the four international counter-terrorism norms and are actively involved in international anti-terrorism campaigns. rebellion. ”
The ministry said Bangladesh believes Pompeo describes the country as a potential place for al-Qaeda operations as a base.
“If such evidence could be substantiated by evidence, the Bangladeshi Government would be happy to take the necessary measures against such activity,” he said.
Bangladesh considers it “very unfortunate, especially in the context of the growing bilateral ties between the two friendly countries based on shared values, peace and common goals”, confirmed the statement.