BANGLADESH: LOCAL G8 CTAG MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 002378

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR S/CT JOHN SANDAGE/ERIC ROSAND

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2016
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL BG
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH: LOCAL G8 CTAG MEETING

REF: STATE 58471

Classified By: Ambassador Patricia Butenis; Reason 1.4(b)


1. (SBU) On April 18, Dhaka based G8 countries embassies met
at the Russian embassy for the local CTAG meeting chaired by
Russia. Represented countries included France, German, UK,
Australia, European Commission, Switzerland, Japan, Italy,
Canada, and Russia, mostly at the Chief of Mission level.
Poloff raised points noted in reftel.


2. (C) Over the course of the two hour meeting, the
representatives stated their views on the terrorism situation
in Bangladesh and stated the actions, if any, they were
undertaking to address terrorism. Some candidly explained
that while they had many concerns on terrorism and Islamic
extremism, few had any cooperative counter terrorism programs
with Bangladesh, and few possessed the resources to
adequately report on the terrorism situation. Instead, many
countries said their primary efforts were development in
nature that address underlying conditions that contribute to
terrorism such as poverty, disempowerment of women and
illiteracy.


3. (C) There was not much active discussion about pushing
Bangladesh to criminalize and prosecute terrorism, although
there was a furtive attempt by the Russian notetaker to state
in the minutes that all participants agreed to support
Bangladesh implementation of UNSCR 1624 "to prohibit by law
incitement to terrorism." Instead, most focused on
development oriented issues: the UK delegate said that the
UK's programs focused on raising people's awareness that
there is an alternative to the Koran, the EU delegate said
they sought to target the poor and young to reduce their
susceptibility to extremism, the Australian's representative
said their programs encouraged the empowerment of women,
which counters Shariah law, while the French delegate asked
what steps BDG will undertake to implement its commitment to
the 12 UN Counter Terrorism conventions.


4. (C) When the Russian delegate asked about Bangladesh's
planned Anti-Terrorism laws, many delegates were reluctant to
advocate stricter law enforcement. Many questioned BDG's
current practice of extra-judicial killings of criminals,
largely by its infamous Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),seen by
BDG as their premier counter terrorism force. Many delegates
would agree with the EU delegate who said that the BDG
considers the extra-judicial killings as their contribution
in the "fight against terrorism." At the same time, he asked,
"Is it enough that we only voice concern over these
killings?" The political dimension of stricter law
enforcement was not lost on some, such as the French delegate
who noted that most of those extra-judicially killed by
police or RAB were "leftist" criminals, and rarely people
aligned with the ruling party or Jamaat Islami.


5. (C) Most delegates responded positively to poloff's
remarks about the USAID's program engagement of Imams and
other leaders-of-influence. Participants noted the idea of
empowering local leaders with information and their
subsequent use of the information Poloff described US
programs including sponsoring local religious leaders travel
to the United States to increase their awareness of diversity
of religions, and bringing US Muslim leaders to Bangladesh to
speak to various groups, particularly women. Many
participants noted favorably to US programs that empowered
women.
BUTENIS