The Bangladesh Police’s report based on the study, presented at a police chiefs’ conference in Dhaka, revealed that 56 per cent of the militants come from the general education background (Bangla and English medium) while 22 per cent are from madrasas.
More than one top police officials told Prothom Alo that now social media, including Facebook, have become a concern for law enforcers to tackle expansion of terrorism or militancy.
The police officials think that in future, security enforcement must spend the most on preventing cybercrime through the social media.
Bangladesh Police assume that China and South Korea could be role models in this regard as the nations are advanced in fighting cybercrimes, reports Prothom Alo.
At the conference, the police chiefs discussed strategies to fight terrorism through social media. They are mulling over the formation of a platform comprising 14 nations across the globe. At present, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and India are working with the Bangladesh Police to prevent militancy in the cyber space.
On Thursday, Tarana Halim, state minister for posts and telecommunication, told newsmen that social media is one of the major causes behind the rise of militancy and terrorism. She said the government is going to table some key proposals, including country-based separate desk, to the Facebook authorities at a meeting scheduled to be held on 30 March in Singapore.
Fahmidul Haque, a professor of the mass communication and journalism department at Dhaka University, said surveillance on Facebook means intervention into the personal secrecy and freedom of the people.
When the foundation of a government seems weak, it looks to such surveillance so no one can unite against the regime. But it does not yield good results at all.
Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik said nothing would be needed if the prevailing laws were implemented properly.
According to the police report that was tabled by the assistant inspector general Mohammed Moniruzzaman at the conference, analysis on trends of 250 militants shows 80 per cent of them used apps like Threema, weTouch and Messenger to communicate each other. Some created separate apps of their own.
Police inspector general AKM Shahidul Haque recently said the home-grown militants had communication with foreign militants through the ‘virtual’ world.
Security analyst Ishfaq Ahmed said terrorists are investing in the online sector to control the ‘virtual world’.
Law enforcement agencies should be more active to prevent the militant activities online, he added.
One of the officials at the police headquarters told Prothom Alo that Bangladesh Police had fruitful discussions with South Korea and South Korea agreed to provide Bangladesh police with anti-cybercrime training assistance and necessary equipment to fight back the crime online.
The police also discussed these issues with Sri Lanka and China. They are hopeful about use of Chinese equipment to fight cybercrime.
