Dhaka, Sep 17 (IANS) “Huge sums of money” are being used to push youth in South Asia towards religious fundamentalism and terrorism, a Dhaka daily has said while calling for neutralising the source of terror funding.
“Religious fundamentalist groups which are carrying on their missions in some of the countries, including Bangladesh, are known to have motivated a large number of young men through spending huge sums of money,” The Daily Star said in an editorial Monday.
It welcomed the initiative by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations whose officials will meet in New Delhi this month to deliberate on the necessity of getting to the roots of funding of terrorist organisations that operate in the region.
These groups, “supposedly having a steady source of funding, are allegedly operating under the banner of non-governmental organisations, banks, insurance companies and charitable organizations”, the newspaper observed.
“The ultimate aim of these groups is to grab state power and implement their own ideology and agenda,” the editorial said.
“Their methods are brutal and bloody, and as a result, the toll in terms of life, property and social disorder has been immense in most of the countries of the region,” it noted.
Since there is an agreement in place on sharing of information among the SAARC countries, having some kind of mechanism installed to find out about how huge sums are being transferred through banks should not be a difficult proposition, it said.
“Terrorism in SAARC countries has been spreading its tentacles for decades in a bid to negate the developmental efforts of the democratic governments and the people.”
The edit added: “Our experience of terrorism is one of senseless brutality, murder and mayhem. Hence, there can be no second thought on the question of uprooting the obscurantist groups from the soil once and for all.”