Counter insurgency; Bangladesh Army Chief urges political, diplomatic operations

The Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff, General Abu Shafiul Huq has urged the Nigerian Army to adopt both political and diplomatic lines of operations in its ongoing fight against Boko Haram in the country.

He gave the advice on Tuesday in a lecture tagged, “Counter Insurgency Operations: Bangladesh Perspective”, held at the National Defence College,Abuja.

The Bangladesh Army Chief noted that the basic policy for fighting insurgency is to identify and address its “perceived right cause” which could be socio-economic or political.

He urged the political leaders in the country to shun politics of bitterness and unite to fight terrorism in the country by addressing deprived issues as well as providing developmental projects to repose the citizens’ confidence in the government.

He also called on the government to counter insurgency ideology by reaching out to all institutions especially the religious bodies in order to dissuade the wrong ideological concept of terrorism.

On the diplomatic line of operations, the Bangladesh Army Chief called for boundary harmonization between Nigerian and her neighbouring countries to monitor the activities and movements of Boko Haram insurgents within the country.

Recognizing the significant role of the media in counter insurgency operations, General Shafiul Huq advocated for strong military and media partnership in the country to keep the populace abreast of military operations to ensure transparency and accountability.

In his closing remarks, the Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Samuel Alade thanked the Bangladesh Army Chief for the visit, adding that such a visit is a sign of the long coordinal military relations between the two countries.

‘’Nigeria and Bangladesh have common contemporary security challenges. We believe that this lecture today would go a long way in helping the Nigerian army in its ongoing counter insurgency operations in the country,” he said.

Rear Admiral Alade assured the Bangladesh Army Chief of the cordial relationship with the Nigerian media to safeguard the national security and interest of the country.

Source: https://dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/counter-insurgency-bangladesh-army-chief-urges-political-diplomatic-operations/195016.html