Staff Correspondent:

RAB Director General (DG) Barrister Md. Harun Ar Rashid on Monday said that militancy will never rise in Bangladesh. RAB has become much more modernized in controlling militant activities.

“RAB is also active like militants in the virtual world including social media. The fugitive militants have been kept under surveillance,” he told reporters after paying tribute to the memory of those killed in the militant attack at Holy Artisan Bakery in the capital’s Gulshan on Monday (July 1).

Mentioned that on 1 July 2016, there was a militant attack at Holy Artisan Bakery in the capital’s Gulshan. In that attack, 22 people including 20 nationals and foreign nationals and 2 police officers were killed. Later in the army operation, the main planner of the attack, Tamim Chowdhury, along with 8 militants were killed.

After the case was filed under the anti-terror act at Gulshan Police Station, the official trial started on 26 November 2018 with the filing of charges against 8 accused in the incident which created a stir around the world. 113 witnesses were produced by the State in this case.

On 7 December 2019, Dhaka’s Special Anti-Terrorism Tribunal sentenced seven militants to death and acquitted one. The accused later appealed against the verdict.

In October last year, after hearing the death reference and appeal, the High Court bench led by Justice Sahidul Karim commuted the death sentence of 7 militants and sentenced them to life imprisonment till death. However, the full verdict has not yet been published.