Blaming homegrown Islamist terrorists for the Dhaka restaurant terror attack in which 20 hostages were hacked to death, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's advisor Gowher Rizvi said the terrorists are trying to attack the core values of the society which are secularism, pluralism and democracy.
He said Bangladesh is an example of a tolerant Muslim majority state.
"Bangladesh is a secular country even though it is pre-dominantly Muslim. We are a very tolerant society. We are an exemplar of a Muslim majority state, which is secular, plural and democratic and I suspect they are attacking our fundamental core values," Rizvi told ANI while describing the terror attack as "barbaric, heinous, mindless and callous."
He also pointed that the terrorists are now targeting soft and the vulnerable targets.
The Prime Minister's Advisor on International Affairs, however, dodged posers on the involvement of ISIS behind the attack and said that they do not have any concrete evidence to prove any such reports.
"Nowhere there is a direct evidence to say there is a link or it is being orchestrated. That said.some of our religious based parties have a propensity towards violence and fundamentalism, Islamic extremism," Rizvi said.
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He also asserted that the attackers were homegrown terrorists with an objective to derail the democratic procedure of the country.
"These are Bangladeshis; these are home-grown terrorists with a very deliberate objective which is to undermine our secular plural democratic tradition. That is what I think we are fighting to protect," he said.
Rizvi said the terrorists are also harming the reputation and the economy of the country.
He added that Bangladesh Government is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of foreign nationals and called upon all countries to fight together and not withdraw their citizens from Bangladesh as that would be a victory for terrorists.
"We are doing everything possible to make our foreign nationals living in Bangladesh safe, but if countries start withdrawing their citizens from Bangladesh or other developing countries like Bangladesh, you will be contributing to the victory and success of the Islamist extremist. That is their success to force you to withdraw. We must work and stay together," he said.
When asked if there was any information available prior to the attack, Rizvi said "An year ago we were told that there would be an attack on some popular place where foreigners conglomerate. It was then understood and interpreted as some five-star hotel or event where foreigners are present. But there was no actionable intelligence identifying where and on which date will it happen."
He claimed that there was no failure on the intelligence part.
When asked about the progress of investigation following the arrest of one of the attackers, Rizvi said: "The terrorist, who has been apprehended, has been injured. Our first task would be to make sure that he is given proper medical care, restored to health so that our investigator can interrogate him. It is a time consuming process.