Bangladesh PM : Terrorists do not belong to any religion

Bangladesh on Monday vowed not to allow extremists to 'abuse' Islam as a 'pretext' for carrying out terror acts as it appealed to the global community to strengthen cooperation to deal with the menace. 'Terrorists do not belong to any religion, ethnicity or nationality and no single country can ever succeed in combating terrorism. We must strengthen our regional and global cooperation mechanism to deal with this menace,' Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in her remarks at the United Nations symposium on 'International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation', organised on the sidelines of the 66th session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarter in New York, pti reported. She said Bangladesh will not allow its territory to be used for extremist activity against another state, adding that 'we are not allowing extremists to abuse Islam as a pretext for acts of terror.' 'We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestation. Countering terrorism and promoting global peace is our foreign policy priority,' she underlined. The government, led by Hasina, has stepped up anti-terror campaign in Bangladesh since it came to power in the landmark 2008 parliamentary polls. Hasina said Bangladesh will table a resolution titled 'Culture for peace and non-violence' at the General Assembly. Noting that UN is the only legitimate multilateral body to coordinate global action against terrorism, Hasina said an international centre for counter-terrorism should be established under the UN with a comprehensive global data base on terror outfits for coordination and intelligence sharing among nations. The UN should lead the global discourse and action on counter-terrorism, she said, adding that nations must also strife for a universal agreement on a 'legal definition of terrorism.'