Asia Pacific armies meet to discuss ways to combat transnational crimes
Desk News, DHAKA:
[dropcap font=”arial” fontsize=”60″]A[/dropcap] four-day seminar of armies in the Asia Pacific region kicked off at Hotel Radisson with the aim of identifying common concerns and finding ways to cope with them.
Speakers said that in the post-Cold War situation non-state actors were of growing concern. And that they were ready to cooperate on transnational problems ranging from disaster management, terrorism, drugs, human trafficking, cyber security and climate change.
The theme of this year’s seminar which is the 38th of its kind is “A New Focus on Asia-Pacific Region: Opportunities and Challenges for Land Forces”. In the Plenary session Dr Imtiaz Ahmed of Dhaka University explained his understanding of the topic and concluded by quoting from the Maha Bharata that ‘only in freedom, one can be human’.
The second speaker at the Plenary, Dr Christopher J G Snedden of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii said that the lessons of the British consolidation of its Indian Empire from 1849 to 1857 were still relevant today.
He said after the British were thrown out of Afghanistan they regrouped and conquered the Punjab.’ And after quelling a rebellion in 1857 which could have easily thrown them out, they survived and introduced new elements to their realm. These included the shift from the rule of the English East India Company to the Queen of England and introduction of railways and telegraph, which gave them greater mobility and strength’.
The seminar was attended by 24 of the network’s 32 member-states that include, among others, the United States, China, Australia, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The delegates were welcomed by the Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan.
After the plenary, the co-hosts of the seminar Lt-General Moinul Islam of the Bangladesh Army and General Vincent K Brooks, Commanding General of the US Army Pacific addressed a joint press conference.
Gen Moin told the press that the area covered by the network encompassed 50 per cent of humanity and a diversity of cultures and countries.
Gen Brooks said that they would learn from the seminar and adopt whatever policies that are deemed appropriate by the conference to combat transnational crimes.
BSS
