Chanchal Khan, a development specialist and a researcher on political terrorism, crime prevention and developmental issues with a background in UN system accuses the government in Bangladesh for promoting Islamic extremism in the country by its repeated denial of the existence of the extremists and by failing to get rid of the fundamentalist parties from the ruling alliance. He says that the on number on occasions Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the chief of her Islamic Alliance Matiur Rahman Nizami have used same language to criticize the opposition .Dr Khan who is an Advisor to the Asian Development Bank and now is on a visit to Bangladesh says that once Jamat had professed its support for Osama Bin Laden in its website which it has removed now. Dr Khan also alleges that the so called Freedom Party which comprised of the killers of the founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman could also be behind these attacks. He says that those people have now hidden themselves within the ruling BNP. Chanchal Khan says that more importantly Madrasas and Islamic Banks need to be controlled and the Bangladesh government must take immediate actions to stop money laundering by these banks.
The second part of the interview will be broadcast on Monday,12 December 2005.
