Refugees and Radicalisation in Bangladesh? | FULL INTERVIEW #ExtremeLives
Bangladesh faces a diverse array of extremist-related challenges; domestic threats, transnational threats, and accusations that is has become a safe haven for extremists. The arrival of nearly 700,000 additional Rohingya refugees since August 2017 (UNHCR) causes further concerns for the security and stability of Bangladesh, posing additional challenges for both the ruling party and the opposition and stoking fears that Islamist parties seeking to claim the moral and religious high ground could challenge the status quo by registering as political parties in their own right.
Increasingly, the fear is that the further erosion of political space in Bangladesh could create fertile ground for Islamist militants to operate domestically - and provide the opportunity for transnational groups to exploit the instability to recruit and prepare international plots. With a cocktail of elections, refugees and recent extremist attacks, where is Bangladesh placed as ISIS increasingly seeks to export its violence and exploit local grievances for a global jihad? From refugees to Islamist militants, transnational radical groups, and elections, #ExtremeLives asks: what is threatening the security of Bangladesh?
Our panel includes:
Zafar Sohhan is the editor of the Dhaka Tribune, an English-language daily launched in 2015. He has also contributed to The New York Times, The Guardian, Time , Vice, and other publications. In 2015, he was named by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, and was a Yale World Fellow in 2009, and an Asia 21 Young leader in 2008.
Retired Brigadier General Sakhawat Hussain is a security analyst, former election commissioner and a Brigadier General (retired) in the Bangladesh Army. He has written more than 300 articles and 20 books, and serves as a columnist and commentator for the national and international media as a security and defence analyst
Dr. Nawab Osman, Assistant Professor and coordinator of the Malaysia programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University,Singapore (RSIS). Nawab has carried out field research in Bangladesh on transnational extremism. Nawab is a frequent commentator on political Islam, terrorism and Southeast Asian politics for regional and international media. Nawab has written various papers, books and journal articles relating to his research interests.
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#ExtremeLives is a video series covering on-the-ground stories of violent extremism in Asia. With first-hand accounts of the darkest days of ISIS-occupied Raqqa, dispatches from an insider of a network training militants across Asia, and discourse from journalists at the front-lines fighting misinformation in a post-truth world, #ExtremeLives offers a unique opportunity to delve deep into polarizing issues affecting the modern age. From recruitment, radicalization, and rehabilitation, to the role of news corporations and social media, to refugees fleeing violence and migrant workers targeted by underground terrorist organisations, #ExtremeLives exposes stories that aim to bring us closer to figuring out how to stop the spread of violent extremist ideologies.
#ExtremeLives is a project by the United Nations Development Programme in Asia and the Pacific, co-funded by the European Union.
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