Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged personnel of the Armed Forces to be inspired by the spirit of the Liberation War and infuse that spirit amongst the new recruits.
She said the role and responsibility of the Armed Forces has become ‘diverse’ with dynamic changes in the global security scenario.
“The training and education of the Armed Forces must reflect the demand of this changed time,” Hasina said while handing over degrees at the Defence Services Command and Staff College at the Mirpur Cantonment on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister said the Bangladesh Armed Forces came into ‘existence’ through the Liberation War.
“The members of the Armed Forces have to be inspired by the spirit of the War of Independence and should train up their juniors keeping that in mind.”
“We have limited resources with which we want a competent, skilled and strong Armed Force. To achieve this end, we have to emphasise on advanced training and best practices.”
Hasina said the image of Bangladesh now shines bright due to the stellar performance of the Bangladesh Armed Forces in the UN peace missions.
She said Bangladesh believes in peaceful solutions to all bilateral, regional and international issues across the globe. “We are determined to establish peace and security in the global sphere. Our stance on world peace and terrorism is very clear,” she said.
“Our Armed Forces have to prepare accordingly to go ahead.”
The Prime Minister said the Armed Forces embodies Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty.
“The Armed Forces has been bestowed with the great responsibility of protecting the sovereignty of our motherland,” Hasina added.
At the beginning of her speech she recalled the martyrs of the historic 1952 Language Movement and also offered prayers for the 57 army officers killed in the 2009 BDR mutiny.
This year a total 174 officers from Bangladesh, China, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Turkey, US, Zambia and Zimbabwe obtained degree from the institute.
Of them 91 were from the army, 18 from the navy and 21 from the air force.
Addressing the foreign officers, she said that Bangladesh has friendly relations with their countries and hoped it will gradually deepen in future.
Sheikh Hasina said the Armed Forces have been providing necessary assistance to the civil administration in combating natural disasters, development works, infrastructure development and in maintaining law and order.
The Prime Minister detailed various steps her government had taken for the development of the Armed Forces, referring to the recent $1 billion agreement for weapons from Russia.
The chiefs of the army, the navy and the air force, top military officials and high ranking officials of the Prime Minister’s Office were present in the programme.
Established in December 1977, the Defence Services Command and Staff College is a prime military institution of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. It aims at providing professional military education to selected mid-career officers of the three services and prepare them for command and staff appointments, the DSCSC website said.
The institution is affiliated to the National University of Bangladesh which offers a ‘Masters in Defence Studies (MDS)’ degree on successful completion of the course.bdnews24.com
