Gulshan attack upends major ICT event

[Showrav.Yazdani]

The telecom and ICT sectors face a setback following the Gulshan terror attack as a major international event which was scheduled to take place in Dhaka will now be held in Bangkok or Colombo, organisers said.

Telecom operators and international technology vendors also issued safety directives to their foreign employees and allowed them to work online from home, officials said.

On July 1, a militant attack on a Dhaka restaurant killed 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, sending shocks across the country and beyond.

Fear spread further after four people -- two policemen, a woman and a suspected assailant -- died in a second attack in a week, in Kishoreganj where hundreds of thousands gathered for the nation's largest Eid congregation on Thursday.

Asia-Pacific Networking Information Centre, a regional internet registry that allocates IP addresses and autonomous system numbers for internet users in the Asia-Pacific region, was supposed to hold its 42nd executive meeting in Dhaka from September 29 to October 6.

But amid fears and tension in Dhaka, the programme will now be organised in Bangkok or Colombo.

Had the meeting taken place in Dhaka, it would have benefitted the internet industry of Bangladesh, said MA Hakim, president of Internet Service Providers Association Bangladesh.

[Shah Alam Kabir Pramanik]

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