Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed inaugurated a modern factory for production of sophisticated rifles of BD-08 model at Bangladesh Ordnance Factory (BOF) here (Sunday), reports UNB.

General Moeen said Bangladesh is a peace-loving country and the introduction of rifle BD-08 would not change the country''s policies, including that on defense.

"Rather, we wish to make ourselves defensively strong and confident, and to safeguard sovereignty of our dear motherland," he said.

He added: "We believe in giving the best possible welfare to our troops by equipping them with the best possible weapons within our capability." Gen Moeen hoped that the BOF would produce more new firearms/equipments in future for the armed forces to strengthen the capability of country''s defense. Commandant of BOF Maj Gen Abdul Matin and Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Zheng Qingdian also spoke on the occasion.

Naval Chief Vice Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam, Air Chief Air Marshal SM Ziaur Rahman principal staff Officer Lt General Masud Uddin Chowdhury and high civil and military officials were present. Later, the Army Chief went round various rifle- manufacturing shops and expressed his satisfaction after test firing the first BD-08 rifle.

The factory, set up under an agreement between Bangladesh and Chinese governments, has a production capacity of 10,000 rifles per annum in a single shift. These sophisticated rifles will not only modernize the country''s armed forces but also equip each solider in a new fashion and enhance their moral strength.

This rifle will be the main weapon of the armed forces and other forces. Earlier, Gen Moeen addressed the concluding ceremony of "Exercise Shanti Doot-2" at the Rajendrapur Cantonment in the morning. Addressing the function, Gen Moeen said that in this century, the world is likely to witness broken change of global security scenario.

"It is more likely that present unrest and strife existing within countries and states of the world will intensify in future." He added that it is, therefore imperative to create capability for the foreseeable future. Bangladesh is committed to maintaining world peace, the Army Chief said, mentioning that it has been participating in UN peacekeeping missions since 1988.

He informed that so far 80,000 troops from Bangladesh took part in various peacekeeping missions. More than 9,000 troops are now working in 14 different UN peacekeeping operations. Commandant of Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training (BIPSOT) Brig Gen Saiful Ali and Deputy Commanding Gen of USARPAC Maj Gen Patrick D. Wilson also addressed the function.

The UN Peace Support Operations exercise named "Exercise Shanti Doot-2" began on April 1 in Bangladesh under the auspices of global peace operation initiative programme of United State Pacific Command (USPCOM).

The Exercise was co-sponsored by USPCOM and co-hosted by Bangladesh Army. "Exercise Shanti Doot-2" consisted of a command post exercise held at Hotel Radisson from April 1-11 and Field Training exercise (FTX) at BIPSOT, Rajendrapur Cantonment. Some 355 participants and trainers from 10 countries took part in the FTX.

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