Bangladesh army’s operations director Brigadier General M Nazim-ud-Daula today said the military was working together with the government abiding by the government directives.

“We (the government and army) are working to help each other. There is no scope to misinterpret it,” he told a press conference responding to a question over military relations with the government at the Army Headquarters today.

The directorate of military operations chief said the government and the army have been working supplementing each other’s works the army remained steadfast in its stance on safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and national interests.

“Army has always been working with the government and at the instruction of the government," he said, ruling out speculations of gaps between the armed forces and the interim government.

“The way it is being said that there is a huge gap of opinion between the government and the army, like there is a division… the way the issue is being reported by some media outlets, nothing like that has actually happened,” the brigadier said.

He said “we are working nicely through mutual understanding (and) there is no room for misinterpretation (of the relations)”.

"Let us not think that the government and the army are thinking differently and standing against each other. This is never the case . . . I firmly believe we will continue working together in the future," Daula said.

The brigadier said the military remained serious in safeguarding the national security and related issues and also commented on the corridor controversy.

“The issue involving the corridor is highly sensitive. For the army, national interest comes first,” he said.

Daula said there there will be “no compromise when it comes to the country’s independence, security and sovereignty”.

Ahead of the military operations director’s comments, colonel staff of the same directorate Colonel M Shafiqul Islam spoke outlining the army’s activities over the past 40 days saying they seized 241 illegally possessed arms and 709 ammunitions and apprehended 1969 crime suspects in the past 40 days.

He said that the they so far seized 9611 illegal arms, 2,85,761 ammunitions and arrested 14,266 crime suspects since the nationwide anti-crime crackdown started in August last.

The colonel reiterated that the army stance that the troops would take stringent action against mob violence and those who disrupt social security.

Islam also observed that the overall law and order situation either remained stable or improved in some areas compared to the past.

“Those involved in hampering the law and order will be dealt with iron hands. Bangladesh Army has been relentlessly working to defend the country’s independence and sovereignty,” he said.

He also said the army personnel have been engaged in upholding the communal harmony and maintaining overall security at the diplomatic enclaves.