Fight far from over

A wake-up call to the nation, the Gulshan café siege made the government and law enforcement agencies take militancy issue seriously and declare an all-out war against terrorism.

After the attack, law enforcers conducted pre-emptive strikes at a number of militant dens, recovered arms, ammunition and explosives and thus prevented further terror incidents.

However, the menace is far from over as, analysts say, militants might devise new strategies and launch further terror attacks, posing threat to development and social stability.

Stockpiling of suicide vests, grenades and bombs at a militant den in Ashkona suggests they are not sitting idle. Detonation of a suicide vest by a woman with a kid during the December 24 police operation there shows how desperate they can be.

With Islamic State (IS) expected to be driven out of Iraq and Syria soon, those who went to join the group may return home and try to engage in terror activities. What is more worrying is some of those fighters have dual citizenship and local law enforcers have little information about them.

With targeted killings of freethinkers and people of religious minorities going on, Bangladesh in 2016 experienced a significant rise in terror attacks -- some were claimed by pro-al Qaeda outfit Ansar al Islam while the others by so-called IS.

The authorities, however, all along said those were the acts of homegrown militants.

Some experts say militancy rose to such an alarming level as the government and law enforcers were always on a denial mode when so-called IS and Ansar al Islam were claiming the killings.

Things started to change after July 1 when militants attacked an upscale eatery in Gulshan's high-security diplomatic zone, killing 20 hostages, mostly foreigners.

All the five militants were killed in the commando operation launched to end the siege. 

IS reportedly claimed credit for the café attack while authorities termed it an act of “Neo JMB”, a faction of local banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

“Neo JMB” is said to be inspired by the ideologies of IS.

Officials say this faction also carried out the armed attack near the historic Sholakia Eidgah on the July 7 Eid day, leading to the death of two policemen, a housewife and a militant.

Following the two major attacks, law enforcers conducted successful counterterrorism operation at Kalyanpur, Narayanganj, Rupnagar, Azimpur, Gazipur, Savar, Tangail and Ashkona, killing around 35 militants.

In the operation in Narayanganj, Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury, who was allegedly the main coordinator of “Neo JMB”, got killed along with his two aides.

The café attack, which DMP's counterterrorism unit chief Monirul Islam compares to the 9/11 and Mumbai attacks, came as a setback for the economy and the nation's image as some countries issued security alerts and instructed their citizens and development workers to come home.

Many hotels and restaurants where foreigners used to hang out came on the verge to closure.

The situation, however, has improved but security analysts think the threat of militancy still remains.

“We have nothing to fear, but we have to remain alert,” said Monirul Islam.

“If the awareness created among people against militancy persists, 2017 will be safe,” he said, adding police skill along with capacity to counter militancy is also increasing day by day.

“If we want to eliminate terrorism, a comprehensive approach is needed where all stakeholders in the society has a role to play.” 

 Analysts also said terrorism cannot be tackled only by applying force. It needs a comprehensive approach involving all stakeholders of the society and proper implementation of counterterrorism programmes the government has already taken. They also called for de-radicalisation efforts.

Security analyst Air Cdre (retd) Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury suggested improving intelligence gathering of different agencies and security forces and increasing coordination among different forces.

He also put emphasis on engagement of people in anti-terror campaigns and a unified education based on the country's heritage, constitution and culture.

“We have to stay vigilant and improve our capacity,” he added. 

Nur Khan, executive director (acting) of rights body Ain o Salish Kendra, said, “We have failed to take necessary steps for de-radicalisation. So, at the end of 2016, we have seen female suicide attackers, children being used as shields and family-based units of militants.”

Militancy is no longer limited to madrasa students or the poor, he observed, saying Bangladesh might face new challenges in 2017.

He suggested forming a national security council with members from military, police and civil experts to advise the prime minister on combating militancy. He also called for consensus among political parties on counterterrorism issues.

Prof Ajoy Roy, father of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, who was killed in a militant attack in February 2015, said he does not think tackling militancy would be an impossible task for the government if it remains alert and law enforcers cooperate.

It all depends on the intention of the government and the sincerity of the members of the law enforcement agencies, he told The Daily Star.

He said the government has become sincere though at the initial stage it did not attach that much importance to militancy issue.

Prof Roy expressed dissatisfaction over justice not being done for the killing of freethinkers and bloggers.

Monirul Islam said the existing anti-militancy programmes are good enough. But the authorities must ensure that they are implemented.

He said that under such a programme, imams were clearly instructed to give Bangla speech against militancy alongside Arabic sermon during the Juma prayers.

Some officials, however, said it is a good initiative but Imams were not properly trained and briefed. Besides, there is no mechanism to monitor whether imams are following the directives, they said.

Monirul said following the Gulshan attack, awareness has been created among people of all spheres -- from family to educational institution.

Islamic clerics are now terming militancy anti-religious and families and relatives are offering apology to the nation for involvement of their children in militancy. So the militants have been defeated morally and ideologically, he added.