Bomb blasts and fundamentalism

The frustrating aspect of this being the fact that the Bangladesh government was in a state of consistent denial about this until recently, even though the world media were adamant about some prevalence of fundamentalism in Bangladesh. But I don't think it's too late to tackle the root of fundamentalism in Bangladesh because Bangladesh has long been a moderate Muslim country.

Any act of terrorism in the name of religion is crime that we cannot condone.

We the overseas Bangladeshi students in Sydney, Australia, express our deep condolence for the victims of the bomb attacks and condemn those who committed the crime.

We are shocked and worried not only about what happened but also about what might take place in the future.

So for the welfare of the people of Bangladesh and for those staying abroad, we hope that the government and the opposition will take some initiative to counter terrorist activities.

We don't appreciate hollow statements only.

Nazmul Hossain, Sydney, Australia

Killing innocent Muslims is no way to create an Islamic State but will only lead to misunderstanding about Islam. Reading the report on the string of bomb blasts in the country, I have the feeling that Bangladesh is becoming the training ground for terrorists. As the speculation goes, the men behind the blasts want an Islamic Bangladesh. To me this approach of the perpetrators of the crime appears to be very poorly calculated.

If they are following Baghdad's trend they should remember that even the Islamists in the Middle East are getting negative feedback from the people for killing innocent Muslims.

Naim Saif, Canberra, Australia

The bombings all over Bangladesh resulted in the death of three innocent civilians and many more have been injured. My condolences go out to the family of the deceased. I can't imagine what they must be going through. No one expected such a horrid ordeal.

According to BBC, the Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh has left leaflets taking responsibility for these attacks. The government had banned this group with some other groups. It is shocking that these groups could actually create such havoc and go unnoticed. The 50 members who have been caught if convicted for the bombings should be sentenced to prison for life or given the harshest form of punishment for terrorising the citizens of our country. Because most of these attacks were geared towards doing the worst damage since they were set off in crowded areas and near government offices, this should be taken as an attack against the country. The government needs to make an example of these people and our courts need to give a speedy, steadfast verdict.

This is not the first bombing in Bangladesh and unless and until we have strong punishments and better security these mad men, who have a misconstrued view of Islam, will continue to insult the religion and its peaceful followers by causing harm. We need to have a system that allows people to warn the police if they have any information of the crazy men trying to do something again. As citizens of Bangladesh it should be our responsibility to be watchful.

Zeenat Z. Syed, UPS eDeployment

I was surprised to learn that people in Bangladesh practised terrorism in the name of Islam. It is truly a sad moment for the country.

I was also surprised to learn that Awami League leader, Sheikh Hasina, blamed Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for the incidents. She said, 'The bomb attacks were made at the instigation of the prime minister." "She left Dhaka for China giving green signal to carry out the blasts" (The Daily Star). What was she thinking when she made this comment? It simply doesn't make any sense. Whey does she come up with these vile thoughts?

This is not the time to point fingers at rivals, it is time to solve the problem, to take charge and make sure this sort of crime is not repeated in the future.

Sam, On e-mail

The bombs in London exploded on the day the G8 summit was being held. The same tragedy was about to recur two weeks later in the same city. The professional and skilled intelligence service of Scotland Yard could not do anything to stop these catastrophes. From this perspective, Bangladesh's intelligence agencies cannot be held entirely responsible for Wednesday's bombings across the country. But having said that, we have to take the immensity of the bombings into consideration. Around 460 bombs exploded in 61 districts. It will not be implausible to assume that at least a thousand people were involved in this master plan. And yet our intelligence services could not do anything whatsoever to prevent the bombings. Surely it is not asking too much to expect a bit more competence from them.

People behind the bombings wanted to create panic and they have done it successfully. They have ruined the country's image.

A concerned Bangladeshi Brussels , Belgium

I was astonished to hear the news of the bomb blasts on Wednesday. About 460 bombs blasted at a time across the country. How is it possible? Where were Rab, police, DB and all other intelligence services?

Now it is clear to us that our national security is seriously threatened. It has to be improved as a matter of top priority.

Sadat Shahriar Dept. of EEE, RUET