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Suicide attack : a wake up call

6 December 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Sagor & Tania, Dept of Law, DU
6 December 2005, 18:00 PM
. PHOTO: AFP
For the first time in the history of Bangladesh we have come across the incidents of suicide attack. Even in the period of the liberation war this type of attack was not launched against the Pakistani army. But now suicide attack is taking place under the shelter of our own countrymen against our own people. In this period of national crisis, we expected that the prime minister and the leader of the opposition would sit together with a view to forming a roadmap for combating terrorism. But unfortunately, as usual they failed to overcome their ego even for the sake of the country and took resort to same monotonous blame game. As a result, the real kingpins are still remaining out of focus leading to the security of the country being at stake. Though some preventive measures have already been taken by the law-enforcing agencies but yet it cannot provide us sound sleep since there is actually no effective way to resist suicide attack. Even the US army fails to do so in Iraq and therefore, at this point, the ability of our police and other law enforcing agencies can easily be presumed. The only way to confront this kind of attack is "Ideological Warfare". The Islamic Scholars, Imams of the mosques can play a vital role in this regard. At the same time, the media should launch a massive campaign projecting the actual image of Islam. Above all, the politicians should realise that this is the last wake up call for them and if they still remain indifferent, the people of Bangladesh will never forgive them and there would be no light at the end of the tunnel. So this is the best of the time and this is the worst of the time to fight back against terrorism.
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Panic and doubt seize all! Everyone along with the law enforcers feels insecure!

A sense of insecurity prevails everywhere as attackers who are presumably the members of the JMB have, by now, turned into human bombs wrongly proclaiming it a 'jihad' against man-made laws. Obviously, this is fanaticism and those involved in the militant operations here have lost touch with reality.

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We are deeply shocked and dismayed at the countrywide bomb attacks launched in a planned way by underground militant forces, who apparently belong to a particular religion as claimed by themselves. Here I mention the world 'apparently' because no religion allows either suicide or killing. At the same time, it is a matter of great disappointment for us that the criminals in most cases go unpunished.

Consequently, people are now going psychotic, lawyers and young judges are thinking of changing their profession following the suicide attacks particularly on courts.

It is a matter of deep concern that these militants claim to establish Islamic law, though Islam does not allow any militancy or operation of underground forces. It is very obvious to all, especially to those who are conscientious, that the masterminds behind the dastardly attacks have motivated a large number of youths most of whom are poverty stricken.

I, therefore, strongly believe that both the electronic and the print media have got a significant role to play in motivating people in general and thereby let them know about the real teachings of Islam.

Islamic programmes on TV channels should deal with the common problems of our society like terrorism, corruption, poverty alleviation, unemployment problem, bribery and dowry.

It is really awful! We must overcome the situation.

Md. Mustafizur Rahman, On e-mail

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It is really shocking news to me that suicide bombings have been started by fundamentalists in Bangladesh. The death of the renowned political figure like Mr. Kibria and several attempts to kill Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina have proved that it is the work of an extremist group under the umbrella of an influential group.

It seems that more bombing will be taking place in the coming days. I think through surveillance on certain madrassahs police might be able to detect the would be suicide bombers.

Dr. Arshad Ullah, Japan

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The Bangladesh government must investigate the fact who paid Tk 20 lakh for suicide bombing and from where the money is coming. In Bangladesh where most of the young people have nothing to do and have no future, it is easy for them to accept such offers. The law enforcers must check the family of the bomber who was caught by the police and find out who gave them money.

People of Bangladesh should not vote for the party which supports religious extremism or the party that takes advantage of this painful national tragedy.

Dr. Farid Majumder Darmstadt, Germany

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The days of hypothesis, theory, and postulations are over. The snake is spitting venom in full fury- thanks to the complacence, arrogance, insincerity, self-denial, insecurity, inactivity etc. of the bigger partner of the present government. They have nurtured the pseudo-Islamic terrorists, adorned them, bestowed all the 'ahallad' on the militants and tolerated all their misdeeds. And now the country is in turmoil. Insecurity is written on the face of every citizen. Yet, we shall overcome!

M. Nurul Huda, Ex. IGP in his article captioned 'confronting religious extremism' in DS- November 30 has presented a pragmatic work plan for the annihilation of the terrorists. M. Harisur Rahman - DS-25 Nov. and M. Khan- DS 28 Nov.- in 'letter to the editor page' elaborated upon the pointlessness of Madrassah education in Bangladesh and also recommended solutions towards integration of 'Madrassah' education with the mainstream education system. The suggestions are worth taking into cognisance, and executed. So far, the BNP has been beating around the bush, and hollow words and rhetoric dominated their action plans. People do not trust them as they kept on denying the very existence of the terrorists. They are too much obsessed with the 4% vote of 'Jamaat'.

We assume this as the last chance for the BNP to rise to the occasion and prove their sincerity in rooting out the problem.. The terrorists ought to be hit very hard and deserve to be completely annihilated from this land of secular, tolerant people. We need to build a peaceful, safe and prosperous country for our future generations.

SN Mamoon, Dhaka

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First, I would like to thank DS for giving me this opportunity to convey my feelings to you. I am very much impressed with how professional DS has been in providing its readers with real information, it is commendable journalism.

I am asking a question. Are these fundamentalist JMB men sheltered by the government, if so why? Many people are asking what is the benefit of sheltering the JMB? I have been curious about this issue and did some analysis and found that there could some particular benefits for the government to have these terror attacks at this certain point of time. We have all seen that the government has sheltered and helped the JMB to mature over some period of time. It has been seen that Bangla Bhai used to hold his public speech with police protection and also his goons used to do motorcycle parades with police protection! There are countless photo evidences to prove this point. Reports say the second in command of Bangla Bhai was caught by Rab, but had to be released after a call from a particular place. Why was he released so quickly? Who were after it?

Tanvir Ahmed Gulshan, Dhaka