The bigots and the sentinels in slumber land

What may or may not be done to countervail the malevolence of the extremists concerns every right-thinking Bangladeshi but equally, if not more significant, is what kept the state apparatus in a deep slumber while the bigots carried on virtually undisturbed. There is a creeping suspicion that there never was a dispassionate appreciation of the real threat scenario. In other words, was there no effort to pinpoint the threats posed to our democratic polity and by extension to our independent national existence? These questions should bother us because patriotic citizens of the People's Republic of Bangladesh must know that.

National interest and threat perception
Without doubt, our constitution narrates eloquently our national interests. It says that the aim of the state is to realise the democratic process in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens. It further affirms that it is our sacred duty to safeguard, protect and defend this constitution and to maintain its supremacy as the embodiment of the will of the people of Bangladesh. It categorically states that the constitution is, as the solemn expression of the will of the people, the supreme law of the Republic.

The above constitutional stipulations have been highlighted because apparently the mission and strategy of our crime fighting and intelligence organisations had not been stable at least in so far as the domestic threat scenario is concerned. It is felt that those have invariably substantially altered with the change of a political government. One may not be far from the reality to say that it has been our unfortunate experience to witness the differing political agendas often clouding the pragmatic understanding and appreciation of our real national interests.

If we delve into the past we will be confronted with shamefully unpleasant facts. In the yesteryears, we had the unpalatable experience of witnessing a very sensitive intelligence organisation working principally for the whims and caprices of a virtual dictator and using public funds for creating and destabilising political parties, political horse-trading and shadowing people on personal and flimsy grounds. No wonder in such a scenario the professional efficiency was sacrificed and public servants turned into personal servants with the attendant ignominy.

The organisational culture
Ensuring internal security is closely associated with the task of collecting and collating intelligence in the interest of the state. In reality, in our situation, the interests of the state often get diluted and mixed up with the interests of the government of the day. The situation is marked by an unfortunate lack of understanding and appreciation of the requirements of the state and the government in a democratic and journalist society like ours. The unpleasant truth is that intelligence agencies maintain file and shadow the leaders and workers of pronouncedly constitutional politics-oriented parties belonging to the opposition who are recognised partners in the business of politics. At some point of time when such opposition party comes to power, there is an uneasy relationship between the political bosses and the agencies.

In such a scenario, professionalism becomes the worst casualty, sense of direction is lost, and the organisation dips into a lackadaisical environment and interests of the state take a back seat surrendering greater space to partisan considerations. It is needless to say that the values of a democratic polity are universal and as such demand unconditional adherence to it.

The reaction and inaction
Like the responses to other socio-economic issues of our national life, we have been disappointingly reactive in responding to the threats of national security. The whole approach appears to be ad-hoc and on a case to case basis. Somehow, the establishment wishes to assure itself by imagining that a hydra-headed monster has surfaced all on a sudden and will wither soon to the relief of a concerned population. The phenomenon of setting a time limit of two to three months to completely root out the extremist problem gives rise to more questions than it answers. Such utterances do not really create optimism and establish credibility of institutional competence and political sagacity. Similarly, enforcement officials prematurely ruling out any link of extremist activities to foreign sources also betray a pathetic lack of discretion and judgement.

One will not be far from truth to say that posture wise we were not so conspicuously religious in pre-1971 times under Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Many of us have not realised that in post-1975 Bangladesh, particularly during the last 25 years there has been a phenomenal growth of 'Madrasha' throughout the length and breadth of the country. At the same time many mosques have been built by individuals and organisations about whose credentials much is not known. A question obviously arises in such a scenario. That is, was moral rearmament or spiritual renaissance the predominant factor behind such unusual growth of religious institutions and places of worship?

However, doubts would creep in as we do not see any corresponding healthy rise in public or private morality. So the reasonable suspicion is that while the establishment, the civil society and other activists have remained indifferent to the programmes and designs of the obscurantist elements, the so-called religious extremists have grown in strength and spread their tentacles taking advantage of the ignorance and inertia.

Intelligence and our freedom
Bangladesh polity is now challenged by hostile groups that profess a philosophy of life and of government inimical to our own. In fact, we are now facing an adversary who are armed enough to commit widespread violence. In our free society while our defences and deterrents are largely prepared in open fashion, our new antagonists have succeeded in building a formidable wall of secrecy and security. So, to bridge the gap and warn ourselves in time, we have to rely more and more upon our intelligence operations. There is a need to break through the shield of secrecy of the bigots. The special techniques which are unique to secret intelligence operations are needed to penetrate the security barriers of the extremist outfits.

Our preparation to combat the extremists cannot wait for evidences of the likelihood of further hostile acts against us. We should, therefore, be forewarned and forearmed. The act of forewarning could itself constitute one of the most effective deterrents to the bigot's appetite for attack. Intelligence should not be a tabooed subject. What we are striving to achieve should be an advertised fact.

The most serious occupational hazard in the intelligence field is prejudice. While we are all creatures of prejudice, we must be able to avoid bending of facts obtained through intelligence to suit or defeat a particular political viewpoint.

We have to admit that we are not really at peace with the so-called religious extremists because they have declared war on our system of government and life. The reality is that we are faced with a closed, conspiratorial and scheming enemy. We cannot hope to maintain our position securely if our opponents are confident that they can attack us at the time and place of their choosing and without any forewarning.

In the last analysis the most important safeguards lie in the character and self discipline of the leadership of the intelligence service and of the people who work for it -- on the kind of men and women on the job, their integrity and their respect for the democratic processes and their sense of duty and devotion in carrying out their important and delicate tasks.

Our intelligence organisation needs to work under pragmatic political leadership and if properly and professionally steered, it does not threaten our liberties. If we operate by the book, we will be adequately informed of the perils which face us. If we do not know the designs of the so-called religious extremists, then we could well be isolated and our liberties, too, could be in jeopardy. Therefore, we must be ready to deal with all aspects of the not-very-visible war of the bigots with all its ramifications and fronts, supported by external resources. The last thing we can afford to do now is to put our intelligence in chains. Its protective and informative role is indispensable in time of unique and continuing violence in the name of religion.

Muhammad Nurul Huda is a former Secretary and IGP.