The nation on Monday recalled the countrywide simultaneous bomb attacks carried out by the banned extremist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh on August 17, 2005. Reportedly, two persons were killed and over 50 people were wounded as the outfit carried out the bomb attacks around 500 points in all districts except Munshiganj.
Though the banned outfit today has almost no strength to carry out any organised attack, it is still a threat as some of the outfit members who walked out of jail after serving their sentences in cases filed over the series bomb blast are trying to recruit new members. Considering this, departments concerned should take necessary steps to keep them under surveillance so that they cannot regroup and strike again.
Following the government’s zero tolerance policy against terrorism and drugs, over the last few years, law enforcing agencies have been trying to destroy militancy with an iron-hand by conducting countrywide anti-militant drives and their efforts taken so far deserve plaudits. Now we are more capable of containing any militant attack than any time before.
Bangladesh has done a lot to counter extremists’
ideology in the physical space and now the country
needs to counter that in virtual space too
Reports show that from 2013 to 2018, law enforcers conducted 93 anti-militancy drives aimed at eliminating militants and terrorists from the country. During the anti-militancy drive, 58 militants were killed and 265 terrorists were arrested. And thus Bangladesh has become a glaring example to the rest of the world in curbing militancy and terrorism.
Since the Holey Artisan attack, we have seen some strong anti-militancy campaigns around the country to curb the growing risks of militant attacks.
Six years on, law enforcers now claim that militant groups have mostly been demolished, but fear of terror attacks continues to grow as terrorists are now being recruited through online platforms. Bangladesh has done a lot to counter extremists’ ideology in the physical space and now the country needs to counter that in virtual space too.
Killing in the name of Islam is an age-old phenomenon, although Islam never supports terrorism and militancy. It is clear that as long as militancy is an ideological paradox and there are anti liberation forces, it would be a challenge to wipe out militancy from this soil. The war against terrorism is a form of asymmetric rivalry.
The odds are in favour of terrorists. All they have to do is succeed once, no matter how many times they try. Hence, cross-sections of people including professional leaders and religious personalities should forge social resistance against terrorism and militancy. We all need to be vocal against terrorism and militancy to make the recent developments permanent.
