BANGLADESH IS BEING HELD TO RANSOM


(Picture courtesy of the Daily Star)

If you are wondering about the image you are seeing, its Bangladesh, not Iraq. Yes that is a wreckage of a car torn to pieces by a bomb blast. And ofcourse there is a suicide bomber who was apprehended one person with an unexploded bomb strapped to one of his thighs along and confessed. He was identified as JMB cadre Iftekhar Hasan Al Mamun, 28, a member of the JMB suicide squad. The reason for this killing was cited in a leaflet:

"We don't want Taguti [non-Islamic] law, let Qur'anic law be introduced. Law framed by humans cannot continue and only the laws of Allah will prevail."

I am just shocked at the sheer height of stupidity here. No thank you dear militant. You need to discover yourself whether you are a human or something else. I would not say animal, because they are civilized enough not to prey other animals for unnecessary reasons. But things are not what they seem.

There is a deeper conspiracy in this. the Islamic millitants see the court as their biggest hurdle as after the Aug 17 bombings the police apprehended more than 500 extremists and banned two Islamic groups (JMB being one of them). The police is on the verge of exposing the kingpins and go for speedy trials of these elements. So crippling the legal system might be the agenda of those who wants to establish Islamic law in Bangladesh.

This is really a very grave incident for the ruling BNP+Jamaat qualition and the country. What does the Jamaat MP has to say about this as he earlier said the JMB is the creation of the media. Salam links to a news that the bomber and his family had links to Jamaat-e-Islami. Does he have any answer? Who are the next one to be bombed, you or I?

Sadly our political parties are not matured enough to tackle this together. The main opposition claimed the Government had a hand in the bombings, whereas in reality this incident only makes the image of the government week. Instead of these wastage of speeches, it would have been good for the country if they provided their support in tackling terrorists.

And how are the police trying to cope with this? The government turns to holy verses to tackle extremism. That's motivation part, but what about hard measures? They will now provide the 740 judges in the country with gunmen. Surely they cannot afford providing gunmen to each and everyone of this country. The elite force RAB was accused of many extra-judicial killikngs. Surprisingly no one extremist was killed this way. This leaves many wondering how these forces have gained strength.

There is no alternative in uprooting these bigots with the help of all quarters. Bangladeshi blogger Addabaj urges everyone:

"I passionately appeal to my fellow Bloggers/friends to join me to condemn terrorism and abandon all political forces that sponsor, join and tolerate religious fundamentalism and militancy in Bangladesh. Bangladesh became independent twice before, first time from the Pakistani force in 1971, second time from HM Ershad’s military junta in 1990. Now, it’s another call for all of us to free our beloved land- Bangladesh from the evil shadow of religious extremism for today and forever. Stand up and raise your hands once again with the same spirit of independence."

Won't you join him?