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I have no doubt that the August 17 blasts will pose a big challenge to the country’s image. However when I have sat down to write this letter, I find myself in a fix. My relatives from around the country never complained about ‘rise of extremist Islamism’. I have observed people becoming increasingly religious. But I have also experienced the wanton rise of mastaans since independence and their rampage during the last ten years. But rise of Islamic extremism is something that I have not really experienced, except from media comments with obviously purposive accentuation.
   As Professor Amartya Sen has aptly expounded, media is a very important constituent of ‘public action’ and so, focus on events and accidents have to be carefully planned and interpretation of a phenomenon must be cautiously enumerated before it is publicised. We should not allow this ‘bomb game’ to be under-focused or over-focused, by any means. Any analyst must be able to be fair and competent in segregating the ‘regular’ from the ‘sporadic’. Otherwise, our resource and energy will be misguided. I appreciate our prime minister’s statement from China: Let us not use this condemnable incident for political purpose.
   One can legitimately wonder at the organisational power that worked behind the scene and made possible orchestrated detonation of explosives in almost all the district headquarters of the country including some vantage points in the capital. From the nature of the explosives and the mode of detonation it appears that ‘causality’ was not an aim of the mastermind. Even it does not seem that the jackal wanted to create panic. But what was the purpose of the leaflet that accompanied all the places of blast? – to establish connection of the bombs with Islamic activists? No doubt about that. Arrests of some bearded men with cap on head will support such connection. So shall we now believe in the existence of Islamic extremist groups and consider them a threat for national security? This is merely a ‘dress rehearsal’ and an armed Islamist revolution is just in the offing? Is this the message that the bomb devils wanted to signal on August 17?
   The prime minister has shortened her China visit and coming home. She has to face the opposition who have already blamed the government for this evil drama. It is difficult to agree with this suggestion that government was involved in this incident. It is also difficult to agree that Islamist activists have mastered so much organisational strength that they can plan and enact such a country-wide, highly synchronised operation. Then who is the ‘jackal’ behind’?
   This is a question with an invisible answer. The truth is hidden under heavy fog of politicking. Perhaps the only option that is left is to ‘wait and see’. I have no intention to add to the fog or to the politicking.
   A citizen
   On e-mail

Over the last decade, there have been scores of bomb blasts in Bangladesh which have killed about 150 people. The preferred targets for such bombings have been movie theatres, entertainment parks and shows such as Jatras and village fairs etc. There has also been a new trend of bombing the opposition political rallies and meetings in recent times, notably the August 21 bombing on Awami League There has also been bombing at Sufi shrines, including the one in Sylhet in which the UK High Commissioner to Bangladesh was hurt. On top of that there has been threats to many entertainment shows and festivals and without heightened security arrangement, no such shows and festivals could be held anywhere in Bangladesh for some time. Also there have been numerous death threats to secular thinkers and writers.
   These sorts of bombing across the country over the last decade clearly display a pattern typical of an orchestrated Islamic terror campaign since the targets for these bombings are places and events considered sinful in the puritanical Islamic doctrines. And yet, the government has been in persistent denial of the presence of any terrorist groups in the country whilst innocent people continue to be killed on a regular basis in such bombings. Most strikingly, the international community, including the United States and United Kingdom, fail to see any trace of terrorist activities in Bangladesh and label this country, blighted by these bomb blasts in public places, as a ‘Model Moderate Muslim State.’
   And now on August 17, a staggering 350 bombs exploded synchronously across the countries that shook the nation killing a couple and injuring about 115 according to the preliminary reports. Such a wave of bombing has been unprecedented in memorable history of terror campaigns by the Islamic zealots anywhere in the world. Does not this extraordinary bombing evident clearly say that the country does not only harbours terror groups but also that these groups are very widespread, well-organised, sophisticated and capable of causing mayhem in the country? Is the government still going to stand its traditional ground and claim there are no terror groups in Bangladesh?
   But not this time! The home minister Lutfuzzaman Babr confessed: ‘These are planned incidents. We had intelligence report(s) about such plan but that expired a few days back.’ When there is intelligence of plans of terror attacks of such massive scale, why then the government has been in consistent denial of the presence of any terror groups in the country? This time, the government clearly does not have any way to deny this fact, given the massive scale of bombing. Is the government now going to wake up and do some cleaning-up work? One cannot be very sure of that!
   Dr Alamgir Hussain
   On e-mail

17/8 has rather been an unfortunate day for Bangladesh. Although we are no strangers to bombs and political killings, the fine orchestration of bombings all over the country can prove only one thing. It has given credibility to those who have been trying to portray quite vehemently the rise of Islamic terrorism in the country and lay credit to their claim that Bangladesh is a failed state.
   I am bemused to read some reports quickly connecting some unknown Islamic outfit to the events stating some leaflets found at the site. Those can befool many but not an intelligent mind. It is just too obvious. It is true that alike all nations we also have our share of people who tend to believe what they read without putting their mind to question whether such orchestration of anti-state activities is possible by half-starving mowlanas or Islamists who neither possess the finance nor the means to organise such a countrywide event. The events do not serve any purpose to them at all rather it harms the objective to live as an independent and sovereign nation.
   The acts could not have been committed by local people alone without the assistance of some intelligence community. We can rule out our own and the obvious question that comes to mind is who will be benefited from such anti-state subversive cowardly acts and who will be happy to render Bangladesh a failed state.
   Khandaker R Zaman
   Dhaka

Bangladesh is a moderate Muslim country, and the overwhelming majority of the population want it to remain as such. A look at the op-ed pages of the country’s newspapers will prove that many people are unhappy with the government’s ties to the fundamentalist Jamaat. The public is angry that the BNP government refuses to acknowledge the rising problem of extremism in Bangladesh. Even after August 17 bombings, the BNP politicised the incident by blaming the Awami League – again denying the existence of extremism – and should expect to lose even further public support. The public knows the reality of the extremism issue in Bangladesh, and every time the BNP ignores reality, it loses credibility.
   Sajid Chowdhury
   On e-mail

The bombs in the London Underground exploded on the day of G8 summit. 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 August 17 bombings into consideration. Approximately 375 bombs exploded in 63 districts. It will not be implausible to assume that at least a thousand people were involved in this master plan. And yet our intelligence force 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 Wednesday’s bombings wanted to create a panic and they have done it with success. Whatever political agenda they might have, they cannot escape the blame for ruining the country’s image. Now all over the world, everyone will think Bangladesh is burdened with extremism and not a safe place to invest whereas the expatriates will be more reluctant to return to their native land and make a living. The culprits who are behind this cannot and do not have any feeling for their motherland whatsoever. If they did love their country only a little, then their conscience would not let them do such a dreadful thing.
   A concerned Bangladeshi
   Belgium

Reading the report on the string of bomb blasts throughout the country makes me feel that Bangladesh may be becoming a training ground for worldwide terrorism. The speculation seems to be that the blasts are in demand of an Islamic Bangladesh. To me this approach of the perpetrators appears to be very ill calculated. If they are following Baghdad’s trend they should also remember that even the Islamists in the Middle East are getting a negative feedback from the people for killing innocent Muslims. Thus, one can only wonder how these people think — bombing innocent Bangladeshis would make them admired for their practices!
   Naim Saif
   Canberra, Australia

I wonder if the editors of British and American newspapers are going to run sanctimonious opinion pieces advising us to be cautious in dealing with those who hit us this Wednesday (August 17). Taking a cue from our own journalists, they may ask us to seek to understand the underlying causes, frustrations, and legitimate grievances of these poor misguided souls rather than fighting them. If so, we will be well served with a dish of our own making!
   ES
   USA

This is probably the first of its kind. I am referring to what happened in Bangladesh on Wednesday. On the same day three bomb blasts in Iraq killed about 40 while in Bangladesh about 500 bomb blasts killed two so far with some injuries.
   From the sheer number of five hundred bomb blasts it is evident how well organisedthe terrorists are. It is as if the terrorists have ridiculed the intelligence community of the country, telling them that they are actually irrelevant. The terrorists have the country at their mercy. It is to prove that had the bombs been a few scales stronger, then we would had have casualties in one day what Iraq has had in the last one and half year. One thing is proved for sure: our intelligence agencies in total are not worth much. Now it would be interesting to watch whether we see some real activity of the police or even an incident of this scale will also get lost in some political quicksand.
   Akhtar Ahmed
   Dhaka

Sixty-three districts were synchronously attacked with more than three hundred bombs, leaving at least one dead and a hundred injured on August 17, 2005. Around noon on the day, due to panic road traffic and both land and cell phone traffic were so congested that many people faced problems and I failed to make NWD and local calls.
   However, I would like to ask the authorities concerned: for how many more years will our country remain a heaven for the bombers? The law enforcing agencies have recently seen an increase in numbers, but the law and order situation of the country has definitely faced a sudden jerk with the countrywide bombing bonanza. It also demonstrates how easy it is to terrorise our country.
   I hope our law enforcing agencies will be able to identify those who are responsible for Wednesday’s blasts because this is one unique incident as the blasts took place throughout the country and that too in such an organised manner.
   Another thing: while we urge the government to bring the culprits of Wednesday’s blasts to book, at the same time we urge them to complete the investigations into all the previous blasts as well.
   Saifuddin Ahmad
   Noth Badda, Dhaka

It really doesn’t matter if it is New York, Baghdad, London, Madrid and now Bangladesh. Whoever did this, whatever their aims are, nothing justifies this behaviour.
   My letters are sometimes critical of Bangladesh on certain issues. On this, I am at one with all Bangladeshis, who I know will not defend this behaviour.
   Bangladesh is poor, it is, at higher levels, corrupt. It is however, civilised and cultured. It has done nothing to deserve this treatment. However, as I said when the bombings occurred in London, the perpetrators of this outrage will not succeed. Bangladesh will overcome such behaviour, and continue its progress.
   Good luck, Bangladesh.
   Dr Richard J Murphy
   On e-mail

Bangladesh breaks the world record yet again: the first country to have over 300 simultaneous homemade bomb blasts! But even this will not bring about any change, except a few hartals resorted by the opposition, a few articles written by our intellectuals and, of course, the formation of a new investigation committee. Two/three dead people are not enough to awaken our sleeping souls. A death of 10 to 15 thousand people in a massive firework might, just might, have been enough to ‘motivate’ our people to demand an end to the AL/BNP terror regimes, to end student politics and to tell the AL and BNP that either they should reform and terminate hundreds of their ‘terrorist’ wings, or face extinction. Our people need some serious motivation to stop voting and protecting Khaleda and Hasina and instead ask them to pack their bags.
   This is only the beginning, people. There will be more blasts, more deaths, more corruption, more unsolved cases, more enquiries and more disappointments. The one, and only one, way to end all this is to stop the Mujib and Zia families from using our country as their family business. Some might not see the connection between the bomb blasts and these families. But if these families didn’t paralyse our judiciary, if they didn’t politicise every institutions in our country and if they didn’t adopt the policy of forming enquiry committees and sweeping everything under the carpet to protect their criminals, we would not be having these bomb blasts now. Yes, we know this is the work of some Islamic group. But if we had a proper judiciary and a clean, properly funded, world class police force, then these criminals couldn’t have pulled off such an attack with such precision and stealth. We could all start ‘urging’ or ‘requesting’ our government to put an end to these murders, extortions and bombings.
   But when, for Heaven’s sake, will we realise that all these are happening precisely because we have such a government in the first place? It is like requesting a disease to cure its patient!
   Azad Miah
   Oldham, UK

I was working at my office when the news broke through. This was definitely a pre-planned attack, but I doubt whether this was conducted with any intention of physical damage in mind. Rather, this is like a warning of what could happen if the demands of the self proclaimed bombers are not met.
   Hopefully, our law enforcing agencies can find out more by interrogating those who are arrested, but if we are not careful, incidents like these are bound to continue and get worse. The news of the bomb blasts (no matter how small the impact is) will no doubt worsen our image as a country where religions are respected.
   This was a plan long thought of and executed to near-perfection. Actually, fear is the key to everything. The US uses this idea to promote its war against terrorism (but I don’t have any noun for what it is doing in Iraq —- helping democracy or plundering). I doubt any of our renowned political parties (BNP, AL or Jamaat) are linked with this. Those who have done it hardly care about the people’s opinion.
   Dark times are ahead of us.
   Faisal Khair Chowdhury (Bobee)
   Gulshan, Dhaka

I read the news on the front page of the Kathmandu Post of today (August 18). Although there has been political and social unrest in the country for quite a long time now, learning about the grisly attacks or serial bomb blasts is more nerve wrecking. It gives a shiver.
   I was talking to my friends in Kathmandu about our own country and its politics. I believe it’s time we all faced the fact that things are speedily going out of hand. But to which hands?
   Whichever camp the new force belongs to, they are a force to reckon. According to the news reports, the blasts were well planned and occurred almost all over the country.
   This is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. The matter of concern is that the unseen force is getting more organised and are posing a real threat to the establishment. You can always face the enemy whom you can see, but you have no means to tackle the invisible one.
   The bomb blasts all over the world (the recent ones in London) are encouraging likeminded people. They are gradually coming closer in ideas and enjoying the victories that they claim to achieve with each blasts and deaths.
   No sane society will subscribe to the idea of killing the innocents. But the establishment in such societies should ponder the issues that encourage these adventures. Killings on both sides should stop. As to the organisation claiming responsibility for the blasts, they should not deviate from Islamic teaching. Islam has always forbidden violence.
   Islam is a religion of peace.
   Mohammed Ali Sattar
   On e-mail

When intelligence servicemen vacate terrorists take place. Perhaps on August 17, members of intelligence staff were on leave and the terrorists did their duty blasting about 500 bombs as a test case.
   The operating system of government, which we call democracy, is either not working or our leaders don’t want to let it work. We are being ruled by democracy but the rulers are not democratic, rather demo-crazed.
   Our leaders become democratic models smelling flavour of ensuing election. Till the official result comes out they remain democratic actors or actresses and after getting the trouncing news they get their democratic dress shelved for next five years. This practice will not last long. Intolerance has rooted beneath our democratic craziness. Rightists and leftists both are intolerant.
   BNP, as a moderate party, has availed the situation and ruled the country as a buffer zone. In fact, BNP has been suffering from leadership crisis. Perhaps a thought works in BNP leadership that people will vote them to defer AL from power, so they need very little to be careful about their responsibilities.
   People have experienced ruling styles both of AL and BNP more than twice and taken lenient view about them. Falling confidence over leadership class, perhaps, has created a vacuum in political ground and attracts vested interest group(s) in action. We may recall the incidence of August 15 occurred in such a political vacuumed situation.
   If we do not cultivate crops on our land many unwanted plants and creatures will take root on it. If we fail to prevent them we may spoil our right on it. We may die for it but may not regain the authority over it. Those who blasted nearly 500 bombs all over Bangladesh are working for somebody else guided from outside.
   Loose foothold of our leaders is about to create chances for others to exploit people and land. Maybe this is a signal only and something more are waiting for us. Leaders will be held responsible for all incidences.
   At the moment when we are thinking about setting up atomic power reactor with the help of world powers this type of terrorist acts will seriously hamper our development vision. Finally, the perpetrators are enemies of Bangladesh knowingly or unknowingly. They should be brought under custody and awarded with drastic punishment on the charge of seditious activities. A change in our security services branches should be brought intelligently.
   M Hoque
   Dhaka