The blasts!
The bomb blasts on August 17 have a number of intriguing aspects. The way the sheer number and the timing were coordinated makes the blasts unique. To have about 500 blasts go off in 30 minutes span to cover the entire country should make the blasts the first of its kind not just for Bangladesh but for anywhere in the world.
The blasts were also unique in their inability to do any serious damage, in effect more prankish than terrorist. There should have been thousands of deaths from such a large number of blasts and the damages should have been many folds more if they were meant to be the work of terrorists or professionals.
However, there are very serious matters here and serious should be the response of the government. One serious issue here is something is afoot; either a very serious conspiracy to overthrow a democratic government or a more sinister one, that of a move by international terrorists to make Bangladesh a new haven for their operations. As for the last possibility first, international terrorists are always looking for new pastures. Bangladesh’s large Muslim population is no doubt an attraction for drawing their attention.
However, other factors in Bangladesh outweigh the attractions. Unlike Pakistan or Afghanistan, Bangladesh has well based secular traditions. Our terrain from demographic viewpoint is not fertile for breeding international terrorism. A flat deltaic plain, it also does not provide any serious physical facilities to maintain covert terrorist camps except in the small tracts of hills on the east where terrorists of different shape already have footholds whose interests run contrary to the Islamic type. As to the government’s response, the prime minister has done the right thing in cutting short her China visit to return to the country. But her FM’s comments in China that these are work of ‘hoodlums’ reveal immature response.
Prima-facie, the blasts seem to be work of religious fundamentalists in the country who have been allowed to gather strength right under the nose of the government. By its failure to deal with Bangla Bhai and anti-Ahmadiya movements, the government has helped encourage the fundamentalists in the country. Another intriguing aspect of the blasts was the reaction of the Leader of the Opposition. She made a ridiculous and self-incriminating accusation blaming the BNP for the blasts! Anyone with a minimum of common sense knows that the BNP for all the logical reasons would be the party the least interested in any acts of violence leading to instability which is the declared strategy of AL. It is the AL trying its best to create a law and order situation in order to push the BNP out of office and the latter is making all attempts to maintain law and order so that the AL would have no opportunity to create anarchy to unseat BNP. By this accusation, Sheikh Hasina has in fact drawn public attention on her party as the AL has the organisation to carry out such blasts simultaneously all over the country. The fact that the damages were minimum also point fingers at the AL.
It is now the government’s responsibility to find out the culprits who have a very good organisation and hence should be easy to catch. But if the agencies that failed so miserably in intelligence about the blasts are allowed to retain their bosses, it will be a futile exercise attempting to catch the culprits. The government should show its resolve by sacking a few heads, like that of the minister in charge of home or the IG of Police or the DG of National Security and Intelligence. Though the damages from the blasts have been very minimum; its impact on our fragile image abroad will be tremendous.
Shahjahan Ahmed
Dhanmandi, Dhaka
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