Blast in Jakarta

We express our deepest sympathies to the families of the dead and the injured. At the same time we strongly condemn the cowardly and dastardly act by the terrorists who, by putting innocent lives into jeopardy, have only displayed their total indifference to humanity. Just a week ago, more than three hundred innocent children and their parents died after being held hostage for two days without any water or food by a group of Chechen rebels. We reiterate our position : no matter how justified one's cause is, killing innocent people or taking them hostage to fulfil that desire is simply unacceptable. In the latest incident, though the apparent target was a foreign embassy, it was the native citizens who bore the burnt of the attack. All those who died and most of the injured were Indonesians. It is difficult to understand how do the terrorist groups expect support from their own people whose lives are put at grave risk by their actions.

It is time the whole world got its act together and devised a strategy to be actually able to combat terrorism. The recent attacks should be an eye opener of sorts for all the countries including Bangladesh that have been the targets of bomb attacks recently. The perpetrators cannot be allowed to think in any way that we are intimidated by their act of terrorism. We urge all for a concerted effort to send out a firm signal to these groups that they will never achieve their target with such despicable acts.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source