Seizure of explosives again

The seized explosives have been detonated by experts from the army and a disaster has been avoided. But the question is how many of such consignments of arms and explosives are actually detected and caught by the law enforcers? The danger of failing to prevent the materials reaching their ultimate destinations is a real one as has been borne out by the incidents of bomb blasts in the recent past.

The undercurrent of militancy in the name of religion is something that cannot be handled by merely saying that such problems do not exist in Bangladesh. The psychological barrier to accepting the truth is proving to be an insurmountable one. To hang on to the belief that Bangladesh being a moderate Muslim country could not be a breeding ground for any kind of extremism would be ostrichlike naivete. The discovery of arms or explosives could not greatly affect our essentially moderate image, but continual denial of the truth (with all its manifestations) might. Moreover, the extremists will feel safe if their presence is overlooked as a matter of policy.

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The signals and signs cannot be ignored. There have been stories on arms and explosives hauls, training centres set up by extremist outfits in remote areas and also their modus operandi. But response from the law enforcers has not been effective enough to neutralise the threat these elements pose.

Tokenism cannot do with such a serious security issue as caches of arms and ammunition being discovered with a routine regularity. Obviously, the activities of the religious extremists cannot be countered only by arresting some people following an arms haul. Their entire organisational network must be unearthed and obliterated in order to stopping their subversive and destabilising agenda on the track.