The nation at war with itself ?

The vested interests never seemed to reconcile to our value system and wanted to reintroduce obscurantism and religious extremism as tools for social control and exploitation, throwing the country back to a medieval ethos. The fundamentalist forces who opposed tooth and nail our independence and the changes it brought have already wormed their way into the country's mainstream politics by being embraced by the BNP as one of its alliance partners -- a slur on the memory of the martyrs of 1971.

As the BNP's highly mandated new government was in place in October 2001, the once dreaded Jamaat as the founder of Al-Badr also joined it with ministerial berths and a slot in the country's policy-making body. Even at that time, many saw it as an ominous development. Since then, in a fresh spate of terrorism across the country, the people started seeing their worst fears come true. At this stage -- and unless proved, it may be pure conjecture -- a nexus between a series of strange events and a right-leaning government seemingly influenced by its fundamentalist elements is not difficult to find.

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The rise of Bangla Bhai forces, their killing missions and mysterious escape from the clasp of the long hand of the law can be possible only with blessing from some quarter. Until the new wave of terrorism assumed its present dangerous proportions, there had been a number of political killings, repression of the political opponents, and victimisation of journalists. But the establishment took them lightly and looked the other way. Even when the newspapers were reporting the alacrity of the fundamentalists, their armed trainings in the wilderness of jungles and hills, the arms-hauls big and small, the reaction of the authorities was one of inaction or nonchalance. When there were reports of threat to the lives of political leaders, including the leader of the opposition, the responses of the establishment had been those of taunts, ridicule, and contempt. The mood of the government could not but encourage and embolden the criminals.

As a result, now these desperadoes wield power as much as those of the authorities, if not more, as evident from the latter's inability to have even any clue to who the criminals are after all -- let alone the question of apprehending or bringing them to justice. In the meantime, the mysterious killers have upgraded their arsenal and stratagem. Their choice of target is unmistakably precise and their targeted killings bear the stamp of marksmanship. And strangely all victims are from the ranks of Awami League and its supporters. One wonders if the mission is then to decimate the country's only credible opposition and one that spearheaded the country's independence!

There is, however, unanimity on one point. Both the government and the opposition as well as civil society are of the view that the perpetrators of the crime are undoubtedly the enemies of the country, democracy, and the country's value system. But the government's provocative utterances and its conduct do not match the action it should have taken to deal with the incidence of the magnitude of what occurred on August 21, 2004 and January 27, 2005 and for that matter what happened to the British High Commissioner at the Shrine of Shah Jalal (RA). The authority apparently couldn't care less, and with regard to investigation of the grenade or bomb attacks, its role has been opaque. A prolonged hide and seek with the cases has indeed rendered them difficult to be authoritatively investigated at this stage.

While it was expected that the authorities would hunt down the criminals because they are the country's enemy, it now has arrayed its forces against protesters of the brutal incidence in Hobiganj. The authorities have so far been assuring the public of dispensing justice to the killing of Kibria and attempt on the life of Sheikh Hasina and so many other acts of terrorism. Till date, no investigation even of the sensational terrorists is known to have been carried out -- let alone the question of apprehending any of the criminals of the grenade or bomb attacks and bringing them to justice. Obviously, by now the public does not trust the establishment any more and there is increasing demand for international investigation. Here, too, the government's role is not transparent and nobody knows the result of the involvement of international investigation teams including Interpol, Scotland Yard, or FBI, both in the attacks on British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury and on Sheikh Hasina. Inevitably public resentment is running high.

Instead of placating the public anxiety, the government is arranging its forces to beat back the protesters from the street. The establishment is visibly in a tantrum over its abysmal failures in either curbing the terrorism or in getting any clue to most of the killings in the bomb or grenade attacks so far. None of the criminals in these attacks could be nabbed with the entire state apparatus -- something people are not prepared to accept.

There are valid reasons that the Awami League, the prime victim of terrorism, is upset, with its confidence in the system shattered, and the civil society watching the situation is equally perturbed. So much so that the phenomenon did not escape the observation of the diplomatic community, particularly of the European Union, who repeatedly asked the government to restore the confidence of the opposition and civil society in its intent. They are also vocal against the police excesses in the street, witnessed during the last few days, when the police together with party cadres pounced on the protesters with rancour, vengeance, and hatred usually found among the rivals. Sadly, the government, the opposition, and the public, today present a spectacle of a triangular war among themselves, while the undetected and invisible criminals must be chuckling from somewhere.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.