Government's admission a good sign

There is, however, more to it than two and two making four. And, that's where one can pin hopes on to take the investigation process forward. The countrywide rattling attacks were seemingly a calibrated reaction to the government's own limited move to take on extremist ideologues or men of action like Ghalib. In their eagerness to drop a message, the organisers of August 17 bombings didn't mind betraying some of their recruits to the police taking what looks like a miscalculated risk. The investigators obviously had something to go on with.

The concrete and definitive conclusion, drawn on the basis of interrogations of suspects to-date, marks just the beginning of a focused investigation process. A serious manhunt has to be undertaken, if necessary with international assistance, to ferret out Sheikh Abdur Rahman, against whom an warrant of arrest has been issued and, also Bangla Bhai who having been earlier caught twice was let off through weakened, influenced prosecution.

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Actually, the intelligence agencies have been advising the government since 2003 on the terrorist threats. The mainstream media never flinched from its professional obligation to highlight the clandestine training and preparatory operations of religious extremist groups from time to time. A lot of space was devoted to JMB. Now, the suspects picked up are themselves confirming from their direct knowledge what the newspapers have been saying so far about the depth and reach of the Jama'atul Mujahedin Bangladesh, defying its outlawed status.

The fact that the government didn't act on newspaper reports and warnings apparently signalled by the intelligence agencies, probably thinking it would entail a political cost, has now, hopefully, broken out of the mental block. It should go the whole hog in dismantling religious extremism, root and branch. But let's not forget that there are lobbies, layers and sub-layers astride the BNP-led coalition government's inner thought-processes. What the government crucially needs -- to be effective on its follow-up mission -- is a well-thought-out, unified policy approach to deal with extremist threats that are quintessentially international.