Letter to SoS Rice

It has hurt our national pride, and as a democratic and sovereign state, we cannot remain indifferent to such a fall from esteem. It is incumbent on the government to ensure that the nation's self-respect, dignity and honour is not compromised further.

It must now, however, be said that the government has brought this upon itself. Over the past four years it has hidden its head in the sand and denied outright the rise of religious extremism in the country during its tenure despite timely and repeated pointers by the media and civil society to the culture of impunity with which it was growing from within. Had these warnings been heeded, the letter would perhaps never have been written to Dr. Rice.

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Not only is its internal security policy in disarray, the government's diplomacy has willy-nilly fostered a disconnect and lack of understanding between the government and the rest of the world.

The dates such as April 30, August 17, and August 21 are now lodged indelibly in the national consciousness. The assassination of SAMS Kibria on January 27 and the government response, to first blame the killing on an internal opposition feud and to follow up with a toothless investigation, are emblematic of its failed approach.

The PM had a chance to salvage things with her recent speech on the August 17 blasts. But once again this was an opportunity lost, as she attempted to shift the blame on to vaguely identified and unnamed enemies.

The important thing is to live up to our own standards. The government needs to change direction not so much because of external criticism, but primarily because of the expectations of 140 million Bangladeshis.

The strong measures suggested by the US lawmakers in their letter are truly extraordinary and can only be warded off by a robust, decisive, credible and transparent action to get to the bottom of the terrorist atrocities in the country. The days of mendacious denial must come to an end.