Repeated bomb blasts and persistent shielding of alleged masterminds

The demand from the people rose high that the government should remove the two Jamaat members from council of ministers as a step to combat religious militancy. Not to speak of the opposition political parties, even voices from some men of the main ruling party BNP went loud and clear asking it to push out the Jamaat from the coalition government to save the BNP from being alienated from popular support.

Even the Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia reaffirmed now and then that the terrorists, irrespective of their political identities, would not be spared. Analysis began to be worked out, even from own partymen, that an alliance with the Jamaat was not politically cost effective. Noticeably, the party chief and the Prime Minister appeared not to be snubbing at them.

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But in much publicised grand rally of the BNP in Dhaka the party chief and the Prime Minister practically disappointed the nation including a section of her own party by delivering that sort of stereotyped speech accusing the main opposition of trying to subvert the wave of development the government has ushered in by releasing anarchy, terrorism in the society aided by a foreign power. The contents were similar to what the Jamaat-e-Islami chief and the Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami said a few weeks back charging the main opposition of bomb blasts aimed at destabilising the society and tarnishing the image of the country abroad. He spotted out the Indian and Israeli intelligence agencies to be engineering the bomb holocaust.

In the same grand rally the Prime Minister openly administered a threat to the Leader of the Opposition to level sedition charges against her if she continued what the Prime Minister branded as state derogatory speeches and activities. As usual, the Leader of the Opposition was equally quick to retaliate alleging that the very speech of the Prime Minister tantamounted to committing acts of sedition. The mutual blame game was in full play.

Obviously, the Prime Minister's speech in the grand rally was highly relieving to the bomb blasters and most disconcerting to the nation who hoped that she would declare a hard stance of the government against the masterminds of countrywide bomb blasts and acts of terrorism in the name of Islam, a religion avowedly of peace and tolerance.

While practically it seems clear to everybody who are responsible for blast incidents as they themselves openly declared their identities and intentions with wide range of leaflets, booklets and confessional statements of the arrested religious extremists, it is worrying that the BNP chief and the Prime Minister is making statements absolutely reverse to the finding of the Police, RAB and belief of the greater masses of the people.

It is evident that the banned political party Jamaat-e-Mujahideen (JMB) is at the back of this nefarious design. It has also come out that many of the hounded criminals of the bomb blasts are activists of the Shibir, a youth front of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the main core Jamaat-e-Islami. That Jamaat is linked to the bomb terrorists seems out of question now. The way the topmost leadership of the BNP tries to conceal the identities of the religious militants indulging in bomb blasting including the employment of suicide squads raises many an eye brow on the fairness of the government led by the BNP to apprehend the masterminds of the bomb disasters.

Many allege that the government has endowed grace to the grenade hurlers. But they are, in all probabilities, not in a mood to care the government. The political, social, economic conditions of the country do never warrant any adventurism like that and the government is bound to be disturbed by it.

Now two questions agitate our mind: (a) Why should the apparently government friendly agencies launch blasts repeatedly to the aggravated concerns of the government? and (b) Why the government persistently protect those alleged to have masterminded this carnage? Let me throw some light on these issues.

Why repeated bomb blasts?
The Islamist militants are members of International Muslim extremists organisations like al-Qaeda, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen etc. These outfits have worldwide agenda of establishing 'sharia' rule in Muslim majority countries. They built up their principal citadel in Afghanistan what was demolished by the US aided by some other powers in pursuance of the US led so-called 'War on Terror'. Being dislodged from Afghanistan the Taliban warriors began to spread out in other countries frantically searching for a suitable abode of their own.

Bangladesh perhaps offered a safe haven for them. Its vast Muslim population, their religious conviction, grinding poverty, poor literacy, unscrupulous, corrupt political leaders, conspiratorial role of foreign intelligence agencies, availability of local agents etc. offered spaces for the international religious extremists to thrive on.

The Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for its seditious role during the Liberation War of '71. President Ziaur Rahman withdrew the ban and approved its reappearance. He further cut secularism from the constitution. Military dictator President HM Ershad went a step further by incorporating Islam as state religion.

The shrewd Jamaat leadership joined the popular upsurge of '90 with the chief political parties -- the BNP and AL -- to gain practical political legitimacy.

In the council of ministers formed in 2001 the Jamaat occupied two important berths to display their higher ascendancy. They have infiltrated deep into the administration practically monopolising some very vital ministries. They are now confident enough that they are not much below being at par with the BNP at least in the eye of the topmost leadership no matter how much the BNP leaders of other ranks bark out against them.

In the past, the Jamaat had dependence both internal and external. Internally they sought the favour of the BNP and externally they collected money believably from Pakistan and Middle East countries to carry forward their mission. By now they have gathered enough administrative support and financial avenues like bank, pharmaceuticals, hospitals, transports, NGOs etc. to stand on their own feet.

The government will obviously desire that the Jamaat leadership will exert influence to reduce the number and intensity of bomb operations to pacify the public opinion. But the Jamaat leadership possibly has its own algebra as to when to exercise blast and when to part with it basing on the effectiveness of the 'pressure tactics' being sure that the BNP leadership cannot muster courage to go against the Jamaat.

The international Muslim militants have a strategy of their own to attain goal. First they take a foothold in a country, then develop gradually level by level capturing resources and power bases to finally seize state power.

Their work force is mainly collected from youths, mostly under poverty line, who are doctored to cherish a dream of becoming either 'ghazi' (conqueror) or 'shaheed' (winning heaven). Military training being complete and arsenals in hand they cannot wait for long to go for attaining their goal. The recent bomb attacks may be practical test cases of the perpetrators to measure up their potency for going for final round of capturing state power.

Why shielding of alleged masterminds?

To the greatest misfortune of the nation, the two main political parties of Bangladesh are blatantly engrossed in mutual recriminations, reprisals and finally, if anyway possible, exterminations. The AL alleges that the BNP, since coming to power in 2001, has wholesale vandalised, brutalised, killed the Awami men, property and organisations. Reportedly, when the AL was in power (1996-2001), the BNP accused the then government of having massacred BNP men and property. The BNP is now obsessed with a fear of vengeance from the AL if it is voted to power in the coming national polls of 2006. So BNP's first and foremost concern is to resist the AL by hook or by crook.

In vote garnering strategy the BNP's top leadership is scared not to anyway soften its relations with the Jamaat. So it always shields the Jamaat leaders alleged to be among the masterminds of bomb operations.

The BNP leadership seems somehow dazed by the massive build-ups of the Jamaat in militant cadres, gigantic caches of arms and ammunitions on one hand and its assumed close nexus with international Muslim militant organisations abroad, on the other.

In the wake of national election the BNP chief avoids raising subtle political issues with the Jamaat in fear of muddling political atmosphere. The BNP perhaps depends a lot on Middle East in financial and other helps. The BNP top brass does not want to make it diminished, if not lost, by creating any fuss with the Jamaat.

Besides, the BNP and Jamaat have ideological and behavioural affinities. The Jamaat is a cadre-based fascist party. The BNP is also engrossed in elected dictatorship. It is remembered that some four month back the Jamaat chief and Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami in a ward meeting in Dhaka, said that the BNP and Jamaat are two brothers born of the same mother. What a penetrating conclusion it was!

AR Shamsul Islam is retired Principal, Govt Mohila College, Pabna.