Succesfully through the fire ball

Rab should have the kudos for the tenacity, bravado and thoroughness with which Shaekh Rahman's son Nabil was captured, explosives expert Shakil alias Mollah Omar (so named in aberrant hero worship of Bin Laden's second-in-command!) got smoked out, and bomb-making equipment and materials were seized from three JMB dens. Much as we are opposed to the crossfire killing phenomenon that has tainted the human rights reputation of the country, we find the effectiveness of Rab's Comilla operation highly laudable, particularly in the loaded sequel to the arrest of kingpins Sheakh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai.

The stiff resistance put up by the terrorists coupled with their suicide bomber-like throwaway attitude to life that had Shakil, his wife Shahida and their two children commit hara-kiri was a statement of morbid but predictable reaction of fugitives pushed to the wall and preferring self-killing to surrender or capture. Rab would be facing more of the same violent brutal incident as they work their way into the terrorist strongholds, hideouts and clandestine retreats. The kingpins were under limelight and considerable public focus implying thereby a limit to how long they could have kept hiding without being noticed, especially given our demographic density. But the lesser figures, the hardened second or third rung cadres could possibly try to melt with the population for a lucky span unspotted. But when cornered, they would turn extremely violent in their 'kill-or-be-killed' mental frame as happened on Monday.

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As the law enforcement agencies unearth more and more militant hideouts, we come to realise how deep their tentacles have reached. While the media has been persistent in baring the truth, our security forces are now discovering the vicious stranglehold of ideological militancy and the true magnitude of the horrific and threatening phenomenon is emerging, the government has the stupendous responsibility of ensuring neutral and politics-free investigation so that we could get to the bottom of the terrorist phenomenon.