A year after

There are three questions that are being asked a year after the blasts. There are those that ask whether there is politics involved in the whole affair and whether the government has done enough to see that the agencies get to the roots to dig out the links that have allowed these groups to fester and grow. In other words, is there an indication of soft-pedalling on the issue by the government, and whether it has made any progress in tackling this phenomenon in a comprehensive manner? Some ask whether a threat still exists from these militant groups, now that some of the leadership is in the bag. And most people are asking whether anything can be done to prevent the recurrence of such acts and to completely annihilate those that not only distort the teachings of Islam but also perpetrate sufferings on helpless people in its name. Let's take each one by one.

It is difficult to suggest what politics, if any, the government is playing. But for certain its discounting of the possibility of the existence of religious militants in Bangladesh, from the very beginning, had clouded its perception. Had it not been so, then these elements might have been nipped in the bud, and we would have been spared the discomfort, both physical, and political that we are having to in dealing with this phenomenon.

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Indeed, there has been a national and international ramification of the militant activities in our country. Had the administration been more perceptive we would have been spared the denigratory honorific of "A New Hub of Terrorism," and the accusation of exporting it, wrongly one might add, to our neighbours and to Southeast Asia, as Selig Harrison has made in his article of the same title in the Washington Post recently.

And that is why there is substantial credence in the suggestions that some critics have made, that there are some in the government that are linked with these elements, and the growth of at least one of these have been the result of direct sponsorship of some petty political apparatchiks belonging to the ruling coalition. The statements of the members of these group after their arrests point to their past association with at least one of the coalition partners, which was of course denied by that party. However, that the kingpins, along with some top-notch militants, have been arrested and are under trial, is a positive development.

The second question is whether we have seen the last of the religious militants, now that the leadership has been netted. Before attempting to answer this it might be relevant to relate to the comments made by none other than the prime minister and the minister for LGRD, soon after the capture of some militants. They had both expressed their optimism of bringing an end to religious militancy in Bangladesh, in two months (according to Mr. Mannan Bhuyian).

These may well have been well intentioned pronouncements but betray an inclination of looking too simplistically at what is a complex phenomenon. Nothing can be more erroneous than to put a timeframe in which religious militancy can be wiped out for good. It is being labelled as a "phenomenon" deliberately to indicate the fact that these people have certain agenda, albeit misguided, and motivated by certain ideology although distorted, which need more psychological and political rather than a physical approach in tackling these groups. And to counter them effectively not only takes a well-planned strategy it takes considerable time too.

The militants are generally organised in a way that caters to the crisis of leadership. And although they may have received a temporary setback following the arrests of the kingpins, the militants, as a tactical ploy may have deliberately gone into a dormant state, only to reappear at an opportune moment, and that the field workers may still continue with their clandestine training and motivational activity, as we had indicated they might in this very column not long ago. And this has been proved right with the recent arrests of some more militants belonging to the JMB in Mymensingh. And with the arrests of members of another militant group, the Hijbut Tauhid in Chittagong, existence of a new group has come to light.

The third question is perhaps the most difficult to answer. Without sounding like an alarmist, it is near impossible to say with certainty that there will be no further action of the type we were subjected to, in the future. Whether there are other elements of the same ilk waiting to emerge out of the shadows we do not know. Media reports indicate that some of the militants are regrouping. As for now we know of three such elements that are active in the country. We now know that these are not apparitions but real figures that could be countered with appropriate measures. We also know about their political agenda and their motivation.

The only way to prevent recurrence of such acts is to root them out physically, but more importantly the motivations that they employ and the religious teachings that they distort must be countered politically by exposing its fallacy to those that they have managed to motivate. In other words a vigorous political campaign to de-motivate must be launched to wean them away from their fold. It will also be necessary to keep vigilance to preempt and disrupt all support from external sources of money and motivation.

To tackle this phenomenon this is what we suggested not very long ago in this column.

"And this is where the question of taking hard decisions by the government comes in. Is it prepared to act against those within the alliance whose links to the radicals may come to be firmly established as a result of the arrest of the kingpins? And although not all madrasas can be painted with a broad brush of accusation of imparting radical ideas that are not only un-Islamic but also anti-Islam, there are certainly some that do so. Is the government willing to identify and take appropriate action against those? It may be the end of the road for those radicals recently captured, but one cannot say with a great degree of conviction that it is the end of religious radicalism in Bangladesh. That is unless we address the reasons and arrest the people that compel such actions. And that is a matter of considerable deliberation and not a little commitment."

It still holds good today.

The author is Editor, Defence & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.