Editorial
Terrorism in Jaipur
No knee-jerk reaction needed, only dealing with hard facts will defeat extremism
KNEE-JERK reactions to incidents are almost always counter-productive. And yet a knee-jerk reaction to the recent blasts in Jaipur has come from the authorities in Rajasthan. The off-handed way in which the police administration in the Indian state has pointed the finger at extremist elements in Bangladesh raises a good number of questions about the manner in which such a conclusion has been drawn. A senior police officer has told the media that the way the bombs were manufactured and concealed in bags is similar to the way Huji operate. Now, that is as queer a conclusion as any. Are we now to suppose that terrorists can be identified through the bags they use? And is it fair, even before thorough investigations have been undertaken, to draw inferences the objective of which is clearly targeting a country, in this case Bangladesh?
The statement of the Rajasthan authorities, implying that the thousands of illegal Bangladeshis they say are now in the state may be fertile ground for terrorism, is patently untenable and makes light of terrorism as a threat to nations. It is a cavalier attitude. It is a condition that can never be tackled through a resort to speculation or posturing, which is precisely what is being done at this point, thanks to the police and even the media. We would like to make a couple of points here. The first is that there seems to be total belief among the Indian authorities that those accused in earlier times of perpetrating terrorist acts, namely, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, have now receded into the background. How is it that these organisations have suddenly gone off the radar? Our second point is that the Rajasthan police authorities have made a sweeping statement about Bangladeshi involvement in the blasts, one that is certainly not acceptable. Bangladesh has always endeavoured to maintain friendly, mutually constructive ties with India. To suggest, before any inquiries are conducted, that Bangladeshis are involved is to show scant regard for Bangladesh's image in the global community. Indeed, it all amounts to posturing of a bad sort when what is required is a detailed, serious investigation into the blast incidents. Such posturing and counter-posturing can only open the floodgates to mistrust, with telling effect.
The authorities in India must come up with hard evidence about exactly which elements were involved rather than going for speculation. Terrorism is a grave malady that will surely not be handled by an unsubstantiated pinning of blame on others.
We, in Bangladesh, however, cannot take the usual view that we have no terrorists amidst us. After our own experience with Bangla Bhai, HuJI, and terrorism, we must take the issue of terrorism more seriously, which, thankfully, we are doing. What is needed right now is a very close cooperation between Bangladesh and India in defeating terrorism of all types and forms.
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