Editorial
Horrific terrorist strike in Assam
We need to up our guard
The carnage unleashed in Assam on Thursday through 12 synchronised blasts in the space of an hour has horrified and outraged us beyond measure. Such an act of cowardice snuffing out and maiming scores of innocent people in thickly crowded public places is utterly despicable. We have no words strong enough to condemn it. We, as the next door neighbour of Assam, express our heartfelt condolences for the dead and profound sympathies to the injured and the bereaved families.
This is terrorism at our doorsteps. Naturally, that is a matter of concern for us. Besides, we have had to deal with militant threats of our own. Bangladesh is fully committed to fighting terrorism in all forms. We ardently believe in the efficacy of interstate cooperation within the umbrella of Saarc to wage effective battles against overt and covert militancy that has increasingly taken on cross-border, international dimensions.
Unfortunately, whenever a bomb blast took place in India, more often than not, an Indian state government, even the central government, had not hesitated to point finger to one Bangladeshi outfit or the other. Such comments were not substantiated later, or were not found to be true. They are neither helpful to good neighbourly relations nor to any effort to track down the real culprits. If India could come out with any concrete evidence of a cross-border linkage, it should by all means have come forward and shared it with Bangladesh government rather than foisting unsubstantiated blame. If however there are fresh and substantive new evidence of any cross-border link between terrorists, such evidence should be presented to our government for appropriate action. We would like to reaffirm our commitment to fight terrorism at the intra-country and inter-country levels.
Bangladesh, for its part, should mount vigil and take guard against various ways whereby militancy is raising its head in different countries. Given the eruption of violent methods spearheaded by suicide bombers of all kinds -- strapped with human body, bicycle or laden in vehicle -- we cannot be complacent over any relative lull in violent occurrences. We have been through a sinister experience already in the simultaneous cracking of bombs in all district towns of the country but one. The proliferation of small arms through cross-border smuggling is a common concern for the region that remains to be effectively addressed. We all must collaborate to fight the rise of terrorism.
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