The government is clamping restrictions on activities, which could even remotely lead to a rise in militancy. Some of these activities strike us as rather harsh, or severe and could, potentially, lead to a greater alienation of youths not at all connected with extremism of any kind.Asking the university authorities to keep an eye on activities of students means asking the university authorities to suspect every students and spy on them. This amounts to treating university students generally as irresponsible to be terrorists. When the source of terrorism is not the universities but conditions exist outside the universities.Students do not go to universities to learn how to be terrorists but how to make a career honourable and worthwhile. Terrorism is not fun even for those who become so. They die while killing others. So they are influenced by motivation not connected with university education. Subjecting the university students to easy way of police questioning may not be the right thing for fighting terrorism. Such police methods may make the university students angry. We have to be reasonable.Take for example the fact that universities now have to report on all students who will miss one semester. If the police were to question all students who will miss one or more semesters it could lead to a hatred of authority by the students. Finding out the cause of absence for all students would lead to an investment of time and energy which would perhaps lead to no results – as the vast majority of students have innocent reasons for missing a semester or more. For those students who find it difficult to study due to heavy pressure of course load a semester gap is a welcome relief – but imagine if these students are suspected as potential terrorists. The innocent students will feel harassed.Similarly the request by the authorities to landlords asking them not to rent out flats to bachelors in Bashundhara residential area in Dhaka, is also likely to lead to a greater resentment among the young ones.This is far more important to figure out and understand – how and why young ones get radicalized. The Bastille Day terrorist Bouhlel never prayed. He smoked, drank, and picked up women and men on dating sites, and yet he was radicalized very quickly. He even sent his family in Tunis the equivalent of over Tk 87 lakhs illegally. It is clear that he gave his life for the reason of frustration for his inability to maintain his wife and children. The big amount he got will save his family from miseries of poverty. The truth is that these international terrorist groups rose in serious unstable countries and they have huge funds to attract frustrated young ones.The unemployment among young ones is a serious problem. The police harassment must be carefully scrutinised.The countries where extremism has grown like Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan are extremely unstable and chaotic countries. Younger generation has every reason to feel revolted. When they are offered money and jobs the frustrated ones become vulnerable. Blaming religion is certainly not the right way because they are clearly acting against Islam. They use Islam only to hide their true intention. They take advantage of the unstable situation in oppressive countries for their recruitment of young ones.The problem is resentment and frustration. This crisis cannot be met by police action. Though we do not agree with the methods being used by the government, we wish the government success to give our people safety and security.
