THE militants’ attack on Spanish Restaurant in the capital’s Gulshan area in Friday evening that ended in the killing of 20 hostages, mainly foreigners and six attackers has left the nation devastated with the shock of a tragedy we have never seen before. It is true that Bangladesh is facing rising militancy and target killings but the Friday’s attack by Islamist militants appears so massive and terrific equipped with grenades and assault rifles at a popular city eatery invariably indicates a major shift in their strategy to kill more and more people that they identify as their enemy at public places and send panic at all levels. We believe that none should be blamed for the tragedy but ourselves. We are fighting ourselves, killing ourselves and started killing more foreigners now when the sharp political divide in the country is forcing a section of young people to become extremists in absence of democratic space. So many lives were lost and so many more left injured in this attack by Islamist fanatics that we have not enough words to condemn the barbaric killings and condole the families of the victims at home and abroad. We express our solidarity with the bereaved families but we are really at a loss how the nation will be able to defeat the militants when the government is moving with its own politics to eliminate militants by force. We believe that the Prime Minister should stop her blame game now when the risk to state security is further deteriorating. We believe that it is a political issue that needs political solution. Bangladesh’s friends in the West and other countries also should not fail to understand they can’t much help Bangladesh to fight militants by giving more material help to the government in this fight. They can rather help isolate militants by promoting the rapprochement between the government and the opposition to deny militants the advantage of the political division. We see Italian national Cesar Tavella was killed in another militant attack last year at the same area. Had the police maintained strict security measures that they had put in place after that killing, yesterday’s mayhem in the same diplomatic area could not have happened and two police officers may not lost lives. The attack has made global headlines and it is unfortunate that such killing is only giving wrong signals about Bangladesh abroad that it is not a good place for visit and business. The damage may be too big to sustain. Bangladesh had never been a country of religious extremists but the situation has dangerously escalated recently with growing target killing. On Friday a Hindu priest was hacked to death at Jhenaidah after two more such murders last month at temples. Muslim clerics were similarly killed along with bloggers. But every killing is not the act of militants either. Police are carrying out extra-judicial killing while political groups are killing their rivals.It is in fact a severe lawless situation, which is taking the nation to the brink. The problem is that the government is not capable to give protection to people and not taking the responsibility as well.
