Brain Stormer: Rising Terror in Bangladesh

The recent terror incident in Bangladesh on Tuesday once again shocked the South Asian countries. This time the ‘Storm 26’-a joint operation conducted by the detective agencies, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and special Swat unit of the Bangladesh police had finally killed nine terrorists hiding in the Jahaz Building in a place called Kalyanpur, just outside the capital city of Dhaka.

All the militants were believed to be the members of the banned terrorist group called ‘Jamaat-ul-Mujahidden Bangladesh (JMB)’ which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS). In fact they were planning for a café like attack which took place in the posh diplomatic locality of Dhaka on July 1. Indeed, the Bangladesh police and intelligence agencies must be credited for their success in foiling another ghastly attack on its soil.

Why such attacks are rising in Bangladesh? Is it a kind of revenge the IS and IS-affiliates started for the treatment meted out to the leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami for their role in the historic 1971 war? Is it a soft target that the IS is building up for reining on India and spreading the terror to the rest of the nations in the sub-continent? The reasons for such repeated terror attacks are not fully known and the security agencies in Bangladesh are trying to unearth the roots behind the same. Surely, Bangladesh has been made a target as it is a poor Muslim nation with high unemployment of youth population wherein the IS and its sister like organisations may easily find recruits. The punishments handed down to the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were definitely a cause for concern and it may be one of the elements that are being used by the IS to exploit the local youth.

Further, attacking the liberal shade of people in Bangladesh who are always the target of any fundamentalist groups across the world is nothing new at all. At the moment, Bangladesh needs to develop a mechanism of joint intelligence sharing with India and the rest of the nations of South Asia so that any future terror attack can be easily prevented. Bangladesh must bring back an environment which helps growing the ethos of multi-cultural values so that people belonging to all religions can co-exist. Being a least developed nation, the country badly requires foreign investment and in turn it demands a safe and peaceful environment. Hence the political leadership in the country, barring all ideological leanings, must strive and fight the radicalization drives around the country. Terror has no religion except one-that is ‘mindless violence’. So, we all must stop it altogether at its root.