Terrorism is a suicide note written in blood

On the first day of this month, which also coincided with the first day of the Eid holidays for many, this nation was punched in the stomach while it was breaking out in laughter. A night of terror descended when this country was ready to relax, clueless of the tense moments lying ahead after the first ever militant attack involving a hostage situation. For the first time, the terror that hovered elsewhere in the world hit close to home and brought many rude awakenings for many of us.

It was nightmare come true for a nation that was proud of its secular ideals and moderate values. Suddenly, many of us have been waking up like Rip Van Winkle to a whole new world where so much had transpired during the long slumber of denial. We now realise our missing sons are turning into monsters. We now wonder why privileged upbringing took three Gulshan café attackers and two Sholakia attackers not to the uplands of virtues but to the quagmires of violence. Suddenly, we know that madrassas aren't the only breeding ground for radical minds. English education doesn't lag behind.

A storm made landfall that Friday night. This storm was brewing for years, not too far off the coast of our collective reckoning, and it was gathering strength between the two islands of intransigence and indifference. And, it has left behind a trail of death and devastation haunting us ever since. This nation is still sorting out what about that gruesome night has shocked it most. Is it the attack itself or the number of people slain? Is it the identity of the killers, or the identity of the victims?

Political bombast is still gusted across this land in the wake of this terrible tragedy. Our leaders, in their characteristic reflex, are vowing to pull out terrorism by the roots. They insist the hideous slaughter was the work of homegrown militants who will have no place in this country. When the militants struck again at Sholakia within a week, we heard the evocation of the same set of catchphrases all over again. 

It's an irony that these two militant attacks came shortly after the crackdown that locked up more than 14,000 suspects. If more militants are on the loose after this roundup, then it has to be one of the two things. Either this country is crawling with them or the wrong people have been put in jail. Both scenarios are dangerous, because a downward spiral feeds on itself.

In Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's eponymous novel, an aging Don Quixote decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world. He calls a windmill a giant and a tavern prostitute a chaste woman as he believes that perception is everything. He understands that even though one may not always be able to control what happens to one, one can control how one perceives it. The way we choose to see the world is how it shall be.

The young minds are getting radicalised because someone or something must be twisting and perverting their perceptions. They are leaving homes in their secret voyage to the dark continents where they are being transformed into killing machines. That's what brainwash does. It erases the experience of upbringing and rewrites the rules of engagement. 

That rewriting takes place in the personal space of each young mind before it goes to the cyberspace. What appears in the social media, works like rain fall. Water evaporates and vapours rise in the atmosphere before falling to ground as precipitation. 

If we ask who is winning, the answer is obvious. Sons are being snatched from their families, defying the gravity of love and affection. What else could have more painfully defeated the families of these misguided boys? 

That should tell us that something is evaporating on the ground. We may heave sanctions after sanctions on the social media and draw up the list of missing ones in our neighbourhoods. But that cannot be the solution now that fire has already met gasoline. It's late to improve lifestyle in the advanced stage of cancer.

We refused to see what was coming, and it blindsided us. Greed, lies, corruption, deception, dishonesty, and despair have disillusioned all, hitting most those in their formative years. The older generations have indulged in excesses and some of their sons are seeking corrections. Why they're killing hinges a lot on what's killing (bothering) them.

Terrorism is a suicide note written in blood, encrypted with an algorithm that to kill one must die. And, the next world looks attractive because this world doesn't satisfy. Our sons go missing because they feel lost, returning with bombs and guns to settle their scores with us. 

This nation has to come together if it doesn't wish to fall apart.

The writer is the Editor of weekly First News, and an opinion writer for The Daily Star. Email: badrul151@yahoo.com