Islamic extremism will never find a place in Bangladesh again, said Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus recently.
Violent extremism is a direct assault on the United Nations Charter and a grave threat to international peace and security.
Bangladeshis simply cannot allow extremists to triumph over liberalism and the way to defeat extremism is neither through dagger nor through 'development' but through unadulterated democracy.
If all those extremists killed and arrested in the last one month belong to the JMB then all those that had written off the extremist group as a non-entity and without the capacity to create problems for the country must be eating their words, and that includes the head of our police too.
World War I was once thought of as 'the War to End All Wars'. But the hypothesis that “violence can be extinguished with greater violence” has since been thoroughly disproved and should have no place in modern statecraft. Yet it is the bedrock of anti-terrorism.
Bangladesh's experience with ribald extremism and terrorism is more recent and, so far, has been less painful in terms of mass attacks or casualties. But there has been a slow, but steady gnawing at the very soul of this country.
Emboldened by the government's lack of action, the extremists will eventually expand their attacks on liberals, politicians, journalists, writers and anyone who disagrees with their views and approach.
The operative words are extremism and terrorism; so what's in a name, terrorism is terrorism. The threats have always been there and to be fair to ourselves some of the major terrorist acts have not seen handing out of convictions to the perpetrators.
Despite a commendable initiative by the government to combat militancy by targeting schools, madrasas and mosques, lethargic implementation has reduced it to a forgotten official circular.
Islamic extremism will never find a place in Bangladesh again, said Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus recently.
Violent extremism is a direct assault on the United Nations Charter and a grave threat to international peace and security.
Bangladeshis simply cannot allow extremists to triumph over liberalism and the way to defeat extremism is neither through dagger nor through 'development' but through unadulterated democracy.
If all those extremists killed and arrested in the last one month belong to the JMB then all those that had written off the extremist group as a non-entity and without the capacity to create problems for the country must be eating their words, and that includes the head of our police too.
World War I was once thought of as 'the War to End All Wars'. But the hypothesis that “violence can be extinguished with greater violence” has since been thoroughly disproved and should have no place in modern statecraft. Yet it is the bedrock of anti-terrorism.
Bangladesh's experience with ribald extremism and terrorism is more recent and, so far, has been less painful in terms of mass attacks or casualties. But there has been a slow, but steady gnawing at the very soul of this country.
Emboldened by the government's lack of action, the extremists will eventually expand their attacks on liberals, politicians, journalists, writers and anyone who disagrees with their views and approach.
The operative words are extremism and terrorism; so what's in a name, terrorism is terrorism. The threats have always been there and to be fair to ourselves some of the major terrorist acts have not seen handing out of convictions to the perpetrators.
Despite a commendable initiative by the government to combat militancy by targeting schools, madrasas and mosques, lethargic implementation has reduced it to a forgotten official circular.
The redeeming feature in these bleak circumstances though, is the Zimbabwe national cricket team's firm indication that they are visiting us next year.
