For the perpetrators to be so successful in inducing fear and introducing chaos in the lives of the citizenry could be explained by two main reasons: they were either aided by accomplices from within the law enforcement establishment whose connivance, it seems, is easy to purchase these days.

Alternatively, the hate-mongers were successful because the law enforcers have proven once again their utter incompetence in providing basic security to Bangladeshis.

Both explanations apply to many past episodes (Ahsanullah Master, SAMS Kibria, Ivy Rahman, the attack on Sheikh Hasina, as well as the British Ambassador to Bangladesh) too numerous to list individually that have turned up little to placate the fears and uncertainties that many of us face today.

Either of the two reasons is also a serious cause for alarm to the common people who continue to remain neglected while power-brokers flex their muscles arrogantly and jostle for advantage to continue the story of exploitation, marginalization and dehumanization that has gripped the country for the past three decades.

Strangely, heads haven't rolled after any of the heinous episodes, neither are any expected to roll after this most recent one. This raises questions, again and again, as to why the power establishment that cannot protect basic rights of those who empower them should continue to occupy the seats of governance.

But raising that question is like the refrain of a broken record that falls on the deaf ears of an impervious power-structure immersed in self-glory and self-gratification while the lives of the masses continue to degenerate. So what is new?