The government has patronized the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and the militants were able to consolidate their strength due to the liberal attitude of the government towards them. The aims and objectives of the Islamic militants synchronise with those of some partners of the 4-party alliance government. There is evidence that even some ministers from BNP are the patrons of Islamic militancy.

So it is not very hard to understand that the issue of Islamic militancy will remain unsolved as long as the BNP-Jamaat government is in power. However, it is also true that the journey of Islamic militancy started during the last Awami League regime, and organised bomb-attacks began to occur during the same period. So the present government should not alone be condemned for the rise of Islamic militancy. Awami League should also shoulder some blame for it.

National consensus on any issue has become a far cry. Even those who talk about national unity on militancy issue cannot show an effective way to reach consensus. One camp of the division upholds that the militancy issue can be resolved only by overthrowing the alliance government from power. The leaders of the other camp claim that they are doing their best to eliminate militancy but could not fight it out due to non-cooperation from the opposition.

Nevertheless, we may go for a broad-based discussion on the issue. We can very much see that the JMB members of the suicide squads who took part in the bomb-attacks mostly are madrasha students and they are all from a poor family background. The arrested militants have also confessed that they got money from outside the country and they have links with international terrorist groups. These facts suggest that voting out the government alone is not going to solve the problem.

Poverty and the madrasha education are two root causes of militancy. So if we want to fight out militancy we will need to alleviate poverty, establish control over madrashas, and reshuffle their curriculum. Simultaneously, the international connection of the militants should be cut off also. These are not easy tasks.

It is learnt from the reports of newspapers that in many cases the militants conducted their operations centering round madrasha. In some cases the madrashas have been used as training grounds for the militants. However, madrashas are very sensitive for Awami League politics. Awami League has been facing an awkward situation owing to continuous propaganda from its opposition that it is an anti-religion or pro-Hindu party. So it wants to avoid any controversy on madrasha. Awami League had been in power for five years. Did the Awami League government take any step to reform the madrasha education then? No, they did not.

On the contrary, the leaders built up new madrashas in their own locality. The fact is, Awami League could not take up any practical effective measures to stop communal propaganda for fear of criticism that they are against freedom of religion. How can one believe that the party will not repeat its past if voted to power again?

Qaumi madrasha is a much talked-about issue in the country. But no one can know their curriculum or the source of their funds. Information from different sources tell us that the Qaumi madrashas are the manufacturers of Islamic militants. Even if they do not teach the students fundamentalism, it can safely be said that no student of this kind of institution can grow up as a true-educated person.

Extensive reform of Qaumi madrasha is now a demand of the day. But the patrons of such madrashas are opposing this demand. The Islamic scholars are self-contradictory on the issue. They talk against the militants, condemn the killing, and say that such killings are anti-Islamic, but at the same time they oppose police intervention in those Qaumi madrashas that are alleged to be training grounds for Islamic militants. They also oppose arrest of those madrasha students who have been identified as militant or JMB members. They even warn the administration, saying they would launch jihad if it goes too far against Qaumi madrasha.

This country became a fertile land for culturing fundamentalism after the fall of Awami League regime in 1975. Our pride in defeating the communal politics in 1971 is now merely a myth. Many of us even are not ready to accept the phenomenon. The hard reality is that the defeated pro-Pakistani communal force is now in a very strong position in the country and the victorious secular force of our liberation war is a weaker section of the society. One camp is united, the other is divided.

Communalism perhaps is now at a worse state than that of Pakistani era. There has been long, consistent and instigating propaganda against secularism in the country, and the secular forces could not counter that propaganda effectively. As a result, the situation has changed a lot. A single individual, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, launched an enormous propaganda for communalism in the name of waaz-mahfil that created religious intensity among many. Could anyone from the so-called progressive camp come forward with the secular message to counteract him?

The leftists took a firm stand against communalism at the very beginning of the formation of the Pakistani state. The educated middle-class and the students-youths were inspired by this ideology. The language movement of 1952 was a remarkable event and was characterized by secularism.

After the great victory in our liberation war, it seemed obvious that communalism would no longer exist in the society. The people would abandon communalism and have a secular outlook as the constitution of the country took it as one of the basic principles. But it was not properly understood that there has been a huge amount of propaganda against secularism. Nobody even felt it necessary to refute this propaganda by logical counter-statements.

The secular forces could not properly make the people realise that religion is a subject to be exercised in personal and private life and can never bring welfare if it is mixed with politics. The secular forces could not even innovate a developed or attractive politics in comparison to that of the Islamic forces. The people could not be inspired by them, as they see their politics as past-oriented.

The Islamic parties and groups took advantage. They became stronger. Now it is very difficult to abolish these forces only by rhetoric in public meetings or even by voting out the present government. No doubt, this evil force will receive a big blow if the present government could be toppled, but their roots will be there on the ground.

There has to be a continuous ideological struggle and huge awareness programs in the society if we want to uproot the evil force. The movements should be carried out concurrently against both the present government and all sorts of communal politics. Any ideological struggle needs prolonged time effort for victory.

People of the country want to be certain that the current opposition has the commitment and preparation for the struggle. There is no short-cut way of defeating the Islamic militancy or fundamentalism, a force that is vicious in nature and efficient in organisation.

Bibhu Ranjan Sarker is the Executive Editor, Mridhubhasan.