The story so far
The story so far: four of the assailants went to English medium schools or top notch private universities and one went to a Madrassa in Bogra. All of them had a pretty much normal teen life until they went missing in or around the same time earlier this year. All of them surfaced with a common mission—killing foreigners in an exclusive eatery popular among expats in one of the most secure locations of Dhaka city. They brutally killed our Japanese friends who came to develop the country's first ever Metro Rail system, our proven Italian partners of the garments sector, three young women and one chivalrous Bangladeshi young man who stood out for his female friends. In all probability, there were collateral damages when the rescue operation took place—the pizza chef is perhaps a case in point. We are yet to learn how these young men got to the cafe, or the type of vehicle they used. Did they walk from a nearby safe-house? Where are the CCTV footages of their first entry not only to the Holey Artisan Bakery but also to the global terror map?
Several international channels covered the incident live, with newsfeeds from our local ones, exposing the fallacy of our government's 'home-grown' theory. The government so far has attributed this series of killings of non-Muslim religious priests or machete hacking of free thinkers including bloggers, baul-lovers, university teacher or LGBT activist to a vested quarter interested in destabilising the country. Following the mysterious murder the wife of a police officer, the uniformed men went on a large-scale manhunt rounding up about fifteen thousand 'anti state' cottage terrorists. Yet a group of unassuming assailants surfaced in the least expected location.
The portfolios of these young men are very interesting. The IS based SITE has identified them with their Arabic names, the local police have dubbed them with 'homegrown' nicknames and their friends have linked them with their Facebook profiles. I can't be a Shakespearean and say, 'what's in a name?' The shadow lines of nomenclature have turned these individuals into mutants with hybrid identities.
Well, the social media are full of blame for the parents of these 'spoilt rich kids' who had gone astray. I received a call from a former Scholastica teacher yesterday who used to know one of them. She was telling me how her friend, use to go beyond her means to sponsor her child's education. There was no dearth of time or love and no abundance of wealth. The son from a middle class family finished his O' Levels with flying colours. Then what went wrong? The theory that terrorism is striking its roots in absence of familial love does not hold much water.
I was reading the IS recruitment manual that somebody posted on Facebook. The dawee (The one who invites) gives dawa (invitation) to those who are not very religious. Interesting! The pre-January social media activities of some of the assailants fall into this category. Once you have a strong religious basis, you have a better understanding of the Creator and his creation. You cannot opt for destruction. Hence, IS goes after young minds that are frustrated, confused and vulnerable. Talking about jihad and the wrongs done to the Palestinians is their Step number 1. Then they start demonising western culture, and the rest we all know.
It is interesting how much I have learnt about these things in the last few days. I learnt from another post, how our Prophet himself warned of a group that will be unleashing terror in the name of Islam. They will have Islam in their throats and not in their hearts. They will be using black flags and claiming themselves as part of a daula (State). Then there are reports that these groups are now in search of new locations as they are being driven away from the Asia Minor. It is very easy to claim that we have thousands of years of history of being secular, and these forces will not be able to cause any harm. I will just ask them to read "I am Malala," and find out how Swat valley changed simply by sheltering one man and entertaining his extremism.
Just yesterday, one of my professors was telling me about the origin of the word 'assassin.' The history of the words goes back to a murdering cult from the 12th century. During the crusade, a Syrian Shiite leader Sheikh al Jabal, translated as "The Old Man of the Mountain," gave hashish to young men and then exposed them to an Edenic landscape with handmaidens from Harem. They were sent to the battlefield with the promise of being returned to that trance like erotic pleasure. Sounds familiar? Some things in the world have never changed.
This is a proven tactic of brainwashing. The first step is isolation (no wonder all these assailants went missing earlier). During isolation, the targets are cut off from their social network that acts as reality checks for all of us. The targets are forced to see the faults in their friends and how they should not be like them. Their perceptions are monopolised with simultaneous indulgence and threats. Imagine, the boy who found the most beautiful moment of his life while dancing with a celebrity could become a cold-blooded butcher. Even in a prison, among so many convicted murderers only a handful could have the nerve to become a hangman. So what happened in those near six months in which these fine young men had become gruesome monsters? I think from now on, police must take these 'missing reports' more seriously than ever.
Indeed, we need counter terrorism cells for surgical interventions. We also need a system of 'reverse brainwash.' The first step is to break the isolation trap; family and social network need to be the source of positive energy. The second is to educate ourselves of different types of abuses. There is a tendency to think all bad things are happening in English medium schools and in our madrassas. The first group get frustrated with the life in the fast lane and the latter are disappointed that there is no lane designated for them excepting in the afterlife. In our Bangla medium schools, I remember, our Islamic Studies teachers acted as 'comic relief'. The teachers were friendly; it was easy to score grades compared to, say your Chemistry class. They in a way neutralised our fear for religion, and helped us become secular. Today's religious doctrines are coming through cable TV and the internet. With the infiltration of global agendas, we cannot afford to be nonchalant. Our needs are different. Our goals are different. We want to succeed at an international scale. The stakes are higher. The amount of frustration is equally high. The society is becoming highly polarised: the gap between the haves and have-nots is greater than ever. There are international actors to take advantage of this situation. Some will do it to dent our national interest (hampering our Metro Rail or garment sector). Others will do it to find a shelter for the parasitic ideology. The government must come forward with a national consensus about who we are and what we want to be. It must revamp our education system that is adding to the social discrepancy and making us vulnerable to the predatory parasites.
My heart goes out for all the fallen. We are sorry for the cruelty. This is not us. This is not what we want to be!
The author is Professor, Department of English, University of Dhaka and Advisor, DEH, ULAB.
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