Common front against militancy

Given the recent spike in extremist attacks on both the religious minorities and various Muslim sects, the government has decided to float a platform that will bring together religious leaders from all communities in an effort to counter the rise of religious militancy in the country. The effort is laudable.

Bangladesh has always been a land of tolerance and there has been no record of serious religious-based violence. Regrettably, in recent times we have seen a rise in attacks and brutal murders of several members of minority groups, in what may be termed as an attack on the secular outlook of the land where people of all faiths have lived in relative harmony since long.

That scenario is being challenged today. With local militant outfits widely suspected to be carrying out such vicious and deadly attacks, the time has come for leaders of different faiths to come together and voice their opposition to extremists who commit such cowardly acts of terror in the name of religion.

We would hope that the leaders of different faiths and sects who had congregated in the event organised by the police yesterday in a bid to hammer out the way forward, would realise the urgency of the matter. Such meetings should be organised outside the capital also.

Scholars and clerics of various religions giving out sermons to the faithful in the villages and towns will be far more effective in ensuring that bigots are not able to recruit the unwary and gullible amongst our populace to join the ranks of the extremists.