Huseni Dalan bombing

We are shocked at the dastardly bombing targeting the mourners at Husseini Dalan Imambara on the night before the Ashura. The act deserves our strongest contempt. This is unprecedented in Bangladesh. In fact Muslims in this country have been participating in mourning the martyrs of Karbala and observing the Ashura peacefully cutting across sectarian divide, over a long time.

It would not be remiss to suggest that there is a pattern in the three violent incidents of the last one month. First it was the killing of the two foreigners. And now we have the bombing at a Shia place of congregation.

It is evident that the purpose of these attacks is to destabilise the country by exploiting as many issues as possible to create a divide within the country including denting the sectarian harmony that Bangladesh has enjoyed for so long. But we are not sure what dividend it will accrue to the perpetrators of these crimes. 

We would strongly recommend that the government and not the police, as has been done, should form the probe body to investigate the matter, because there is a need to bring out the loopholes in police arrangements, if any, covering the Ashura observance.

But be that as it may, we would hope that the probe body would not be swayed in their investigation by the knee jerk comments of some politicians of the ruling party on the matter. Nothing damages more the course of an investigation than unsubstantiated comments on an issue under probe. The real culprits must be identified and nabbed and brought to justice soonest.