A fitting verdict
The Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka has found seven of the eight accused in the attack on Holey Artisan bakery, and the brutal murder of 20 hostages and the death in the operation of two police officers in 2016 guilty, and has awarded the death sentence. We would like to compliment the law enforcing agencies for being able to complete the process of investigation quickly, and the court for completing the trial within a year. We recognise that nothing can recompense adequately their irreparable loss, but the verdict, we hope, would bring some solace to the bereaved family members.
We would like to recall the sacrifices of all those who lost their lives in the line of duty and the bravery of a young man named Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, who refused the offer to leave his friends behind and instead preferred death to the ignominy of bartering his principles for the most valuable thing to any person—his life.
The killings were carried out by a bunch of individuals misled by a distorted narrative of the religious scripture for fulfilling an aim that is at best nebulous. Their professed philosophy has no relationship with the teachings of Islam and of the Holy Prophet. These terrorists had wanted to destabilise the country and depict the land as an inhospitable one for foreigners. Their goal was to draw the attention of international terrorist groups. That plan has not worked.
The law enforcement agencies have done a commendable job of dismantling terror cells across the country since that fateful day, but a word of caution remains. We cannot let our guard down even for a second. It is premature, we feel, to suggest that we have seen the end of extremism in this country with the conclusion of the Holey Artisan saga; and it is a waste of time to split hairs on whether there is physical presence of international radical groups in Bangladesh or not. It should be remembered that the Holey Artisan attackers were most certainly influenced by the warped narratives of international terrorist groups.
We need to make our own counter-narrative to the one that brought about the most terrible of terrorist acts on our land and that will require constant alertness and awareness of the public. Only when we exercise constant vigilance, side-by-side with security measures and operations and where the people are brought into confidence on halting the spread of militant ideas in our education institutions, can we succeed in offering a solid defence against the scourge of militancy.
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