Live grenade haul
WE commend the Rab team's digging out of 46 live grenades from the bank of a pond in Satkhira. This is the latest in a series of such discoveries from city's Banani and Moghbazar, Nalitabari in Sherpur, Barobari in Pirganj, Thakurgaon, Sirajganj, Botiaghata in Khulna, Sonatila in Khagrachhari and Shalipur in Savar. The wide territorial range of the findings should be an eye opener to the tentacles of the terrorist threats.
Some arrested terrorist suspects gave the tip-offs for the recovery of the clandestine grenades. Cooperation from the local people was also thrown in. This pattern of raiding the terrorist dens and caches of hidden arms is a redeeming feature no doubt; but we must not overlook the unrelenting clandestine activities of the potential extremists. They are living in the midst of people so that public vigil and cooperation are crucial in detecting their hideouts or any sign of subversive activities by the terror peddlers. They play on the religious sentiments of the people to spread the message of their hidden agenda to destroy the fabric of the society as we know it. That Islam is completely opposed to violence and destruction of human lives will have to be constantly harped by the influential people in the community to their compatriots. They must be as organised as the religious extremists, if not more.
In the case of Satkhira grenade haul, confessions made by Mufti Moin Zandal, the top leader of Mufti Hannan-led Harkatul Jihad (Huji) arrested earlier in Dhaka and the statement made by Nazrul Islam picked up in Satkhira led to the discovery of the live grenades.
Surely, by discovering the grenades and arms caches, the Rab is doing a laudable job but what we would like to stress is the need for finding appropriate answers to the following questions: how the grenades were trafficked or made available to the confessors? Are these manufactured locally? Who are their godfathers, mentors and financiers? What is the kind of network they have?
It is important that the cases are expeditiously tried and culprits punished in order to din the right message into the ears of those who maybe waiting in the wings to spring deadly surprises.
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