Jamaat springing a surprise!

What hap-ened last Monday was reminiscent of an August morning of 2005 when near simultaneous explosions in all but one of the districts in the country, took everyone by surprise. It was a rude awakening to the reality, which the then government was unwilling to acknowledge, that we had come face to face with a phenomenon that many of our neighbours, and many other countries in the world, had long been afflicted with -- terrorism. Our shock was enhanced by the pitiful lack of preparedness of our security agencies, even more of the poor intelligence capability, that were caught completely off balance.
Last Monday was for us another shocking demonstration of the utter ineptitude of the intelligence agencies to forecast a likely incident and the inability or unwillingness of the relevant agencies to put in place adequate security measures to address the situation. And that can happen when the law enforcing agencies either do not give adequate importance to the intelligence inputs or feel too smug about their competence and give little credit to the capability of the trouble mongers to wreak havoc. Even the police bosses will have to admit, even grudgingly, that their forces were caught off guard last Monday.
Last Monday saw a serious breach of public security, where violence was perpetrated by a political party. And the damage in terms of property was much more than what was caused by the 500 blasts on August 17, 2005. And that day there were some visiting dignitaries in town as was this time too. No coincidence except a feeling of déjà vu. And the public by and large has been overtaken by a sense of eerie apprehension that anyone can be confronted with a violent Jamaat-Shibir mob anywhere and anytime.
What we are concerned about are the contradictory statements regarding police preparedness that have come from very high sources of the government. Who amongst them should we believe? When the finance minister in his traditional demeanour blames intelligence failure for the violence perpetrated by Jamaat, and the home minister in his inimitable style and characteristic attitude of defending the indefensible, is quick to dismiss the finance minister's statement, then one can only assume that there is a serious systemic flaw.
And to that add the police chief's assertion that they did indeed have prior information that the Jamaat and Shibir were up to something. And if after having advance knowledge, more than 200 public and private transports are destroyed or damaged in the capital alone, and if Jamaat-Shibir combine can show their muscles in several major town and cities of the country, one can say very little about police preparedness to address the situation. Or are there any reasons for which they are unwilling to come down hard on Jamaat?
Let us be clear that the violence committed by Jamaat last Monday was neither a spontaneous outburst nor clandestine (choragopta) attacks on the police and public and private property. Theirs were well orchestrated and well planned actions without which it was not possible for them to bring out so many large and violent demonstrations in so many places in the country simultaneously.
It was disconcerting too, to see the police on the defensive. Rather inexplicable and unacceptable were scenes of the police on the retreat or cornered by the mob, desperately trying to fend off the stick wielding Jamaat cadres.
There are not one but several intelligence agencies, and I find it hard to believe that their combined efforts could not anticipate the violence. To say that the incidents are manifestations of Jamaat's predisposition to violence, and that intelligence failure has nothing to do with it is quite baffling. The home minister's explanations give little comfort to the public. It appears to be a poor attempt to hide police failure, particularly of its inadequate human intelligence capability. Not only in the capital but also in all other places the police were caught off guard too.
The home minister's assurance that violence would be suppressed with all force and everything would be done to ensure public safety cuts little ice with the people. And when he says that the police must be careful that no innocent person is harmed sounds abjectly cynical when one recalls the way the harmless private school teachers were peppered with a new crowd disposal device which has the potential to cause bodily harm if not death.
A few things have become very evident. That Jamaat's ability to organise at grassroots levels and create violence has once again been reconfirmed. Further, inability of the police or their lack of preparedness to preempt political violence is causing public confidence in the law enforcing agencies to sap. This is something the administration can ill afford to have.
Spurt of violence by Jamaat, which started several months ago, is not unexpected. They stand against the trial of war criminals and they stand to lose their leadership as a result of the trial. Their very existence is at risk. But to see the government not only unprepared but also on the defensive when it comes to tackling Jamaat's violence is baffling.

The writer is Editor, Op-ed and Defence & Strategic Issues, The Daily Star.