Trying times for us

EVER since the dastardly acts of a section of BDR men came to light, we, through several editorials have expressed our deepest sorrow at the tragic events. We commend the armed forces for the way it has held its grief in check and gone about performing its duties in the most professional manner.
We are passing through a difficult time and the events will no doubt leave a deep sorrow in our collective psyche. We are in the process of overcoming a grave catastrophe at the moment crossing the very initial days of the post-crisis phase. It is thus very important that we preserve our cool and avoid split within the society since that is what those behind the mutiny would be most happy to see happen. One must not fail to see that the mutiny in effect was designed to destroy and damage the two major elements of our defence capability the army and the BDR
It is neither the time for rumour mongering nor giving ears to all the irresponsible tales that are making the rounds. Going by the events of February 25 one can be in very little doubt that there is a deep-rooted plan to destabilise the country and exploit the situation, and we can resist and prevent that from happening if we as one, cutting across party lines, refuse to dance to their tunes by quashing the rumours.
All the political parties must understand that politicising the matter will be very damaging for the nation. We would have liked to see the PM involve her counterpart in the decision making process in the quelling of the BDR mutiny. This unfortunately did not happen and we feel that the Grand Alliance and Sheikh Hasina have lost a golden opportunity to gain the confidence of the opposition. One should not overlook the importance of such involvements since the collective decision, right or wrong, would have to be owned by all. And the blame game one sees is primarily due to this.
The BNP reaction, perhaps a consequence of being spurned by the government, is a disturbing stance to take. This is not the time for blaming one another or pointing accusing finger at the government on mere speculation, since what we need at the moment are cohesion and consolidation not division.
We feel that there will be time for discussion on the way the matter has so far been handled. We shall have enough scope for analysying the actions of all concerned. What we need to do now is to help overcome the immediate problems that of making the BDR operational and strengthening the armed forces to overcome their loss of such a large number of officers. We must work together to overcome the trauma inflicted on us.