OPINION: Caught between two states: The Islamic and the United
'There have been various claims of responsibility. We have no reason not to believe those claims of responsibility. But what is clear is that there is a threat on the ground," said the US State Department spokesperson on the recent killing of a LGBT activist and his friend in Dhaka. The US sees the situation in Bangladesh as 'very complex' and has offered to help in investigating the two killings. The US ambassador is cocksure that the 'State' is present here and wants us to acknowledge as such. It seems we are unfortunately caught between the myth and reality of IS presence in the country. We are being watched very closely, by the US among other countries, for how things develop in the terror front in Bangladesh.
The repatriation of eight Bangladeshi from Singapore, alleged to belong to what the Singapore authority says IS in Bangladesh, has compounded the problem for us. While there is no gainsaying that there is no 'physical presence' of IS in this country, the fact that the terrorist organisation has brought this country under its radar is a matter that the security agencies in Bangladesh cannot overlook. If the US says that it hears the footsteps of IS at our doorsteps it would be a folly to discard the warning as merely statements spurred by sheer strategic consideration with ulterior motives. Anyone who has cared to look at the IS magazine Dabiq Issue 14 would have found that it devoted 25 percent of its space to Bangladesh. Half of it has been devoted to an interview with one Abū Ibrāhīm al-Hanīf, the "amīr of the Khilāfah's soldiers in Bengal,' purported to be the chief of the organisation in Bangladesh, and the rest on extolling the 'contribution' of a Bangladeshi IS member Abū 'Jandal al-Bangālī 'killed in action fighting for the Islamic State.
Without sounding alarmist we want to stress that time has come to open our ears to the footsteps and lookout for the footprints. IS is trying to spread its tentacles in this country. The fact is that Bangladeshis are being caught in a third country organising extremist groups to create trouble in Bangladesh, with alleged links with an international terrorist groups. And ignoring it can only be at our peril.