Local police could have played a better role to prevent some of the recent militant attacks on religious establishments across the country.
Police stations had prior information about several of the 12 such attacks made in the last three months including Friday’s attack on an Ahmadiyya mosque in Rajshahi’s Baghmara, the Shia mosque attack in Bogra and the Hussaini Dalan bomb blasts in Dhaka.
But in most cases, police either did not take enough security measures or did the bare minimum by only cautioning the authorities of those religious establishments.
In addition, there was negligence on the part of the management of the establishments in obeying police advice. If not for all the attacks, at least in Dhaka, Bogra and Rajshahi, this was the case, Dhaka Tribune has found.
Rajshahi
There are four Ahmadiyya mosques of the in Rajshahi district. Of these, the biggest is located in Ranibazar area of the Rajshahi city. So, based on information that this mosque could come under attack by religious fanatics, police made security arrangements here.
But the attack eventually took place in one of smaller and less important mosques in Baghmara, which is located outside the metropolitan city.
The management of the Baghmara said that they had been cautioned and advised to be careful, particularly about strangers; but police did not make any security arrangement here. Eventually, a stranger carried out the suicide bomb attack in Baghmara.
Bogra
In Bogra, the negligence shown by the management of the Shia mosque, which came under a gun attack in November, was much more serious.
Right after the October bomb attack on Shia devotees in Hussaini Dalan in Dhaka, police cautioned the Shia mosque in Shibganj of Bogra. In fact, police even made security arrangements for the mosque as well, but for just one week.
Before withdrawing security, police gave three advices to the mosque authorities: first, to make sure that the mosque premises is well lit; second, to keep at least two devotees in guard outside the mosque during prayers; and third, to interrogate and note down as much details as possible if there is any stranger.
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that when the attack took place at the mosque, only a weak 60 watt bulb was lighting the premises. They never kept anyone outside on guard during prayers. They never questioned the strangers who came to the mosque on the day of the attack.
Here as well, police said that three strangers, who were seen in the area for the fist time on that day, eventually carried the gun attack.
“It is true that we were cautioned by the police. But we did not take any security measures because it was hard to imagine at that point that someone could do such a heinous thing in a mosque,” said Mozaffar Hossain, secretary of the mosque.
“Some Sunni devotees also offer prayers in our mosque and we never bar them. Sometimes there are strangers as well. So, we do not generally question strangers because they might feel insulted,” he said.
Dhaka
Just a few days before the Tazia procession of the Shia community in Dhaka, a police officer on check-post duty was killed in the city’s Gabtoli area. One of the killers, who was later arrested, told police about the plan to attack the Shia procession.
Based on this information, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) cautioned the organisers of the traditional Tazia procession to not allow a gathering at night.
There were also RAB-police joint security check posts at the entrance to the Hussaini Dalan premises on the night of the attack.
“But things went out of control as hundreds of people came to the Hussaini Dalan in the night as the Tazia procession is a very old tradition,” said a law enforcement official who was coordinating security at the Hussaini Dalan on that night.
“At one point, it became impossible to check everyone because there were so many people. So, we had to stop checking,” the official said.
Meer Julfiqar Ali, president of the Hussaini Welfare Association, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are not saying that law enforcers did not provide us security. But we are witnessing that such attacks have become a regular thing. People are now very scared and as a result, devotee turn out has been very poor off late.”
Investigation updates
There have been at 12 attacks on religious establishment in the last three months, but police have so far managed to arrest only two attackers from the spot – one in the Dinajpur Iskcon temple attack and the other in the Pabna Christian priest attack.
Security analyst Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, thinks that militants groups are trying to show their strength by carrying out such attacks regularly. “They are showing that they are capable to violating any security systems.”
The former election commissioner also said: “The most worrying thing is that we and also our intelligence agencies are still in the dark about their roots.”
When contacted, Nazrul Islam, assistant inspector general of Bangladesh Police, claimed that they had made a lot of progress.
“We have sent letters to our field-level officials asking them to increase vigilance and trace the militant hideouts,” he added.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said all the attacks were a result of national and international conspiracies.
“An organised syndicate is doing this to create instability in the country ... We have arrested a number of people of that syndicate and are hopeful to arrest the others shortly,” he said.