July 1, 2016 will be etched in the history of Bangladesh as a day of darkness and despair. This is the first alleged act of ISIS, a rogue organisation that had been claiming to have set foot in Bangladesh for a while now, despite the government’s categorical denial.
We mourn these senseless killings of our citizens, our law enforcement units, and our foreign citizens but we should realise that we are currently at war with delusional humans, who claim to wield the holy power of God, reciting the Qur’an like a war-cry. They shun the fact that the peaceful religion of Islam, and indeed all great religions of the world, promote love, peace, harmony, and mercy.
The heavenly books believe in solace, comfort, and preaching happiness, putting humanity on the highest pedestal with an effervescent flow of respect and compassion. Machetes, bombs, and bullets are the exclusive purview of terrorists, and the only lives they deserve are behind bars until sanity prevails, but that too remains in grave doubt.
The damage has been done, but we need to explore exactly what the method behind this madness was.
We noticed that there were no ransoms claimed, so what they had done was for their own cold-blooded doctrine and philosophy -- a philosophy of spreading anarchy in the name of a religion. Unfortunately, these acts are never really about religion, as they spread the wrong message and taint all that is good about a religion in the process.
As a result, we see the balance of social harmony tipping in the wrong way, and believers of that faith, globally, getting branded in a bad way.
This has been the unhappy consequences stemming from the fault lines created in the global political arena, and the brunt of that is being felt globally in Paris, Ankara, etc, and now in Dhaka. This is a global disease and the world needs to sensibly and surgically deal with it.
While we may feel bitter at our government for its inadequate response, right now we have to work together as a country.
Many comments fly around in social media, but “blame-gaming” has never yielded anything good. Our country, its politicians, and its vital organs must work together right now. We need to understand that democracy must be allowed to emerge in times such as this.
Responsible politics is the only way forward. Religion should be practiced, but with a heavy emphasis on the development of the soul and in teaching that the beauty of all religions is to strive for universal harmony. The religious institutions of Bangladesh should officially denounce these acts of violence and teach their students that dialogue, not repression or brutality, is the answer.
No philosophy from the barrel of a gun has ever endured in the history of the world. Those deranged seven or eight individuals will become nothing but an ugly statistic, mark my words.
We need to make it be heard that Bangladesh will not bow down to fear and repression at the hands of cowards who have failed to follow the path of tolerance. Let the message be clear: Those who wish to take up arms to subjugate humanity are no more than annoying insects, their rogue acts mere bumps in the road to progress, nothing more
Bangladesh needs to address the issue of religion and its teachings in a well thought-out fashion. Any deviant form of religious practices should be protested and reasoned with logic.
Religion is being used as an instrument for warmongering and citizens should rise together, speak up about the true essence of religion, and that it is about spreading love and fellowship, not hatred and death.
When a society loses its moral compass, these unexpected forms of outbursts take shape. We need to dig deep into the psyche of our nation and focus on why such disturbing and nonsensical behaviour is being manifested; we need to explore whether things such as socio-politico-economic repression and intolerance in drowning dissenting voices have a role to play. The education policies set by the government can also be revisited to that end.
Now is the time for responsible citizenship and responsible politics. We need to stop crying wolf when we do not know how strong or how entrenched the wolf is. By bringing so much attention to these nefarious acts of terror we are, in turn, inviting even more fear, and thus playing into the hands of ISIS or other such organisations.
We cannot let these events reach a point where the entire nation is gripped by fear.
Let us put an end to these calamities. Let us stop all the rhetoric and build bridges of friendship and peace.
A united country can and will weather the storm. In the name of religion, what these wayward souls have done is nothing short of an act of cowardice -- let history judge these wretched animals.
We need to make it be heard that Bangladesh will not bow down to fear and repression at the hands of cowards who have failed to follow the path of tolerance. Let the message be clear: Those who wish to take up arms to subjugate humanity are no more than annoying insects, their rogue acts mere bumps in the road to progress, nothing more.