What about the why?

I began going to Pohela Boishakh festivities in the Dhaka University campus even before I enrolled as a student of DU. As a female non-resident DU student, I used to hang out on campus with my friends every day till 9pm, mostly in front of the Central Library, and did so for some five or six years. I was also there when Ramna was bombed. I myself have never faced any sexual harassment at these festivities, but I have heard many stories of off-colour comments, pinching, poking, etc. But such an “organised” effort to attack women at “such a large scale” has never taken place. So my question is why did this happen? And why now? The fact that the women attacked included a mother of two and a 10-year-old girl goes to show this was not about provocation or clothing. This was an organised effort to mar the festivities of Boishakh by people who knew they could get cover from the authorities. So, here are some thoughts and questions: Why was an Islamist war criminal hanged right before Pohela Boishakh? Even as I was organising to go out this year, people warned me of anticipated violence given the hanging, the trend of vengeful petrol bombers and machete-wielders this year, and given that Ramna has been bombed before. But by evening we were happy to see the day was celebrated without incidence. So, did the perpetrators decide to instigate this attack on women to create the chaos that was anticipated but didn’t take place? Were women targeted because Islamists seem to make women an issue? I am by no means an Islamist sympathiser, nor do I subscribe to any of the political parties, I am simply presenting you with some salient questions so that you can draw your own logical conclusions. Obviously, since the authorities are failing to take action, and seem to even be in denial, logic dictates that the perpetrators are either connected to or have some influence on the authorities. Such an attack also appears to be congruent with a growing trend where while one party is protesting and creating discord, the ruling party sends out lackeys to create chaos because the protesting party automatically gets blamed. But the most heinous and horrendous part of all this is that the means to achieving their goals was to attack women. Not bombs, not machetes, but organised sexual violence against random women. I saw the CCTV footage, men were attacking any woman they could regardless of age, clothing, or who they were with. To think that women are thought of as a tool for creating political discord is unbelievably atrocious. How disgusting a mentality can that be! People have pointed out that women have become “collateral damage” and have been used as tools in warfare. But we are talking about a sovereign nation and a so-called democracy in the year 2015! What the perpetrators didn’t count on is the social media and candid journalism. I am really glad to see the CCTV footage floating around online which the authorities claim “doesn’t show anything.” Please circulate the footage and any other pictures available to identify these people. Many are saying that the footage is old, it is from Boi Mela, etc. It doesn’t matter. If a woman has been assaulted at any point in time, and there is visual evidence, then identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. As for people posting things like “women deserve it,” please do so even more, so that we can identify you too. And kudos to the likes of Liton and Amit who tried to help these women at the risk of personal injury. This is exactly why by-standers fear to help -- because they beat you to a pulp if not to death, or come after you with a machete. The transgender woman who ran after Oyasiqur’s killers thought they were chintaikaris, and didn’t realise they were armed. I don’t support vigilantism because the same mob that beats up a chintaikari also attacks innocent people who try to help. The mob never stops to find out what’s really going on. But the police are armed, so what excuse do they have? Sadly, the police are failing in every instance, and in this case they even let some of the assailants go. There has to be accountability for the police and for any of the authorities that are responsible for security and safety. Why are the authorities saying that the gate should have been closed at x or y hour? That is irrelevant, women should be able to go there at any time and feel safe to do so. I was at Robindro Shorobor till 3:30am, and it was really well-organised with pro-active security guards all over the place. To all the women who are apprehensive of attending these festivities: Don’t be. If need be, we will arm every woman with a pepper spray and a stick, but we will all go anywhere we want to at any hour of the day we want to. Instead of letting these incidents force us to stay home, we need to go and we need to go in droves so that we outnumber the men and enjoy the festivities as we deserve to.