On September 28, Cesare Tavella, an Italian aid worker, was shot dead by three assailants as he was on his way home. The assailants shot him from behind and escaped on a motorcycle. They did not take any of his belongings. The murder happened right in the middle of the diplomatic zone in Gulshan, the most exclusive place in the entire nation of Bangladesh, setting off a wave of fear among diplomats for their safety.
As a crime in itself, the murder of Mr Tavella is not especially notable. A standard assassination of a lone target walking alone. However, the debate it set off throughout the country has proven to be much more instructive than his murder. By analysing the reactions to the unfortunate murder of Mr Tavella, it is possible to get a good grasp of the standards of logic by which the elite of this nation judge events and form their opinions.
The government’s reaction to Mr Tavella’s murder, unsurprisingly, has been one of denial. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal audaciously stated that both Bangladesh and Italy are “of the opinion” that the militant outfit was not involved with the murder of Mr Tavella. The home minister further reported that an Italian delegation he had met were of the opinion that Mr Tavella was murdered due to a dispute with locals owing to the fact that he was an “NGO activist.”
The opinion among Bangladeshi bloggers and writers have, on the whole, followed the same denialist point of view. Some amongst them have blamed the government for the murder, while others have attempted to blame the media for creating hysteria around this murder. For their part, the ambassadors of various Arab countries stated their belief that the murder was not a terrorist act. This is in direct contrast with the view of the ambassadors of the European countries, who are unanimously of the opinion that Mr Tavella’s murder was a terrorist act carried out by IS.
To the average citizen, it might prove to be very difficult to wade through all the arguments and counter-arguments to come to a clear conclusion about the incident. However, a careful analysis of the facts known about the murder, along with the knowledge in our possession of the ideology of terrorist groups and their past actions, combined with an examination of the motives and incentives of each interested party shall allow us a clear understanding of Mr Tavella’s murder.
The statement that the Italians were of the opinion that IS was not present in Bangladesh is proven false by the advisory of the Italian embassy to their citizens, which clearly stated that they did not know whether or not the murder was related to terrorism, and their advice to avoid places frequented by foreigners. Had the Italians agreed with him that IS was not involved with this murder, they would not have posted such an advisory.
The statement by a Detective Branch official that Mr Tavella had never been to the Middle East is irrelevant. IS is known to have encouraged its supporters to carry out random attacks against Westerners. The call has been answered by its supporters in various countries. The Sydney hostage situation, the murder of Ibolya Ryan in the UAE, and the shooting of Debra Lobo in Pakistan are examples which come to mind.
The home minister stated that the primary investigations did not indicate the involvement of IS in the murder. However, the very concept of three assailants shooting dead a white Westerner without any apparent motive is itself an indicator that IS is involved with this murder. If it had been for any other reason, a motive would have been apparent. This sort of incident simply does not occur by itself. The lack of motive itself indicates an IS connection.
The analysis by Bangladeshi bloggers and writers online show a similar lack of logic. Naturally, activists who support the opposition party would try to blame the government, but trying to insinuate that the government carried out a false flag attack, as some have been trying to do, is sloppy thinking of the worst kind.
The fact is that the government has no need to create a false flag terrorist attack when plenty of real terrorists exist in this world who have a history of carrying out such attacks, have openly stated their intentions to carry out such attacks, and are proven to have both the capabilities and motivation to do so.
The fact is that all evidence suggests that Mr Tavella’s murder was carried out by local Bangladeshi IS sympathisers. We must realise that it is not a crime to be the victim of a terrorist action. But it is a crime to blind ourselves with sloppy and illogical thoughts, because we will then set the course for many more such incidents in the future. We owe it to none but ourselves and our posterity to stop our tolerance of bad logic and conspiracy theories, use our God-given brains for a change, and take concrete action to root out the terrorist threat before it has a chance to grow.
