I remember a story I read in a textbook as a child. An elderly person asks five children to bring 10 sticks. He asks everyone to break the sticks, and everyone successfully does so.
Later, the elderly person piles five sticks together and asks every child to see if they can break it. None could. The lesson was: When you are united, no one can do you harm.
With the recent incidents of brutal killings, and the responsibility claimed by the militant groups, I think this story is very relevant to the current situation of our country, and we all should take lessons from it.
Although many people, including our policy-makers, did not pay attention to possible militant threats a few weeks ago, all seem to be concerned now after the recent brutal killing of a publisher and the attempted murder of another publisher.
The killing of Faisal Arefin Dipan and the photograph of his father crying on newspapers reached out to almost every citizen. I have seen many comments on social media and listened to discussions on this issue from tea-stalls to television talk shows.
While listening to such discussions, it seemed to me that people often fail to understand the root of the problem. Unfortunately, I have also found many national security experts analysing the issue from a law and order perspective miss a very important factor.
If you ask me why a section of people, of a country which is widely considered as a moderate Muslim one, suddenly is on the verge of becoming militant and rule in IS-style -- I would say, we intentionally, or unintentionally, made it happen.
I believe you do not have to be an expert to understand that when a nation is divided, everyone takes advantage -- be it a powerful government or a terrorist group. This notion can be easily understood if you do some research on countries that are fighting militancy or other terrorist groups.
Syria can be on the top of our list where a division among the people helped bring forth militancy. Iraq can also be in the list, where Shia-Sunni conflict is responsible for the nation’s current condition.
Afghanistan’s lack of unity among citizens was the reason for its current situation, Pakistan must be in the list where Shia-Sunni conflict is responsible for the country’s “almost failed” state status, and Nigeria too must be in the list where segregation among people was the cause of its current unstable state.
We can produce a long list and almost in all cases, lack of unity is to blame.
That is why, if you ask me what can save us from possible militant threats in Bangladesh, I must answer: Unity -- unity among citizens and political parties.
There is no doubt that if we stand united, militancy will not be able to gain ground in Bangladesh, and the threat will cease to exist.
I always believed that when a national crisis comes, people in this country would unite as they did in the time of our liberation war. A country which won independence by fighting a massive regional power cannot surrender to any threat posed by a terrorist group.
Unfortunately, we are yet to see evidence of national unity from our political parties. We are still witnessing the usual blame games among the major political parties, and it may seem that by blaming each other, political parties can gain, but only temporarily.
In the long run, they will lose credibility, and history shows that political power is often replaced by a new one when they fail to serve the people.
Most importantly, such blame games actually pose threats to the future of the country and the sanctity of a sovereign state.
I still hope that all parties will unite in the fight against militancy or other terrorist groups. The sooner we stand united, the better it will be for this country. Many civil groups have said the government should call for a national dialogue about the recent development of militancy threat.
I am eagerly looking forward to seeing all our beloved politicians at a big round table reaching a consensus.
I believe our politicians should seize this opportunity to secure their names in history in the making.
A note to the major political parties: Be united and save us from any security threat -- history will remember you for a long time.
