The terror attack at a popular Dhaka restaurant on Friday night and the Baghdad bombings over the weekend are stark reminders of what the world is really up against. Tackling terror is a mission it must take up in a far more united way lest it be scarred forever by this phenomenon of unleashing violence in the name of religion. While such killings aren’t new, the paroxysm of fear it instils menaces the planet. Bangladesh may have a real problem in handling such strikes, as in the hostage-taking at a restaurant popular with foreigners and diplomats in Dhaka. Lack of experience in tackling them was apparent in the magnitude of collateral damage in the storming operations.
It was either due to lack of adequate funds or Bangladeshi forces may have been told not to worry about toll as long as the siege ended swiftly. A particular reason to worry stems from revelations on the economic status of the attackers, said to be well-educated young men from wealthy families who followed the new “fashion” of taking up militancy. The problem is greater as there were a series of xenophobic attacks on foreigners, including Indians, in the past few months around Dhaka.
The official finding, that the restaurant attack was not by the dreaded ISIS but by home-grown outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, can bring no consolation to the Bangladeshi authorities, who must also to fight an image hit that may ultimately affect its tourism and trade. India has reason to worry over the targeting of Hindus and secular bloggers in Bangladesh, besides the major threat that such terror may spill over into our eastern sector too, probably aided by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. This is all the more reason why India must aid Bangladesh in intelligence-sharing and otherwise to contain militancy.
Quick to claim responsibility for any act of terror around the world, from Orlando to Baghdad, ISIS is said to be hitting back after facing extreme pressure on one of its key bases in Iraq. But at least one of the two Baghdad blasts (on Karrada, where at least 78 people may have been killed) appears to bear the signature of ISIS, which also attacked Istanbul airport in Turkey last week. Sheikh Hasina’s impassioned plea not to kill in the name of religion might find no response in ISIS, nor will religious sentiment like this being the holiest month of Ramzan inhibit terrorists from acting as they please. A throwaway line in the midst of the terror, which said the attacks will go on as long as aircraft bomb Muslim countries, might have a chilling resonance. Will the world realise this in time before the very fabric of modern life is destroyed forever?
