Int'l situation disconcerting

Against the backdrop of recent killings in Bangladesh and other parts of the world, European Union Ambassador in Dhaka Pierre Mayaudon said the international environment was indeed a source of much concern.

"If we consider the current global context we can only deplore that this particular exhortation has fallen in deaf ears," he said.

Addressing a gathering arranged marking International Day for Non-violence by the Gandhi Ashram Trust in the capital on Saturday, he said it was definitely surrounded by dreadful news, be they brought from far by the media, such as the shooting in Oregon or happening literally at the doorstep with the killing in Gulshan of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella and of a Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio in Rangpur.

"These most unfortunate incidents sound like involuntary wake-up calls, inviting us to share with a broader audience the modernity of the message that Gandhi started circulating from 1906 in the aftermath of the Zulu war in South Africa, that whatever the agenda nonviolent fashion only can bring change," Mayaudon said.

"Violence comes in all sizes and shapes. No country, industrialized or developing, is safe. No segment of any society can consider itself immune to violence or human rights violation. It has obviously a lot to do with terrorism, but not just that," he said.

The EU envoy observed that in the post 9/11 context, the dominant sense was that use of force could suppress terrorism. Fourteen years later it must be acknowledged that combatting terrorism by military means only contributes to creating more terrorism, he said.

"Closer to us, in Bangladesh, how does the situation look like? The course of events that has unfolded since the beginning of this year portrays a pretty gloomy picture," added the head of the EU Delegation to Bangladesh. He referred to the political violence with indiscriminate arson attacks targeting innocent citizens over the first three months, assault on women celebrating Pahela Baishakh in Dhaka University, murder of 13-year-old Rajan in Sylhet in July, which dramatically illustrates the dark reality of violence against children; and the four bloggers being assassinated by militants in less than six months. "And now these mysterious assassinations of an Italian aid worker and of a Japanese citizen…should investigations conclude that Cesare and Kunio were killed because they were foreigners, this would open an unprecedented and somber chapter of violence in this country," said the ambassador.