Editor's Pick

Coordinate to eradicate

10 February 2010, 18:00 PM
EDITORIAL
Shahedul Anam Khan
THERE is a compelling need for a central coordinating body to direct and synchronise the national effort towards combatting terrorism in Bangladesh keeping the national strategy as the guideline. Call it counterterrorism centre (CTC) or whatever. It appears that there is lack of coherent approach in the matter, as is apparent form the comments of high ups in the administration and the reports of regrouping and acts of retribution resorted to by the extremists recently against defectors from their ranks. A recent remark of the IG police, that terrorism is under control, may convey a wrong sense of the situation. The terrorists may not have perpetrated acts of violence in recent times, but that in no way suggests that they are no longer existant. But the question is do we have a policy at the national level in this regard. Although there have been many scholarly exercises to determine the likely responses to terrorism in Bangladesh by non-government think tanks, I doubt whether the government has initiated any study of the kind to base its counterterrorism plans on. It must be added that the recommendations of the said studies have been forwarded to the relevant ministries of the government, but we are yet to see any substantive action to implement those. The issue of terrorism has been addressed differently at different times in our country, varying from a position of complete denial of the existence of terrorist or underplaying the threat, as was done during the erstwhile 4-party alliance regime, to overplaying the issue in a manner which gave the impression to a less informed person that the country was saturated with terrorists, as was done during the initial period of the current government's rule. Neither is close to reality. And none of the extreme positions help because, apart from the diluting the issue, it prevents the expression of appropriate methodologies to fight terrorism, particularly those that are motivated by religious ideologies. But what is even more damaging than extreme positions is the alleged political link of the extremists, some of who have been used to chastise recalcitrant political elements. The fact that there has not been another August 21, or August 17 is no reason to be euphoric that the extremists have been completely quashed. We must not fail to take note of the media reports that have brought to light the fact that these elements are in the process of reorganising. The recent killing of a JMB defector by JMB operatives could mean several things. For one, it may be that the JMB is worried about defection and would want to convey the consequences of deserting the group to the possible defectors. This may be an act of desperation since they are no longer able tolerate any further depletion of their ranks or, on the contrary, it shows that they are still fairly well organised and their act of retribution is a well planned action to convey to others that they are not done with their business as yet. Counterterrorism is a holistic approach that not only seeks the physical eradication of the terrorists, the major thrust has to be psychological. That will need the involvement of the general people, particularly the influential elements of the locality like school and madrasa teachers, to counter the psychological offensive of the extremist, as a part of national strategy. And all theses would require direction of an apex body that would harmonise counterterrorism activities of the relevant agencies, which is not the case at the moment. The home minister's comment that the government would help anyone who wants to leave the extremists ranks and join normal life suggest that there are no concrete plans as yet as to how and where these elements would be rehabilitated. This is once again a very clear indication of absence of a policy, because resettlement of surrendered extremists is an element of counterterrorism strategy that would see them not only gainfully employed but also protected from reprisal. Several other important factors make the creation of such a body imperative. Strategies will need reevaluation, and the CTC is the most appropriate body in this regard, who, basing on changed strategy, will also devise appropriate tactical response for the forces on ground to follow. Intelligence is another important feature of the fight against terrorism. A body that is involved in the study of all aspects of the matter, as the CTC would be, is the right agency for drawing up the intelligence requirements for the agencies. Last but not the least, there must be one single body at the national level that should coordinate with such agencies across the borders, and the CTC would be that agency for Bangladesh. Needless to say, terrorism is far too important to be treated in an ad hoc manner. As we have said in the past, we say once again, it is about time a strategy to combat the extremists and terrorists is formulated and implemented under an apex body.
Brig. Shahedul Anam Khan is Editor, Defence & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.

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