Editorial
Signs of militants regrouping
No way can we let our guard down
The recent arrest of a large number of militants in Bangladesh is both good and bad news. It is bad because the arrests are very clear indications that the activities of these elements have not subsided a bit, and that is only natural.
Given the setback the local militants outfits have received over the last four or five years in particular, first with the arrest and execution of the top leadership in 2006 and then with the arrest of many of their members, it is only natural for them to renew all efforts to regroup, particularly to induct new members.
The redeeming feature in this matter is that our law enforcing agencies have been proactive and have managed to anticipate the activities of the militants. In most cases the militants were nabbed with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other types of incendiary materials before they could make use of them. We feel that it is to the credit of the intelligence and the law enforcing agencies that, as reported in the media, 68 members belonging mainly to the three proscribed militant organisations, namely the Let, JMB and HUJI (B) have been seized by the police in the last nine months. And that includes foreign nationals including Indians and Pakistanis.
These arrests, particularly the recent ones, are also disturbing for the fact that it confirms linkages of sorts with international terrorist groups particularly the ones operating in South Asia. Although the agencies have not been able to definitively assert the existence of the L-e-t cell in Bangladesh, we must be in no doubt that there is constant effort to induct into their main fold from the rank of their sympathizers that might be present in Bangladesh. The statements of the arrested foreign militants testify to this reality. However, we must not be oblivious of their immediate aim which clearly, we feel, is to destabilise the country through terrorist attacks and divert the attention of the government from its agenda.
We cannot afford to let our guards down. The developments reinforce the need to gear up our anti-terror measures, particularly passport and immigration control. Reportedly, some of the foreign militants have been travelling in and out of our country with effortless ease, and one of them did so nearly a dozen times in one year, on different names with different passports. Given the technology available, we cannot believe that these people cannot be apprehended even if they changed their identity. We should acquire the necessary technology if we are not in possession of them. And there is also compelling needs to attune our counter terror measures to the rest of the South Asian countries, given the transnational character that the phenomenon has assumed.
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