Analysis of the Dhaka Café Attack and the direction the country is going

banglaldesh-armyIn recent years Bangladesh is suffering from increased number of attacks mainly targeting individual bloggers by groups claiming to represent Islamic State or have alliance with a local hate preacher.

Yesterday’s attack in a café in the diplomatic zone of Dhaka signalled a new form of attack. The magnitude and scale was calculated to drive fear and send a message to the world community. It was clear IS wanted to claim this attack to demonstrate their reach beyond Syria and Iraq.

Gulshan area of Dhaka is one of the most protected areas in the city as it has many foreigners from around the world and has check points going into the area from all directions. Initially 2 policemen were killed followed by news of 20 hostages being killed over a period of 12 hours. The army was brought in and Bangladesh Commando’s stormed the building rescuing 13 people and killing six of the attackers. One of the attackers was captured by Commandos as part of their operation.

So why is Bangladesh increasingly attacked by terrorists?

Bloggers who have been writing articles not supporting the views of Islam have been specifically targeted by certain hate preachers and their supporters in Bangladesh. They have also extended their attacks on the gay community and anyone seen to be supporting views that does not align with Islam. However this does not really explain why there is an increase in the number of attacks in recent years and in particular the attack last night.

One reason given by a person recently in the news links the continued investigations and trials involving war crimes to the increase in terrorist activities in Bangladesh.

Security experts however point to the linkages between the local jihadist group, the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and IS and between Ansarul Bangla Team and al Qaeda.

There have been over 9000 arrests made by the police in Bangladesh and out of those only 150 have been charged with terrorism related offences. This means there are thousands of people being arrested for other unknown reasons and this can drive anger amongst certain groups and can lead to increase in attacks on individual’s and foreigners to draw attention to government policies or police brutality.

There are many reasons that can drive individuals and groups to lose their mind and attack innocent people in barbaric ways that most ordinary people just cannot comprehend. It is the duty of the state police, army and government to do everything within their power to safeguard their citizen and visitors to their country.

There is a need for the politicians of the country regardless of their party political connections to work together to stamp out extremism, intolerance and hate against others. These issues can easily destroy a country and turn it into a failing state if not nipped in the bud.

I hope Bangladesh manages to find its feet and recover from these incidents including the vilest attack more recently. Our sincere wishes and condolence goes out to everyone who has been affected by recent incident in Dhaka or may have lost someone.