Start of Terror In Bangladesh ?

Victims of Dhaka Blasts Languishing in Hospital.

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi

Series of blasts targeting peaceful mourners at ‘Hussaini Dalan’ in the old part of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on the holy day of Ashura is really unfortunate. While Bangladesh's interior minister has denied involvement of any militant group, Islamic State (IS) has taken the responsibility of attack that ripped through Matami Procession. In its message to the world, IS has been quoted as saying “soldiers of the Caliphate in Bangladesh" detonated explosive devices in Dhaka during "polytheist rituals". Bangladesh has criticized and condemned the attack in strong words but is refraining from admitting the penetration of IS into her territory. Prior to targeting Muharram procession, IS had also taken the responsibility of killing two foreign nationals in Dhaka.

A Bangladeshi Minister questioned “Where’s our religious tolerance? We can’t even tolerate a small Shia community now”. Another Minister reacted after visiting the site of blasts “Religious hatred is not harbored in Bangladesh.” Remarks of both the Ministers are quite natural and obvious. Bangladesh never experienced the kind of sectarian violence as is very common in Pakistan and Middle East. The attack has rightly been described the first of its kind on any Matami procession in Bangladesh. But no one can deny the fact that Bangladesh too is gradually falling prey to ultra-hard-line outfit IS that considers Imamis and Sufis as apostates. Initially, two bloggers were eliminated, followed by the gruesome killings of an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer recently. Now the tiny Imami community has been targeted. The attack left a 12-year-old boy dead and about 100 persons injured. The emergence of sectarian violence in Bangladesh needs to be discussed against the backdrop of what is happening in Middle East and Pakistan. The blasts in Dhaka has occurred a hours later after a similar attack on a Matami procession left 16 people dead in Pakistan.             

Muharram rituals are not political in nature. They symbolize religious and spiritual gathering that strives to exhort people to believe in peace and brotherhood while recalling the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain. Yet as Muharram approaches, shadows of sectarian violence become quite visible. Earlier, it was restricted to Middle-East and Pakistan but now its tentacles are spreading in countries like Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. It is indeed ironical. Imam Hussain laid down his life for humanity and rituals associated with his sacred memory is being used to divide two major sects of Islam at the behest of advocates of imperialism. What is more alarming is the continuing ignorance of Muslims all over the world as to who is trying to divide them?

There is need to develop a mechanism to let the Muslims know what strategy is being followed by US after 9/11 incident. In 2004, Rand Corporation-a leading think tank, in its report had suggested that Sunni-Shia sectarian division should be exploited to implement the US agenda for the Muslim World.
The implementation began in Iraq. Major terror-attacks were carried out against the followers of Ahle-Bait in Karbala and Baghdad. Afterwards, a chain of clashes between Iraqi Shias and Sunnis followed, targeting each other’s mosques, shrines, religious leaders through bomb blasts, suicide attacks etc.
After Iraq, Pakistan became center of sectarian strife. Now Bangladesh is following the suit. Even in India, sectarian violence is on the rise between the majority and minority community. The citizens of these countries should remember that the foreign-backed militants groups have close connections with each other and their network is spreading mainly due to apathy of religious leaders to the entire issue.

The dangerous situation that is shattering the peace and harmony among the Muslims Can’t be handled by simply saying that no militant group was involved in Dhaka attack or no Talibani outfit has claimed the responsibility of attack in Pakistan. The sectarian violence can only be tackled by preaching and promoting forbearance, self control and tolerance by all segments of society. The media should also play a sensible role. It should educate people to follow the principle of mutual co-existence. Likewise, religious leaders should ask people in their sermons to remain cool and promote cohesion. They should tell them that Islam believes in peace and brotherhood. It declares that there is no compulsion in faith and people professing different faiths can happily follow their beliefs even in a land dominated by Muslims. The government should also deal with separatist elements with iron hand. People believing in violence and killing of innocent people can’t be considered as Muslims. They represent the oppressive forces against whom Imam Hussain had taken a firm stand and sacrificed himself and everything else he could offer to save tenets of true Islam. Muharram comes every year to promote inter-faith understanding and no political force or its agents should be allowed to use it as a platform to showcase the world that it is an occasion to encourage sectarian issues. In Pakistan and Bangladesh portray Islam as if it does not denounce terrorism, religious intolerance, reckless killing in the name of religion. Such portrayal only leaves non-Muslims wondering what kind of religion Islam is?