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Bangladesh:
A Prime Target of Violence
Where do we go from here?
Over the last five years, secular organizations, cultural
activities, movie theaters, minority religious sites,
certain shrines symbolizing the moderate Sufi band
of Islam and liberal politicians have been attacked
in a spate of bombing incidents in Bangladesh. Opposition
political activities are under constant fear of
attack, and opposition politicians are afraid of
their lives, making a healthy practice of democratic
norms and values more and more difficult by the
day. Bengali cultural festivities with hundreds
of year's tradition are security nightmares now
for fear of another bombing.
Non government organizations, (NGOs) which changed
the face of rural Bangladesh by giving the hitherto
marginalized groups of society, particularly women,
a new identity and source of financial self-reliance,
also came under attack, forcing them to curtail
their open activities, often significantly.
An analysis of the targets, the victims, the modus
operandi, and the facts unearthed by official investigation
in the few cases that it has succeeded in doing
so, suggests that the vast majority of these attacks
implicate the extreme conservative religious forces
in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh has
issued statements blaming Islamic extremists for
some of the attacks, and sometimes successfully
pursued the perpetrators. But non-partisan observers
of the concerned citizenry have found the measures
taken by the Government of Bangladesh to try those
responsible for these cowardly activities and efforts
to put an end to this ominous series of events quite
inadequate, often insincere, and in cases where
steps were undertaken, that it was done so as a
face saving political ploy.
On the other hand, the major and mainstream opposition
political entity in Bangladesh has resorted to counterproductive
hartals, violent protests and street anarchy to
protest this bombing campaign. While this has in
some cases captured the anger and frustration of
the people, it has consistently failed to maintain
a sustained response amongst people because of its
display of misplaced priorities, placing ad-hoc
blame on the government, and bringing unwarranted
suffering to the people and economy of Bangladesh
through its activities.
Uttorshuri,
an internet forum for Bangla-speaking people from
all over the world, with technical help from Drishtipat,
a human rights organization, has taken the initiative
to create this website as a means of a constructive
protest and to fulfill the need for documenting
important historical events pertaining to Bangladesh.
Time and time again, we have seen how truth is often
the first casualty of misinformation campaigns that
follow such events. In reality, these attempts at
scoring petty political points inevitably end up
causing facts to fade from our collective consciousness.
In this context, we host this website to chronicle
the bombing campaign that has been plaguing Bangladesh,
follow up the investigations and legal proceedings
involving these crimes, and monitor the activities
of the Government of Bangladesh in dealing with
this bombing campaign.
At the same time, this webpage will serve as
the hub to connect the citizens of Bangladesh who
are concerned at these ominous developments. As
we grieve for each loss of life to this mindless
violence, we must also condemn these terror attacks
in the strongest possible language. Uttorshuri forum
urges all of you to post your comments to express
your concerns and share thoughts as we unite as
Bangladeshis to fight these blood-thirsty extremists
who, by any measure of patriotism, are enemies of
our state.
Read
More over here on
why we think it is important to have this website
and how to get involved.
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