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"Bangladesh is the next favoured destination of the Al Qaeda." From The Daily Pioneer, with thanks to Fanabba:
The global war on terrorism, it appears, is missing a critical battlefront: Bangladesh. While US-led forces are concentrating on Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, forces of terror are regrouping in Bangladesh, a perfect haven for sundry groups operating in Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and other Southeast Asian nations. After the terrorists in Pakistan came under American pressure, Bangladesh has emerged as a fertile ground for terror groups to spawn, recruit and set up training camps and strengthen their network. Two reasons can be cited for the rise of terror in India's east: Geography and history. Bangladesh is a country sandwiched between West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam with its southern borders flanking the Bay of Bengal. The last four States have been struggling with insurgency for more than five decades, fuelled by vested powers and armed by smuggling networks, some operating with state complicity and others independently, that run through Southeast Asian mainland. As a result, there are well-trodden arms smuggling routes through mountainous terrain that also offer enclaves for terrorist training camps. The long coastline of 580 km offers a safe route for gun-runners, smugglers, terrorists and criminal syndicates including those who indulge in human trafficking. Geography, in some ways, has shaped the history of this country.As for history, Bangladesh, in existence for 33 years, has had a tradition of religious groups, some quite extremist in their viewpoint, jostling for political space, often left vacant by frequent bouts of political instability and military interventions. These religious groups, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) which emerged as Bangladesh's third largest party during the October 2001 elections capturing 17 seats in the 300-strong parliament, have gained strength in recent years as the country was dragged into impoverishment and public disillusionment caused by gross misgovernance and religious bigotry. These factors also helped terrorist groups like the Al Qaeda and its various tributaries to set up bases and operate quite freely from Bangladesh. One such group is Harkat ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), Al Qaeda's operating arm in South Asia, with growing links in Southeast Asia....
The troubling aspect of the rise of HuJI in Bangladesh is its links with religious groups which have been successful in gaining control over the political space in a country facing economic collapse. In the days to come, HuJI's success in carving out a space for itself is likely to trigger a wave of copycat terrorism, with smaller religious extremist groups like Islami Oikyo Jote (IOJ) taking to terror tactics for power and profit. In the process, they will help the Al Qaeda to firmly establish a network of grass-roots level groups to carry out terrorist missions. In Pakistan, the Al Qaeda has been quite successful in coopting various religious and sectarian groups to work for the larger "cause" of global terror. Bangladesh is the next favoured destination of the Al Qaeda.
Posted by Robert at October 31, 2004 6:49 AM
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Bangladesh is a cesspool....
I see no way out for this blighted land.
Bangladesh is a goner and so are all those unfortunate nations cursed to be in its geographical proximity.
Oh, India, Burma, Thailand...!
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at October 31, 2004 9:15 AM
It looks to me like a matter of triage: who will live, and who will we have to pass over as beyond hope.
I think Humanity is bifurcating: that the primitive people of the owrld have had their time, and that they are no so overpopulated on such improbable lands that they simply cannot exixt physically without the civilized world feeding them, not simply with technology, but with food.
My feeling is that when the tides recede there will be a new Humanity to replace the old one.
I think the islamic world, intuitively sensing its demise, is going out in a rage, hoping to take down as much of the rest of the world as it can in its final death-thoes. The hope of saving many of them is, I fear, zero.
Having said that, what are we going to do?
I'm no great advocate of relying on governments for--well.... However, I cannot suggest that individual citizens combine their resources privately to counter the threats of a dying civilization that's trying desperately to destroy the world at large as a last angry gesture of its frustration and shame and bitterness.
I look at the sophistication of our opponents, and yes, I do admire their abilities. They're focuses and committed. they are organized, and they work without the rules of law and government hindering them. We don't do what our opponents do. We do not organize privately and beyond the borders of our nations. We are not agressive in our counter-challenge. We wait for our governments to take charge of our affairs on our behalf. Within the boundaries of our nations, that is right and just.
Within the scope of our rights as citizens to voice our opinions publicly, I do believe we could do more, and that more directly. But that's not an option for all of us.
I obey the laws within the borders of legitimate nations. Outside those bounds, all hell breaks loose sometimes. Here in the West, in Russia, in India, our governments act on our behalf. We could approach citizens like ourselves in other nations, by-passing those governments, acting as law-abiding citizens, to create a solid resistence against the Islamic world. We could do the same things the Moslems do, if we chose to. And we could still conduct our affairs legally in our own nations.
The matter is one of focus: do we wish to put our efforts into saving the lives of millions of peasants in Bangladesh, or do we want instead to focus our efforts on assimilating Moslems in Malmo? Or do we want to "melt Mecca?" Do we want to expell all Moslems from the West? Do we want to expell Moslems from positions on the local school board? I'd love to change the world, as Alvin Lee wrote, but I really don't know how....
Spenser writes for us each day a pile of stuff we can use to organize ourselves around a particular issue with one clear purpose. He put his life on the line for that. If we look at the list of witers and poets murdered by Moslems we might some day see near the bottom of that long list, our friend's name. He's taking a chance for us, and i hate to see it wasted. What for example, would we do if he's killed tomorrow? Who will carry on here? And for what purpose?
We can't save everyone. We can't do everything that needs to be done. We can support our governments in their activities on our belhalf. Or we can do a little more for ourselves, our families and communities, our nations, even for the miserable people of Bangladesh.
I think we have to focus more clearly on what we can do in a practical sense. Love the government, by the way. I intend to vote for Bush and Kerry, in case anyone monitoring this site is wondering about me. I'm not suggesting we interfere in the ways of our governments. But we can do things governments cannot do.
Posted by: sonofwalker at October 31, 2004 1:33 PM
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