Bangladesh: Reemergence of extremists

WE compliment the law enforcing agencies for the arrest of two groups of potential terrorists from two different parts of the country. However, it should not surprise anyone with a very basic idea of terrorism to see them reemerge. We had in these very columns warned of any smugness in this regard. And we are happy to note that the agencies have so far in the last five years been able to successfully anticipate these groups. But it is their complete obliteration that we have not been able to ensure. If we want to see the end of religious extremism and terrorism then we have to counter effectively the ideology professed by these people, who are driven by distorted motivation and convoluted and warped understanding of the scripture, to recruit new bodies in their ranks. This is very fundamental to any counter-terror strategy, because without a dedicated rank and file no amount of money or other resources will allow the extremists to survive. Furthermore, combating religious extremism successfully depends on having a dynamic counter-terror strategy. Do we have one, and if at all, are we implementing it properly? If anyone in our crop of policy planners and law enforcement agencies thinks that the hanging of a few of the extremist leaders belonging to HUJI (B) or JMB was the death knell of the extremists will commit an elemental but cardinal judgmental error. These groups will cease to exist as an entity only when the rationale for their existence is defeated.