Onus of grisly killings rests on major political parties

Editor of The New Age Enayetullah Khan speaks at a roundtable organised by Bangladesh Sangskritik karmi Sangha at the National Press Club in the city yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

The roundtable was organised by Bangladesh Sangskritikkarmi Sangha, a forum of cultural activists, at the National Press Club in the backdrop of recent grenade attacks and postponement of 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit in the city.

Neither the main opposition nor the party in power can deny its failure in bringing the perpetrators of series of bomb and grenade attacks to book, said Dr Rahman Chowdhury, a researcher.

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"Awami League should have explained to the people why it had failed to try the perpetrators of bomb attacks during its regime before demanding justice today," he added.

Dr Rahman said though the common men have no role in today's politics, it is they who are helpless victims in the political game.

The security situation in Bangladesh had nothing to do with the postponement of the Saarc summit, it is the political, trade and imperialist interests that forced the summit to postponement, said poet Samudra Gupta.

"Global evil forces and their local agents have been carrying out such misdeeds," Gupta said, adding that extreme economic inequality is also responsible for such situation.

Editor of the New Age Enayetullah Khan, who moderated the dialogue, said India withdrew from the summit in disregard to all diplomatic norms.

The people's ignorance about how and why deadly bomb attacks are occurring one after another is a major impediment to take a tough stand against the perpetrators, said Ataur Rahman, a theatre personality.

"Lack of commitment to life and society, degeneration in ideals, all pervading corruption and rot in the state mechanism have resulted in the kind of society we live in today," he said.

The perpetrators are invariably targeting Awami League leaders and activists including secular cultural activists so that the blame can easily be put on the BNP, said Sajjad Hossain, executive director of the Centre for National and Regional Studies.

"It is designed to create such a situation that will never let the two parties reach a national consensus," he said.

AMM Hasanuzzaman, presidium member of sangha, said the main suspect in Sylhet shrine bomb attack on the British High Commissioner was sent to Singapore for treatment, but later he moved to England.

"Is it a limitation on the part of the government that it cannot bring the suspect back?" he questioned.

Razia Khanam Jhunu, president of the sangha, presided over the roundtable.