Bangladesh Will Defeat Extremism

Bangladeshis and foreign visitors to our country have been the victims of some particularly vicious and high-profile crimes committed by a small cadre of violent extremists trying to destabilize Bangladesh's secular government and strike fear into the country's tolerant populace.
 
Bangladesh's growth and development since its hard-won independence from Pakistan in 1971 is nothing short of amazing. Poverty has diminished, life expectancy and literacy have risen, a booming economy grows at an annual rate of 6 percent, food is exported to poorer countries and Bangladesh has become a regional leader in women's rights and enfranchisement.
 
Yet there are those who want to see this all destroyed. They want to drag Bangladesh back into a dark age of fear, violence, and bigotry. Chief among these groups is Jamaat-e-Islami, an extremist group that opposes Bangladesh's modern, secular government. Jamaat, with the blessing of its overseer, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, has waged a three-year campaign of domestic terror against the government of Bangladesh and its people by derailing trains, firebombing buses, and even chasing down and hacking to death political opponents in broad daylight.
 
The BNP and Jamaat have turned to these tactics because they have lost the battle at the ballot box. Bangladeshis want a secular, tolerant state, and they say so when they vote. The recent attacks targeting foreign residents, Bangladeshi bloggers and other members of civil society is an escalation of this campaign by the BNP, Jamaat and its allies.
 
But they will not succeed. The government will hunt down, try, and prosecute the assailants.
 
In late December, a fast-track tribunal sentenced two men to death for the brutal murder of secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013. Six other men were sentenced to prison for their role in the crime. The assailants were radicalized by a radical Islamist cleric, who was convicted for abetting the murder and sentenced to five years in prison.
 
This is only the most recent example of Bangladesh's commitment to law and order and to protecting the lives of its citizens and foreign guests.
 
Just after the beginning of this year, police in Bangladesh announced they had found and arrested 22 individuals responsible for the recent murders of four bloggers. The investigation into a fifth blogger killing is ongoing.
 
Bangladeshi authorities partnered with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the 2015 killing of U.S. citizen and blogger Avijit Roy, who was hacked to death in Dhaka. This is only the most recent example of the strong and ongoing cooperation between our two nations to fight terror both in Bangladesh, in the region and globally. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the killing of Roy.
 
In addition to Bangladeshi victims, violent extremists have targeted foreign guests in Bangladesh. These attacks tear at the very heart of the Bengal tradition of hospitality.
 
In the September murder of Italian citizen and aid worker Cesare Tavella, authorities have arrested four suspects, three of which confessed they were ordered to do the killing by a "big brother." Following this lead, police arrested a high-ranking official of the BNP.
 
Authorities have obtained a confession from the killer of Japanese citizen and social worker Kunio Hoshi, who was gunned downed in Rangpur, in the northern part of Bangladesh, in October.
 
In the grenade attack carried out on the Shiite Tazia Procession in October, authorities in December arrested seven suspects and recovered grenades similar to those used in the attack as well as a suicide belt bomb, several other crude bombs, bomb-making equipment and -- tellingly -- jihadi books.
 
Authorities have made arrests in every recent high-profile crime. Trials are underway, and the procedures are open to the public.
 
To help prevent future attacks, authorities are significantly upping protections for foreigners and Bangladesh citizens who have been threatened.
 
Security is higher in Dhaka's diplomatic sector, with more mobile units, check points and visible deterrents. Travel routes and recreational areas frequented by foreign guests have been fortified.
 
The government has formed a special task force to ensure the security of foreigners and monitors terrorist activities in order to defuse attacks before they take place. Regional and local governments are increasing security for foreigners residing there.
 
Government intelligence agencies are increasing their monitoring of terrorist propaganda online and are collecting on-the-ground intelligence on terrorists nationwide.
 
The government provides additional security for a number of high-profile members of the country's civil society that have received threats.
 
The thread running through these arrests is that the assailants have ties to violent extremist groups, including Jamaat.
 
These groups and the BNP seek to destroy Bangladesh's secular, tolerant society. But the government of Bangladesh is committed to maintaining it and will not rest until each assailant has been brought to justice and every Bangladeshi -- and foreign guest -- can feel safe to say and write what they believe.