Curbing militancy

Social resistance against extremism can be created through bringing reform in education and building up mass awareness. As younger people have the potential to gravitate towards extremism, giving them the right kind of education is crucial

If the nation does not become aware of the potential danger of extremism and takes the necessary steps right now, the extremists may organise themselves strongly spreading their tentacles wider and growing their roots deeper in society. People of Bangladesh are deeply religious even when they are moderate and extremists, whether external or internal, can take this opportunity and motivate many of these moderates to be with them with their hateful ideology.
The situation of Bangladesh has not yet turned like that of Pakistan where suicide bombing has become a regular phenomenon, but given the volatile international scenario particularly in the Middle East and Bangladesh’s inner dynamics; society here can fall in the grip of organised violence. Against this backdrop, Professor Emirates Dr Anisuzzaman rightly pointed out that social resistance has to be built up to counter the threat of militancy at a roundtable in the capital recently.
This social resistance can be created through bringing reform in education and building up mass awareness. As the younger people mostly gravitate towards extremism, giving them the right kind of education is crucial. They have to be made aware of the real identity of Bangladesh which fought a bloody war, in 1971, to build a secular democracy. And looking back, the war did not go in vein.
 In the Constitution of Bangladesh religion of Islam has been declared as the ‘state religion’ and that is why it becomes a duty of the state to educate its people about the real spirit of Islam that strongly prohibits terrorism and killing of the innocent people at any given circumstances. In that direction, the state can engage the imams of mosques to portray Islam as it is when they deliver sermon during the Friday prayers and other occasions. Not separating  them, Islam and religions in general accommodate others.
Besides creating social resistance through education and mass awareness programmes, there is also the crucial need of having skilled law enforcing agencies which can bring out the hideouts of extremist militants into light. Until now, Bangladesh’s law enforcers have played a commendable role in containing terrorism, but they need to be well on guard so that any form of militancy in future can be nipped in the bud. Terrorism thrives because it is financed and the sources of this finance have to be destroyed.   

Curbing militancy

Social resistance against extremism can be created through bringing reform in education and building up mass awareness. As younger people have the potential to gravitate towards extremism, giving them the right kind of education is crucial

If the nation does not become aware of the potential danger of extremism and takes the necessary steps right now, the extremists may organise themselves strongly spreading their tentacles wider and growing their roots deeper in society. People of Bangladesh are deeply religious even when they are moderate and extremists, whether external or internal, can take this opportunity and motivate many of these moderates to be with them with their hateful ideology. The situation of Bangladesh has not yet turned like that of Pakistan where suicide bombing has become a regular phenomenon, but given the volatile international scenario particularly in the Middle East and Bangladeshs inner dynamics; society here can fall in the grip of organised violence. Against this backdrop, Professor Emirates Dr Anisuzzaman rightly pointed out that social resistance has to be built up to counter the threat of militancy at a roundtable in the capital recently. This social resistance can be created through bringing reform in education and building up mass awareness. As the younger people mostly gravitate towards extremism, giving them the right kind of education is crucial. They have to be made aware of the real identity of Bangladesh which fought a bloody war, in 1971, to build a secular democracy. And looking back, the war did not go in vein. In the Constitution of Bangladesh religion of Islam has been declared as the state religion and that is why it becomes a duty of the state to educate its people about the real spirit of Islam that strongly prohibits terrorism and killing of the innocent people at any given circumstances. In that direction, the state can engage the imams of mosques to portray Islam as it is when they deliver sermon during the Friday prayers and other occasions. Not separating them, Islam and religions in general accommodate others. Besides creating social resistance through education and mass awareness programmes, there is also the crucial need of having skilled law enforcing agencies which can bring out the hideouts of extremist militants into light. Until now, Bangladeshs law enforcers have played a commendable role in containing terrorism, but they need to be well on guard so that any form of militancy in future can be nipped in the bud. Terrorism thrives because it is financed and the sources of this finance have to be destroyed.