RABs list of missing people
Preparing a list of missing
persons makes sense: it makes the work of tracing terrorists and curbing terrorism easier
The RAB has made a list of around 261 missing people mostly aged between 18 years and 35 years against the backdrop of recent Gulshan restaurant and Sholakia Eidgah attacks. This list is certainly not exhaustive. In fact, there might be many more. As far as security is concerned, these disappeared persons are particularly worrying because all the identified attackers of Gulshan restaurant remained missing from their houses for months. And this means that these apparently disappeared persons, who have probably joined underground terrorist outfits, or even Islamic State, may carry lethal attacks anytime anywhere.
The RAB in an effort to catch these missing persons and offset potential terrorist attacks urged common people in general to inform the nearest RAB office about if anyone had any information about the missing individuals. The elite force has also offered prize money, Tk 10 lakh, for each of the persons who have joined extremists groups, if they surrender themselves to the force and give them information about the terrorists networks. It is expected that this strategy works.
The point is the seriousness that the law enforcing agencies are showing now about potential threats of extremism was not a timely one. Had the law enforcing agencies, taking stock of the repeated target attacks on non-Muslim persons, gone on war footing to nab terrorists as they have now, the Gulshan attack could probably have been avoided.
However, as it has surfaced many of the missing people are apparently from well-off families, including sons of retired and serving army officers, bureaucrats and businessmen. In the list are an engineer, accountants, students, a doctor and a pilot. Moreover, from the capital Dhaka the highest number of people has gone missing. It is still more worrying that missing persons list includes
those three people, who were seen in an Islamic State video released earlier by SITE Intelligence Group. Now the question that may arise: whether these missing persons have joined Islamic State. One cannot rule out the possibility unless there is concrete evidence against this.
Preparing a list of missing persons makes sense: it makes the work of tracing terrorists and curbing terrorism easier. After the advent of Islamic State and hype for joining the group, many countries have prepared such a list a lot earlier. After the Gulshan attack, repeated threats are coming from the unknown sources of more attacks. These threats should not be taken lightly and be well prepared on guard. Bangladesh can never be allowed to be a playfield of terrorists and extremists.
