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Electoral balance makes BNP weak-kneed against militants

Staff Correspondent
The BNP think-tank drags its feet in tackling the Islamist militancy spiralling across the country out of fear of hurting the electoral balance in the next polls, said sources close to the policy-making circle.
Most of the party bigwigs are very concerned about the ominous rise of Islamist extremism, but they appear to suffer from the tunnel
vision that they need the support of the fundamentalist forces to win the next polls.
"The government therefore is little committed to tackling the issue effectively," said a top BNP minister, who has little say in the policydecision of late because of his stand against Islamist militancy.
The division in the ruling BNP is all too evident with extreme rightwing leaders calling all the shots
over the left-middle group, said party insiders.
A few BNP leaders from the extreme right block strongly endorse the theory that Bangladesh is now a victim of an international conspiracy.
But many progressive leaders, whose voices hardly influence the government thought-process these days, are worried about the gradual
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rise of militant groups. They believe that the years of negligence by successive governments contributed to the cause of extremists.
Each of the political parties, when in power, has gone soft on extremist forces to woo the hearts of traditionally religious voters.
"That weakness in electoral policy only helped the extremist groups grow," said a leading minister, opting not to be named. "The situation is destined to go out of control if the major political parties fail to take a common stand to fight in unison against religious militancy."
But the ultra-rightists in the BNP and their allies in three other coalition partners Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote and Bangladesh Jatiya Party -- are not short of the belief that Bangladesh has fallen victim to an international conspiracy.
A particular opposition party with the help of a neighbouring country is spearheading an anti-Bangladesh campaign to topple the alliance government, some leaders told The Daily Star.
They even claimed the media in Bangladesh has also joined the bandwagon of the western campaign in portraying Bangladesh in a negative light.
Several senior leaders of that group went on to question the role of the police for arresting the 'religious-minded people,' framing them as militants.
They took a swipe at moderate leaders, alleging that some influential BNP ministers ordered a crackdown on 'religious people' to cover up the
government's failures to arrest criminals who were involved with the grenade and bomb attacks.
But leaders of left-middle block believe it is about time the government came down hard on Islamist extremism in order to stay with the main stream countries waging war on terror.
"Bangla Bhai was allowed to operate in Rajshahi at the pressure of the extreme rightwing leaders, but that decision by the high command has now threatened to bring the alliance government upside down," said another BNP policymaker, preferring anonymity.
"The BNP has to decide now on fundamentalism and its association with Islamist coalition partners before it is too late," he said.
He also suggested Prime Minister Khaleda Zia should review the role of Jamaat. "Take a hard look at the coalition's three-and-half years in power, you will see it is the Jamaat, which cashed in on all political instabilities," he said. "They are growing in strength very methodically throughout the state mechanism."
"Jamaat can only gain as a moderate religion-based party with the rise of Islamist extremism," he quipped.
Meanwhile, the government has asked all the law enforcement agencies to take legal action against the so-called religious militants.
"The issue should be resolved politically, as religious extremism can not be stopped by use force alone," a high home ministry official told The Daily Star.