Bangladesh: Bangla blogs react to the Mumbai terror attacks

This post is part of the Global Voices coverage on the terror attacks in Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008. Please stay tuned for more news and views as the event unfolds.

The Bangla blogosphere reacted to the Mumbai terror attacks with concern. Condolences poured in with bloggers such as hzbrl saying

আমি শুধুই জানাতে পারি সমবেদনা এবং সহাবস্থান ঘোষনা করতে পারি মুম্বাইবাসীদের সাথে। আমরা আপনাদের সাথেই আছি এই ক্রান্তিলগ্নে।

I can only express my sympathy and tell the residents of Mumbai that we are all with you in this hour of crisis.

These sentiments were echoed by many others. Ahmed Akhtar writes in the comments section of the same post

শোনার পর থেকেই সাধারণ নিরীহ মানুষগুলোর অসহায়ত্বের ছবিটাই মনে হচ্ছিল বারবার। সভ্যতার নামে আমরা যে আসলেই কী করছি কে জানে !

After getting the news the helplessness of those innocent victims kept playing in my mind. Where are we heading, in the name of civilization?

After hearing the news, some of the bloggers were also concerned whether neighbor Bangladesh would be linked with the incident. This concern has been captured in the comments section here where Hasib asks:

হাসিব বলেছেন: বাংলাদেশীগো দায়ি কৈরা প্রেসনুট আইছে এহনতরি? …

Hasib: Have they issues any press note yet, holding Bangladesh responsible for these attacks?…

Blogger BDIdol expressed another theory in the same post :

ভারত-পাকিস্তান-আফগানিস্তান এই তিন দেশ নিয়ে আমেরিকান কুটনীতির সাম্প্রতিক কিছু নাড়াচাড়া হচ্ছে। ম্যাককেইন আসছে কিছু দিনের মধ্যেই। ওবামা ক্ষমতা নিয়েই আফগানিস্তান-পাকিস্তানে হামলা করার সম্ভাবনা আছে। সেটার পটভূমি তৈরি করা হচ্ছে বোধ হয়। সমবেদনা থাকলো..এইসব নাটকে সর্বদাই নিরীহ লোকের প্রাণ যায়।

America has recently been involved in diplomatic dialogue with the 3 countries aka India-Pakistan-Afghanistan, McCain is to arrive shortly. As soon as Obama becomes President, there is a possibility of America attacking the Pak-Afghan border. Maybe this is a taste of things to come. Always it is the common, innocent bystander that are victimized in all this kind of drama.

But a bigger worry that bloggers in Bangldesh are expressing is of the possible fallout of this event on the upcoming Bangladesh elections. Shamima Sumi puts this worry into perspective with these words

এইভাবে চলতে থাকলে আমাদের দেশে এর প্রভাব পড়বে সামনে নির্বাচন। আমরা অনেকদিন পর একটা নির্বাচন আশা করছি। যা হলে দেশে নাকী গণতন্ত্র আসবে। গণতন্ত্রই আসুক আর যাই আসুক সরকার নিয়া তো কেউ বৈধতার প্রশ্ন তুলতে পারবে না। কিন্তা ভারতের অবস্থা দেখে মনে হচ্ছে আমরা বুঝি অনেকটা পিছিয়ে যাব। আমার আর সহ্য হয় না। তাজে হামলাকারিরা কী চায়G

If this kind of thing goes on then it is bound to have an impact on Bangladesh, where our elections are round the corner. We are waiting for these elections, hoping that it will restore our democratic process. Democracy or not, at least with an elected government, no one will be able to question its legal standing. But seeing the situation in India, it worries me that it may impede this process. Oh, this is unbearable! What do these terrorists who have attacked the Taj hotel want?

Blogger Z Zaman expresses hope that the elections will bring in a new dawn in Bangladesh, that it will be a strong statement against terrorism.

আমরা আর জঙ্গীবাদ ও দুর্ণিতীবাজ চক্রের আবর্তে আর বন্দি হতে চাইনা।আমরা ২০০৮ এর নির্বাচনের মাধ্যমে নতুন অধ্যায়ের শুরু দেখতে চাই।

নির্বাচনে দুর্ণিতীবাজ ও জঙ্গীবাদের বিরুদ্ধে রায় দিন।

We do not want to be imprisoned in this circle of terrorism and corruption any more. Through the 2008 elections we want the beginning of a new chapter. In this election vote against corruption and terrorism

23 comments

  • Shadeen

    Yes, i completely agree with Z zaman. After 1/11 all Bangladeshi had dreamt of a new bangladesh, which is free of corruption. however the release of many known corrupted ministers and more sadly, seeing them being greeted by large numbers of people with flowers has really shaken me. Havent we learnt from our past mistakes? Hopefully we have. i would also like to urge all bangladeshi voters reading this to please give your votes to an sonest and patriotic person, That is the least we could do for our country.

  • […] Global Voices (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, […]

  • I have written an article describing political games that caused the Indian intelligence agencies being blindsided by these attacks. What can we do to make India more safe? Read on:

    http://commonsensetopics.blogspot.com/2008/11/mumbai-terror-attacks-colossal.html

  • T Mitra

    It is shame that bangladesh has become conduit for ISI activity. India should have let Bangladeshis suffer from pak rule. We got more trouble in return for freeing Bangladesh from pakistan and feeding 10 million refugees. You people forgot history. These are minor trouble for India which will eventually come out but you people will remain poor for your anti India campaign. It would have been better if you had concentrated onyour development than creatig trouble in india. your people are known for creating trouble in other countries.Your anti India feeling will lead you knowhere. if Pak thinks that India cannot do anything to them just because they have nukes they bare in wrong impression,. they bgot the nukes but they are failed state. Eventually Bangladesh will bee a failed state.

  • ben

    @ mitra…we r thankfull that u helped us in 71..but at the same time i wud like to tell u..we could have win the war even without ur help.may be it could take long.how can u be sure that BD is helping ISI? I can also say Bd is actually helping RAW.any way we aint terrorist.ur ppl r terrorists..even he is hindu or muslim he is Indian.so who is doing terrorism? its indian muslim or indian hindu…

    now dont tell me u dont consider ur muslim ppl as indian..actually we feel realy unsafe when we heard about those indian moron blowing them up killing so many ppl of there own land.may be one day they will enter BD and will take away peace that we currently enjoying.
    actually ur ppl are helping ISI.we dont like pakis.same time we dont like terrorists.our intelligence is not filled with moron what indias agents are,hope u wont argue after all these..we actually did punish all terrorists in BD.how about u? have u ever caught a terrorist except freedom fighter fighting in kasmir?
    pls dear indian frndz keep ur terrorists out of BD.we dont need any percels from india…

    I can see from here indians are fighting with each other…eventually a failed state….2050…indian subcontinent with 20 new country.

  • Suleman

    Simple words \WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND\ India was doing all it can thru its RAW agency for flaring up terrorism in Pakistan thru Afghanistan & Pak kept quiet but then it \CAME AROUND\ besides its a shame for India to take 3 days to pull of the battle they lost.

  • B Collaco

    Terrorism is here to stay, agreed? It’s the Big Black Sheep of globalization. Islamic militants contrary to popular belief that they have no religion, are people of deep faith. Their ultimate joy and deliverance is to die while killing in God’s name. I once heard that this form of death guarantees them a virgin in Paradise. (Heaven must be Hell for virgins.) So the prospect of death will not be a deterrent to them. What will be a deterrent is if all Muslims who are against terrorism urge the governments of each affected country to bury each terrorist who kills in the name of Allah, with a lump of raw pork in his mouth. See how quickly Islamic terrorists stop suicide attacks, or even give up terrorism for good.

  • Shadeen

    @ mitra
    Such a violent blog from mitra just proves the attitude indians possess towards bd.Mitra, you have blamed us of supporting ISI. From where you got this information i dwould like to know. you have accused BD of creating trouble in india whereas it is you who are creating trouble in bd. every year you push in unwanted people from india in Bangladesh through borders. your farraka Dam is turning BD into deserts in summer and in the rainy season it is flooding our country harming us. Every another day your Border security forces kill innocent Bangladeshis ( who are in our territories) like birds. i am sure you are going to counter this sayingv that they were some sort of Criminals. I would also request you To search in the net about A certain BSF soldier called R.P Singh, who just this month entered our country with some other cowards in the middle of the night and killed bangladeshi people in their sleep. he was eventually caught and given a beating by the villagers. We still returned him when BSF apologised to us. And about BD being a failed Country i would say that it is not in Bd but in india where every year large number of farmers commit suicide unable to bear their debts. and bd is not a failed state but we do know that a certain neighbouring country would be very happy if Bd becomes a failed state. lastly i would like to express my sorrow in the death of all those people who have given their lives in the mumbai incident. Terrorism is grasping the region and i would like to belive that all the countries in the region will work together to prevent such atrocius event in the future.

  • bharati

    So glad to know decades later, that far from thanking India for helping and sacrificing the lives of Indian soldiers, Bangladesh could have become free on its own. Gratitude! 35 mill Bangladeshis are in India, so pl check facts re ilfiltration. Indians have no wish or need to go to Bangladesh but many Banglas do come illegally into India, mostly for economic reason or persecution because Islam does not accept any name of God but ‘Allah’. No other name is valid! However since yr an Islamic country, nobody expects you wld thank a kafir, even if he laid down his life for u.

    Re the Suleman comment re India trying to destabilize NW, why not look at the fact that these NW people want to separate and this separation/destabilization does not need India’s assistance? or is it Islamic to blame someone the govt or mullah has taught u to hate? Never mind the actual truth, the mullah decides the truth and you accept it. Like ‘vegetarians and Hindus are cowardly’ and yet after every war begun by Pak, Pak has been routed and defeated. You are taught to hate and not much presumably can be unlearned. Perhaps our skeletons will ask each other: are u Bangaldeshi? r u Muslim?
    Maybe then u will know other forms of belief are valid?

  • bharati

    Dear Shadeen
    u talk of one soldier. How abt the millions of both economic/ religious refugees entering India illegally? Shld we just shoot them? How abt the torture of a stray soldier on yr border instead of gratitude re ’71?
    But then u may need a mullah to tell u to be grateful. Why not think instead of accepting any religion/ govt handout?

Cancel this reply

Join the conversation -> bharati

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.