Cloak and dagger

There is a thinly veiled sense of fear in almost all public places after the Holey Artisan tragedy just after Eid, when this writer went to Bashundhara Shopping Mall, the presence of extra security was visible.

Though the market was closed, the cinema halls were open, and each person was being searched thoroughly by hand plus a scanner before being granted entry. The same level of caution can be seen in other areas, especially the restaurants around the diplomatic zone.

While the beefing up of security may provide a sense of relief, the spectre of Holey Artisan refuses to evaporate. I am sorry to say, the cloak and dagger approach of the authority has only compounded our worries.

From the very first day we have seen that there is reticence in giving out details to the public or the media. Just after the Army commando unit stormed the militant-held compound of Holey Artisan, there has been a wave of either misinformation or complete silence.

Let's take the Akash, Bikash naming of the five deceased militants. While the law enforcers gave these names, stating that the armed militants were criminals with past records, the actual truth came out via pictures plus information reportedly posted online.

In such a case, where the facts are often the most vital lead to understanding an episode of unprecedented horror, we are given no specific details, only opaque or misleading information.

So far, a clear concise statement hasn't come, which has allowed the rumour mill to go into full operation.

Just today, someone in my office came and presented me with a ludicrous conspiracy theory which suggests that in the Holey Artisan incident, the actual killers fled the scene and the bodies of five young men, already killed somewhere else, were placed by some unknown colluding force.

I know, this sounds outlandish, but such preposterous theories can only gather impetus in the absence of a transparent report made to the nation plus the media.

Just two days ago, a Bengali daily aimed at the masses ran a report stating that young militants sent on killing missions with the ultimate aim of death, either by suicide or during gunfight, are given Yaba tablets, a Methamphetamine based drug, which brings out their savage nature, subduing humane instincts.

Were the militants in the Artisan stand off on Yaba or any other substance? I believe releasing autopsy reports would have given the truth, stemming the tentacles of wild speculation.

One of my colleagues also asked why the OC of Banani police station was involved in an episode which fell within the jurisdiction of the Gulshan police station.

I believe there is a perfectly valid explanation for this, but the media should have been allowed to ask questions in a full-fledged press conference to remove clouds of confusion.

A rumour going around just after the tragic event on July 1 was that the attackers were talking in Arabic and English. Thanks to Chinese whispers, soon, we were hearing that the languages spoken were Hindi and English.

Obviously, these assumptions swiftly provided fertile grounds for other more absurd tales to develop.

Wherever I went during Eid, the main topic of conversation was the terror attack, the first of its kind for Bangladesh. And while each circle had a favourite theory, the consensus in almost all gatherings was the same: everything is nebulous because there has not been an official revelation of the facts.

More than a week later, the papers are printing news about two persons, a former NSU teacher and a student of the University of Toronto in Canada, who were reportedly taken for questioning.

While the authority has reportedly declared that the two have been released, their families have stated that they have heard nothing from them.

So here we see a disconnect; the reticence of the law enforcers to come out to speak only fuels more murky theories – which, in the end, will only widen an already existing gap between the law enforcers and the masses.

We also find from reports that a number of young people are missing. Since it's already proven that those involved in the Artisan crisis went missing before emerging as militants, there is a high chance that those who have disappeared may also emerge as radicals.

To be honest, when such an atmosphere of confusion laced with alarm persists, anyone having information of missing persons may think twice before going to the law in fear of being falsely implicated.

Let's be blunt: recent reports of men in uniform fraudulently involving innocent persons in fictitious crime have done much harm.

The Bangladesh Bank official's trauma is very much etched in our minds.

Creating an 'us and them' situation with the public is the wrong approach. We just have to look at the history of Bangladesh to see the results of such a tactic.

Whether tackling militancy or political violence, without public confidence the authority won't be able to achieve much.

That trust can come when certain cobwebs are removed with certain facts provided.

A CNG driver said something interesting: as more time passes in perplexity, the greater the number of weird theories into circulation. Maybe that is the objective!