Bangladesh, Bangladesh: To Misery, Add Terrorism

"Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh . . ."  (Joan Baez)

Adding to the seemingly endless troubles of Bangladesh are new homicide bombings in two separate cities, the Associated Press reports, as published at CBSnews.com.  At least 13 were killed and 50 others injured.

One person was killed and five were injured in a bomb attack in Chuadanga on Saturday.  Following the attack, "the mob caught a bomber red-handed while fleeing. The angry people also beat him up and handed him over to the police in an unconscious state," according to one report.

These are not the first terrorist attacks on the people of Bangladesh.  The outlawed Islamic militant group Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh has launched numerous bomb attacks this year.  The group wants to force strict, sharia based Islamic rule in Bangladesh.

Two weeks ago, two judges were killed in the southern town of Jhalakathi by a suspected homicide attacker also allegedly linked to the banned Islamicist group. 

Four people were killed and dozens injured in bomb attacks in August and October.  In August, about 100 explosions took place in some 50 cities and towns across Bangladesh (63 out of 64 districts in the country, including the capital city).  (For more coverage and commentary on the August bombings, see the Gateway Pundit.)

Bangladesh has struggled with flooding, famine, high population density, military coups, and a whole host of other problems since the country was formed in 1971.

Joan Baez and George Harrison wrote two separate songs, both of them haunting and reflective of their composers' talents, about the troubles of "Bangladesh, Bangladesh" during the 1970s.  The motivation for Baez's song was a massacre of students by the Pakistan army.  George Harrison rallied too as a result of the war and other troubles in Bangladesh.  There were strong overtones of antiwar protest in their music and an element of blaming the United States for having "tilted" toward Pakistan in the war, but their sympathy for the suffering of the people of Bangladesh was no doubt sincere.

The liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, celebrated at the time, was only the beginning of more troubles for Bangladesh.  Estimates are that up to one million people died in a famine just three year later in 1974.  Political and economic upheaval caused by the 1971 war was a major factor in the famine.

Since then, Bangladesh has continued to have one problem after another, including flooding, cyclones, extreme poverty, military coups, assassinations, and political strife.

Sadly, the words of the Baez and Harrison songs, written in a different age and out of different political and humanitarian motivations, resonate again, but this time because of the growing horror of Islamic terrorism in Bangladesh.

"And so the story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By all who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land."  (Joan Baez)

There seems to be an effort among some (not coincidentally including the terrorists themselves), to try to put responsibility on the United States and the United Kingdom for the recent bombings that have hurt and killed innocent people of Bangladesh, including many Muslims.  That is, of course, absurd and unworthy. 

Terrorists will, sooner or later, slaughter anybody and everybody within their reach, including innocent men, women and children who are easy targets for anyone without a conscience.

"My friend came to me, with sadness in his eyes
He told me that he wanted help
Before his country dies.

Although I couldn't feel the pain, I knew I had to try
Now I'm asking all of you
To help us save some lives.

Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh
Where so many people are dying fast
And it sure looks like a mess
I've never seen such distress
Now won't you lend your hand and understand
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh." (George Harrison)

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Related post:  What Do All These Countries Have in Common?

Update 11/29:  Additional coverage and commentary at Gateway Pundit and The Big Pharaoh

Tags:  bangladesh, terrorism, bomber, bombing, suicide bomber, homicide bomber