NEW DELHI, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The Islamic militants who carried out suicide bomb attacks on courts in Bangladesh did so to terrorize the judiciary, which they considered a stumbling block in their goal of turning the country into an Islamic nation, Indian strategic analysts said Thursday.
"The suicide bomb attacks outside the courts of Chittagong and Gazipur in Bangladesh were carried out to terrorize judges whom they (militants) considered as a stumbling block in their fight for establishing Islamic rule in the country," said senior analyst Kalyan Barooah at Assam Tribune.
He said that with increasing incidences of terror attacks, Bangladesh is fast turning into to full-blown case of Islamic intolerance, causing serious concern for India as the neighbors share a long and porous border.
Barooah said after targeting those political parties which believe in secular democracy, like the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the militants have shifted their focus and begun attacking the judiciary because it has not only condemned the terror but also awarded strict convictions to all those who have been arrested in connection with terrorist violence.
Islamic fundamentalists in the world's poorest country have been demanding the scrapping of secular jurisprudence and replacing it with Islamic law based on the Koran.
"They have said this on numerous occasions from public platforms, but the government has not even raise its voice of protest against such outbursts for the reason that the present government is full of elements who sympathize with the fundamentalists," said a senior Bangladeshi journalist who is not willing to be identified.
He said the absence of any response from the government has emboldened the Islamic radicals to step up their attacks on judiciary. The militants blew up a courthouse in October this year and killed two judges in November.
He said the political compulsion of Prime Minister Zia to keep her rag-tag coalition together would continue bolstering the morale of Islamic fundamentalists.
Two suicide bombers detonated their devices outside the district courts in the port city of Chittagong and Gazipur, a small town twenty miles away from Dhaka, killing 10 and injuring 65 on Nov. 29.
"No arrest has been made in connection with Tuesday's bomb blasts, but we have detained 22 people including the father and two brothers of a suspected suicide bomber," said a senior Bangladesh police official.
The security agencies say it was the first bomb blasts in which Islamic militants had used a suicide bomber.
"We had the information that militant outfits do have some suicide bombers, who were trained in Afghanistan," said Jehangir Alam, a senior official of the Bangladesh Rifles.
The analysts say the Nov. 29 incident is unlikely to have surprised the people of Bangladesh because it continues to descend into vortex of fundamentalist violence.
The federal government condemned the attack and vowed to bring culprits to the book. The government said it would take tough action against all those involved in the bomb attacks.
"The bombers are enemies of Islam and the country. We will do everything to stop them," said Bangladesh Prime Minister Khalida Zia.
The police said the Islamic militant organization Jamatul Mujahideen, Bangladesh had claimed responsibility for the blasts.
"The police are conducting raids at the hideouts of the militant outfits," said a Dhaka police spokesman.
The terror threat overshadowed the 13th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held in Dhaka Nov. 12-13. An undeclared curfew was imposed across the capital, and security for the head of states attending the meeting was tightened.
Most markets remained closed until the meeting ended, resolving to fight jointly against terrorism.
India and other member countries of the South Asian body have expressed serious concern over the rise of terror violence in the region.
"We should together resolve to fight terrorism," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address to the meeting.
Barooah says the growing influence of Islamic militancy in Bangladesh does not augur well for India because it could not afford to wage an undeclared war going beyond its eastern and western borders.
"The government has taken note of the blasts in two cities of Bangladesh. We are keeping a close watch on the increasing incidents of terrorist attacks in our eastern neighbor," said an Indian Interior Ministry official.
India has offered its help to Dhaka to contain terrorism.
Begum Khalida Zia, on the grounds that it is an internal matter, turned down New Delhi's offer.
New Delhi has been accusing Dhaka of not being able to stop illegal infiltration, and of insufficient crackdowns on insurgent groups operating from its soil.
"In the long run, the Bangladesh border is going to give us more trouble because it is long and movement of people is more," said R.S. Mushahary, the Chief of India's Border Security Force.
