What is regrettable is that had we been a little careful at the beginning, we could have stopped the rise of religious extremism in our country and could have averted such tragic loss of lives. The JMB people who carried out the attacks simply could not have gathered so much strength had we not given a deaf ear to the early warnings. Had the party in power been more careful about how it plays its political cards, JMB could not have become such a monster threatening ordinary people of the country. The government now has to take the majority of the blame for creating a Frankenstein.

I simply do not understand how the JMB people could really believe that by blowing themselves up, and in the process killing ordinary people, they could establish Islamic rule of law in the country. Nothing could be farthest from the true teachings of Islam. It is a deep insult to the sentiments and aspirations of the religious, tolerant and peaceful Bangladeshis.

What is more unfortunate and deeply troubling is the thought that this is perhaps only the beginning. We probably would have to endure many more incidents like these. The Frankenstein that has been created will simply not wither away so soon. It would have some lasting impact before, if ever, we could finally put an end to it.

Now suicide bombing has started in Bangladesh. It is a headline in world media (both electronic and print) today. We have no time to waste before uniting the two major sides of politics. Today courtrooms are targeted, who knows tomorrow they will not target Hawa Bhaban, Shudha Sadan, Gono Bhaban, Banga Bhaban, Parliament building, Supreme Court, Police headquarters or Army headquarters? So please no more blame game- we need stern action. Immediately the army should be mobilised alongside Rab and police against these extremists. As these terrorists do not have any respect for human lives and conventional justice system, this is perfectly logical to subject them to parallel justice such as indefinite detention, crossfire, targeted execution, property bulldozing etc. Unfortunately, these terrorists are not afraid of death, may be only worried about well-beings of immediate family members. So the government should now bulldoze the properties of identified suicide bombers' families to the ground and confiscate their bank accounts. This may act as a deterrence. The government should take lessons from Indonesia and Pakistan about how to quash the terrorists, how to deal with Madrassah system etc.

The prime minister has invited the Awami league to go to parliament to discuss the issue. This is a good sign, but she needs to do more. As a good gesture, she should immediately end the coalition with Jamaat. Otherwise, Jamaat will continue to dominate the BNP and it is the BNP which is likely to pay the price. At this time of crisis, we need unity among the BNP and the AL, as they were united against autocratic Ershad. They should consider forming a grand coalition for at least the next two elections. Both parties bear the spirit of the great liberation war and ideally one is centre-left whilst the other is centre-right. They should not have trouble to dump Jamaat and Islamic extremists. This is the only way we can save our motherland from becoming another Afghanistan.

Dr. Khalid Moinuddin, Lecturer, Victoria University, Melbourne

Terrorism or suicide squad of JMB is not a simple problem for us, its roots are deep. It is threatening us like any other burning problems--AIDS, drugs, bird flue.

Have we taken adequate steps as citizens of Bangladesh? Is this the responsibility of Police/Rab only? As citizens have we taken enough responsibilities upon our shoulders?

Still after several months of country wide bomb blasts we are only listening to news on the blasts. But we need to fight against this problem by arousing people's consciousness regarding security, dubious activities, exploitation of religion and so on.

As citizens of Bangladesh we need to think beyond hartal, which is a self-destructive way because it hinders the country's growth. We need a mass movement against these terrorists. The government should also involve general people. We fought against the Pakistanis in 1971. Now we need to fight again a different war against terrorists who are much stronger than the Pakistanis were, because the terrorists are within us, they are also Bangladeshis.

Selina Akhter Banu, Uttara, Dhaka-1230

Please take a moment to translate the heading of this letter into Bangla and also remember the Home Minister's statement after the bomb blasts in August last year. Is he still looking for the enemy?

This gruesome cruelty signals that the religious extremists are prepared to give their lives to further their cause and go to the level of utter extreme, likes of which we have seen happen elsewhere.

Honourable Home Minister, I forward this question to you to ponder over, where is the security cover that was put over Dhaka a few weeks back?

Mohammed Adeeb Aziz, On e-mail

While I appreciate the prime minister's appeal to peoples' religious sensibilities about true Islam and how it would not condone terrorism, I can't help but feel there is something very wrong in how the message is being conveyed.

Surely corruption is not permitted in any of the religions, but we do it, we are the world leaders. Take, for example, political l murder-- there is not a single party which can claim its members have not been involved in such activities even if the leaders themselves are innocent. Which religion condones raping of a three year old girl or 80 year old grandmother? But we regularly see such reports in our papers. People who do this are already beyond normal sensibilities, ethics or religious feeling.

So, will this message be successful in curbing the rise in terrorism? Unfortunately, I think this is not the way to tackle the menace.

Sanjoy Kumar Nath, Chittagong

The whole nation still has a confusing question in its mind. At what cost is the BNP government keeping its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami? After all these events which have taken place, evidences unearthed, civilians killed , the judiciary being attacked, what is the game plan in the minds of our leaders? Just sit back and blame the opposition and tighten security- but what security, for whom? ministers? social elite? what about the public? what about an average person?

The government has played hide and seek with its people for too long, it's about time they take the blame of their failing home security and take immediate measures to eliminate the root of terrorist activities, and make people responsible for their hands and links with extremists. Much has been said and written by many, it's about time we see the government's words put into action and actions slowly transformed into success.

Mashruf Habib, Los Angeles, US