While the deep link between politics and other forms of terrorism, which falls within the realm of societal violence, was an eminently established fact, what was assumed so far to be true in respect of the political sponsorship of the religious radicals by some segment of a major political party has been corroborated by the newspaper report.

It has confirmed the media claims and various statements and analysis made particularly after the serial blasts of 2005, suggesting the possible links between the religious radicals and some of the politicians in our country.

There is no ground to doubt the veracity of the report since it is backed up by the statements of the two main accused, who have been convicted in the blasts cases and are awaiting execution, made to the investigators.

The report has come at a time when a special drive is on against criminals and holders of illegal weapons by joint forces under. The caretaker government should take the report, which links at least eight senior members of the BNP to Sheikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam, seriously.

It must be done for the sake of our national security and to disprove the allegations of Bangladesh being deluged by Islamic terrorists and becoming a future hub of terrorism in the region.

It is important to realise the grave security threat that our nation was exposed to particularly after the events of August 24, 2004 and August 17, 2005.

In the wake of 9/11 there was an offensive to paint some countries as 'hotbed of terrorism' and 'exporter of Islamic radicalism.' Bangladesh was one such country, which was accused of exporting Islamic terrorism to its neighbours and the spate of bombings, particularly in 2004 and 2005 were cited to validate the arguments.

Sponsored writings by western authors, like that of Selig Harrison, were used to certify the assertions of some of the Indian commentators. Imagination of some Indian analysts flew unbounded to establish a link between the Islamic radicals in Bangladesh and an entire book was written to show that Bangladesh was the next Afghanistan.

While such writings found widespread circulation, those that attempted to refute such assertions drew very little attention, if at all.

While it has been our contention that groups like the JMB had their ideological moorings in the ideological philosophy of the international Islamic terrorist organisation, there was not enough evidence to suggest a direct support of al-Qaeda to the indigenous Islamic radicals in Bangladesh.

However, there were grounds to believe the existence of a link between a religious political party and the Bangladesh Islamic radicals.

What we have been calling upon the immediate past government to go into was the extent and scope of any external linkage, if only to preclude its possibility as well as to expose the local sponsors of these groups, if any.

If the media was highly critical of the previous government's handling of the issue the answer perhaps lies in the very recent newspaper report.

The caretaker government must investigate the report in all seriousness. Not only this, but perhaps there is a need to reinvestigate the blast cases particularly the ones that were directed against the British High commissioner, Mr. Kibria, and of course the attack on the AL meeting on August 21, 2004.

Not only have some of the investigations remain uncompleted, there is every reason to believe that the investigations were influenced by political considerations, particularly in the light of the revelations made in the recent Prothom Alo report.

The sponsors and godfathers must be exposed and the motivations behind the acts must be uncovered. Given the report emanating from the Indian intelligence agencies that the ULFA was involved in the August 21 blast thorough investigations into all the incidents are even more necessary.

The ULFA revelations must be investigated seriously. Without going into the analysis of the statements of Pallab Saikia, the ULFA activist, the Bangladesh governments must undertake an investigation into the alleged connections of the ULFA with certain elements in our country, again if nothing else than to disprove such a link.

One believes that there are grounds to go into the activities of some of the past heads of our intelligence agencies, some of whom reportedly were more beholden to a particular political party rather than the interest of the state and some of their actions may have been motivated by the interest of individuals rather than policies laid down by the government.

These errant officers must be brought to task, should investigations prove the allegations true since their actions have gone against the interest of the state.

In this regard the comment of the newly appointed IGP merits going into. Two things have come out very plainly in his comments. That he feels very motivated to go after the godfathers of the terrorists and anti social elements and is adamant in his resolve.

He feels confident of his success because, according to him, there are no political constraints imposed on him, there being no political government in place currently.

Through his admission, he has exposed the extent that the agencies were made to work as an instrument of the party in power rather than that of the state, to the detriment of national interest. And when we have officers holding high position unable or unwilling to resist political pressure in performing their national duties then we have a very dangerous combination. The result is before us.

Now that we have a government composed of persons of integrity and having the confidence and support of the people, and the interest of the country being their only motivation, we can hope that the law enforcing agencies will not be constrained in their work.

Not only do we hope that they would nab the godfathers but that they would also be able to conduct a thorough investigation into all these incidents so that these cases are resolved once and for all. We should also not hesitate to seek assistance of our friends in the investigation of these cases.

We should also not be unduly worried if foreign links are exposed. These will only help us in combating the problem more effectively. The only stake should be the interest of the country.

The author is Editor, Defense & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.