July 2016 Dhaka attack

The July 2016 Dhaka attack was called the worst terrorist attack in Bangladesh's history. The local media described it as 7/16. 29 people were killed, including 20 hostages (17 foreigners and 3 locals), two police officers, five gunmen, and two bakery staff.

Quotes

• The news was confirmed at around 10.30 p.m. and I was live on air for hours. It was clear from the beginning that this attack was on the lines of 26/11... It was ironical that the ISIS struck on the same day Owaisi had declared to help its operatives in India.
  • Tiwari, D. P., (2019). The great indian conspiracy. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

• It was the holy month of Ramazan, the auspicious day of Jumma. The Holey Artisan Bakery in the affluent Gulshan Thana area of Dhaka was teeming with foreign guests when five militants barged in, chanting ‘Allah Hu Akbar’. Dozens of people were taken hostages on gunpoint and asked to recite the verses of Quran. Those who could recite from memory were spared in an effort to only kill non-Muslims. According to eyewitnesses, the assailants clearly stated they would not harm Muslims. Those who did not fit their criteria were slain with sharp weapons. People across religions and nationalities were aghast alike. How could the minds of these educated young men from well-to-do backgrounds be poisoned to such an extent? What was the motive behind the attack? These questions have bothered me after every such incident. I have been covering terror incidents in India for some years now and the Bangladesh attack brought back all those unhappy memories. Bangladesh is too close a neighbour to ignore such an attack occurring there.
  • Tiwari, D. P., (2019). The great indian conspiracy. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

• Two days after the Dhaka attack, the Minister of Information & Broadcasting of Bangladesh, Hasanul Haq Inu, alleged that ISI was the mastermind of this conspiracy. The notorious spy agency is known to have fomented trouble in what was East Pakistan until 1971. The Pakistani authorities are especially miffed at the Bangladeshi government’s decision to bring pro-Pakistani war criminals to justice. From Osama Bin Laden to the recent killing of Taliban chief Mullah Mansoor Akhtar in a drone attack; it is no more a secret that Pakistan is the nursery of global terrorism. It has diverted money received from the US in the name of counter-insurgency to fund terrorists of its choice. Leave apart India, Pakistani connection is now found in almost every other terror strike across the world.
  • Tiwari, D. P., (2019). The great indian conspiracy. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

• The exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen lambasted hardline Islamists on Twitter for the Bangladesh attack. ‘For humanity’s sake please do not say Islam is a religion of peace. Not anymore,’ stated one of her posts.
  • Taslima Nasreen, quoted in Tiwari, D. P., (2019). The great indian conspiracy. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.