Religious extremism has become a global issue in our times. Bangladesh too has not been immune to such a global problem and has, time and again, fallen victim to it. Our government, however, is not doing enough to fight the threat of militancy and communal violence, and consequently, Islamic radicalism has reached an alarming stage in our country.

Islam is a religion of peace. This notion should be instilled into the minds of our youth to prevent them from committing atrocities. Furthermore, they can be engaged in different sports and cultural activities so that they do not get isolated from society and become victims of the recruiters of extreme ideologies. This is badly missing in our society today and may well be one reason why radicalism is on the rise. To counter this threat, I think every mosque should be encouraged to preach sermons on religious harmony and the importance of being respectful towards all other faiths.

I believe our government should think of reintroducing secularism with a stronger foothold in our constitution. Unfortunately, the majority thinks secularism opposes the essence of religious sentiment, which is not true at all. Rather, secularism is a concept which can accommodate multiple religions, in harmony. 

Ferdaus, Uttara