Bangladesh-based terror groups acting against India is not new. What is new is a Bangladeshi terror group based in India acting against both India and Bangladesh. Needless to say, robust counterterrorism cooperation between India and Bangladesh is imperative to tackling common enemies like JMB.

The sensational attack in the Dhaka café may have been intended to either cause international opinion to put pressure on the Hasina government to go for early election or incite the Army to take over political power.

Even if the investigations reveal the technical reason behind the breach, issues of jurisdiction, accountability and dearth of international laws governing cyber or money laundering crimes would await another billion dollar breach.

The international community should strengthen the hands of the Sheikh Hasina government. It has a proven track record of working against extremists and terrorists.

The BBIN-MVA would enable seamless sub-regional connectivity, deeper integration on economic issues and people-to-people contact between the four counties.

Bangladesh is slowly and surely moving towards a perilous future that threatens the foundational values on which the liberation war was fought and the state founded.

Confrontational politics is not new in Bangladesh. But it seems to have intensified in the last few months, especially after the unofficial main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), decided to launch protests on the first anniversary of the 2014 parliamentary elections in order to force the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government to step down. The BNP considers the January 5, 2014 parliamentary elections as illegal and hence the government in power as illegitimate.

Sheikh Hasina has to ensure that the writ of the Awami League central leadership runs throughout the country, and elements like the Chhatra League are not allowed to derail accommodative and secular policies.

It is not clear what kind of democracy the BNP wants to restore in alliance with the Jamaat which does not believe in democracy. But the AL needs to proceed with caution in dealing with the ongoing protests lest it comes to be seen as an autocratic government.

The verdict exposes a conspiracy to destabilise India’s restive North Eastern region. According to the charge-sheet, all the arms and ammunition were manufactured by Chinese firm NORINCO and the funds had been procured from Pakistan. Contrary to the BNP policy of promoting cross-border terrorism, the current Awami League (AL) government has demonstrated its zero-tolerance towards militancy through the recent verdict.