Stressing the need for immediate depoliticisation of the agencies, security experts suggested transparent recruitment, proper tasking, and adequate equipping of the agencies to ensure national security.

Describing Wednesday's attack as the last warning to act against the rise of religious extremism, experts at a roundtable discussion on national security in the wake of the countrywide blasts asked political parties to reach a national consensus to resist extremism and militancy.

National daily The Prothom Alo arranged the discussion at its office, which was moderated by Editor of the daily, Motiur Rahman.

Successive governments over the years have exploited the intelligence agencies for their own political purpose, said former inspector general of police (IGP) ASM Shahjahan. He said the agencies have to serve the interest of the government, not the state and the people.

The former police chief pointed out that in addition to an opaque recruitment process, outdated training, lack of equipment and other logistics have contributed to the inefficacy of the agencies. He said several proposals were given earlier for reforms in the security and intelligence agencies but to no avail.

"Those who were responsible for bringing about the reforms did not want those to happen as they would harm them," he observed.

Shahjahan said probes into bomb blasts have all too often been derailed by blame games in the past.

He criticised different governments for stalling the probes in different times. "Whenever the investigators are about to arrest a big fish at a certain level of a probe, a certain quarter of the government asks them to spare him or quit the probe."

Referring to the serial blasts, he said the organisation responsible for the attacks did not mean to cause any major harm, but to relay a message heralding their existence and strength.

Maj Gen (retired) Syed M Ibrahim Bir Protik blasted the major political parties for their lack of interest in nabbing the culprits behind bomb attacks. He also came down heavily on the government for not having for a long time a full minister for home affairs.

He said practice shows that intelligence officials are made not on the basis of efficiency, but on loyalty and that is why it is understandable that they cannot work properly.

Besides, he emphasised developing awareness among the people against the ideological campaign of the militant groups.

Asked to comment on some government quarters' opposition to arrest the people involved in bomb blasts, Gen (retired) Azizur Rahman Bir Uttam said they do not want the masterminds to be tried because arresting them would mean loss of votes for them.

"But in reality, arresting the culprits will not reduce the popularity of the government, rather it will make the people hail the government for its performance," Rahman, a former DG of Bangladesh Rifles, added.

"Since they too need intelligence services, the political parties should develop their own intelligence apparatus, instead of using the government agencies," he suggested.

Maj Gen (retired) A Halim, former DG of Director General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), said one must not blame the intelligence agencies alone for the failure to gauge any prior move of the militants. "We've been hearing since the independence that the agencies do not have logistics and manpower, but there hasn't been a sincere attempt to deal with the problem."

He suggested formation of an intelligence core so that the expertise of an agent does not end with his job.

"It was not that the agencies had failed to have prior information. The government itself has admitted to have information for August 14, 15 and 16. Intelligence men gathered information but as there is no executive organisation, it was not their duty to pre-empt the blasts incidents."

Maj Gen (retired) M Golam Qader, former director general (DG) of National Security Intelligence (NSI), blamed the government for the failure of the intelligence agencies to sense the danger.

Mentioning lack of co-ordination among intelligence agencies in information dissemination, he asked the agencies to share intelligence for national security.

Security analyst Brig Gen (retired) Shakhawat Hossain said the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh was aided by some other minor organisations in executing the August 17 blasts across the country.

He asked the political parties to sit together immediately to find a solution and to call an immediate session of the parliament to discuss the issue.

Security expert Brigadier (retired) Shahed Anam noted that the group responsible for Wednesday's explosions made the attacks to make people know about its existence and might.

Former IGP Dr Enamul Haque asked the political parties to shun the practice of blame games and said: "Answers to all incidents remain ready in our country before the incidents take place."

He asked for a consensus among the political parties, saying the rising extremism pose a serious threat to the next generations.

Mahfuz Anam, Editor of The Daily Star and publisher of the daily Prothom Alo, was also present at the discussion.