However, we would hasten to add that the agencies concerned better not ignore the fact they have still far to go in unearthing the masterminds behind these acts. What is a matter for worry is that the two major characters, viz., Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai , who were in all probability working at the behest of some others, have eluded arrest and the intelligence agencies are yet to identify the real motivators behind these blasts. Even more disconcerting is the fact that although there has been a large number of arrests made, some of those have been let off, in a rather selective manner.

What we are not surprised though to see are some of our apprehensions coming home to roost insofar as the penetration of various segments of our society, particularly of some educational institutions, by these extremist elements goes. Not startling either is the exposure of Jamaat link with the perpetrators of the bombings that has been all but established, and getting more so by the day.

It is our hope that that the praiseworthy work so far will not get mired ultimately in political considerations. There is a good chance that some of the high profile arrestees will bring to bear all the pressures on the government to relent in the pursuit of the matter. The government must resist all pressures that might either seek to derail the process of the investigation or dilute its merit that would allow the culprits to slip out of the grasp of the law.

There must be no let up in the current momentum of investigation.