DHAKA – Concrete blocks, barbed wire, armored cars,
checkpoints and plainclothes officers are widespread across Dhaka’s diplomatic
heart Gulshan, whose streets and public spaces have emptied of foreigners
following the nearly month-old terrorist massacre at an upscale restaurant in
the area.
Since 2013, Bangladesh has seen a spate of targeted attacks
against minority groups which intensified in 2015, but it was the early July
restaurant attack by a terrorist cell loyal to the Islamic State group that is
proving to be decisive.
The July 1-2 hostage crisis claimed 22 lives, mostly
foreigners, who were also tortured before being killed.
Marking a watershed moment in the security of the
Bangladeshi capital, the attack is leading to a transformation of the city,
reminiscent of Pakistan’s Islamabad after the 2008 truck-bomb suicide attack on
the upscale Marriott hotel.
Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen Restaurant, the cafe
that came under militant siege in Dhaka, used to be a hotspot for expats and
the Bangladeshi elite: it was a welcome respite for foreigners living a life of
relative isolation in Bangladesh.
Growing numbers of Westerners in the country – usually aid
workers or businessmen from the thriving textile industry – are now seen
leaving the country each day, while few incoming faces from that part of the
world are seen at the city airport’s arrivals terminal.
“I decided I couldn’t stay at home as if in prison, with the
curtains drawn at such and such hour, and feeling paranoid at any sound on the
staircase or the street,” Estela Botello, a designer from Madrid who was
working for a textile company here, told EFE about her decision to return to
Spain this week.
Others have either been repatriated by their firms, are
speeding up projects, or have been temporarily moved to safer places in the
region.
Meanwhile the embassies of the United States, United
Kingdom, Australia and Canada monitoring the situation following the Islamist
surge have declared the country a “non-family duty station.”
Westerners who remain face several restrictions on a daily
basis.
“We have been advised not to go walking or cycling in the
streets, or hire three-wheeler rickshaws (a local mode of transport); also to
vary our travel routes by car. We can go to the main hotels and supermarkets
but preferably before 3 p.m.,” said a British national working at an educational
center, who did not wish to be named.
Beefed up security measures are conspicuous across the
affluent Gulshan neighborhood, which in addition to embassies houses several
multinational firms, but now looks akin to a labyrinth with streets closed to
traffic and police personnel everywhere.
“Life is now about going from work to home, and from home to
work. They tell you: ‘stay away a few months, and this will stabilize.’ But
many have left already, and others are planning to go too,” another Spanish
textile employee remarked.
However, as an omnipresent topic of discussion, the
prevailing tension is helping strengthen bonds within the expat community;
their once-active social life, no longer feasible in the city’s public spaces
at night, has turned to parties at home.
