Another arms seizure

This is not the first such seizure in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in recent times, and all indications are that it will not be the last either. The area is at the junction of three countries -- Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar -- and is highly inaccessible, resulting in it having turned into a virtual den of smugglers, drug traffickers, and criminals of all shade and stripe.

Even more ominous, the adjoining forbidding terrain, far away from prying eyes, is suspected to be the staging area for insurgents and other anti-social elements. The region can be described as a clandestine world, providing cover to a large and varied cast of undesirables. Imposing order on such a region is an extremely difficult task, and to the extent that they have had periodic success, the authorities and armed forces in the region deserve praise.

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However, periodic seizures of weapons caches are not enough. In the first place, it is unavoidable to suspect that even as weapons are seized that many more remain undetected. But more importantly, as often as arms are seized, there has been very little progress in bringing the criminals and shady characters believed to be operating in the region to justice. As long as those who are behind the arms are not brought to book then the root problem not being addressed adequately.

The recent nationwide bomb blasts have brought home to us just how important it is to maintain national security and to spare no expense in pursuing those who are involved in efforts to destabilise the state or to merely profit from the limitations of central authority in remote areas.

The time is long overdue for the government to ensure that its writ runs in the hill tracts. In the current explosive political situation, to permit armed gangs to ply their trade -- be it drugs or guns or insurgency -- more or less freely can only contribute to the growing sense of anxiety.