An apology

I for one would like to do so on behalf of myself. Surely I would even go to the extent of apologising on behalf of the entire nation, but I am hesitating since this may irk the relevant authorities in our government. Such incidents are indeed far from desirable. It is twice unfortunate when it happens involving a lady, whether belonging to the diplomatic community or from civil society.

It is not a question as to who triggered off what, the very first action of the relevant governmental authority should have been to tender an apology right away. An apology on behalf of the complex owners would also be a highly welcome gesture, and would go a long way in resolving this most undesirable debacle causing tensions between our neighbour and us.

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I do not hold any kind of brief for the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh, but certainly as a conscious citizen of this country I believe that the incident has only added to the list of failures in providing adequate security to diplomats and their families. The people of the diplomatic community are yet to overcome the horror of the bomb blast in Sylhet in which the British High Commissioner narrowly escaped death.

While the security of the entire country is threatened by terrorist acts and acute law and order situation, surely an incident of this nature further complicates matters. The administration is continually harping on how our nation's image is being tarnished at home and abroad by a vested quarter, but with incidents like this no vested quarter will be required to damage our image here or overseas.

Following the reports in local dailies, something else has confirmed my suspicion that, unlike developed countries of the world, the neo-rich of our country do suffer from acute arrogance. I am convinced that extraordinary wealth and arrogance at least here in this country go hand in hand.

It baffles me as to how poorly our people behave in given situations. It is but too well known that the whole world today is on a downward swing, but we seem to be at the bottom of it all. Some stern action should be taken against individuals involved in the incident. It must not be pushed under the carpet and forgotten. This incident has also revived our memory of the time when none other than the High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh, Mr. Samar Sen, was fired upon and narrowly escaped death sometime during 1974-75.

The administration may take shelter under the excuse that an incident of this kind is too isolated and relates to some erratic behaviour of some individual/s and hence may underplay the importance of the incident. But taking that stance would be a blunder. The matter should be most seriously investigated and the culprits should be brought to justice. We have often experienced that whenever an individual of wealth and influence in the society is involved the matter is either hushed up or an individual of lesser consequence is made a scape-goat. It must not happen in this case.

It may appear far-fetched, but there is no denying of the fact that an incident like this is not helping in improving the already existing strained relationship between us and our neighbour, although it must be said that the incident was purely accidental caused by the thoughtless behaviour of a few.

We should also take a lesson from the incident. Of late there has been too many incidents in which security personnel have been alleged to be highly non-professional and even involved in thefts and robberies within the complex, the safety and security of which were entrusted to them. The administration and the owners of large enterprises and business houses should properly check out both their professional capabilities and integrity before they are employed. Looking back at the incident, I still wonder how come the guards and other individuals involved in the incident let matters go so far.

Although a case has been registered in this regard and the law will "take its own course," it is common knowledge that this course is often too long. Our administration has been known to have followed this path in many such similar cases of high sensitivity only to create a visibility factor and buy time so that public memory, which is often notoriously short, forgets the issue altogether and the whole thing becomes a mere matter of the past.

A total reliance on that line will however be absolutely unwise for the administration in this instance. In this case, swift and sincere diplomatic moves by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also called for. We seem to have totally forgotten that honesty of purpose and humility are all time virtues anywhere in any society through eternity.

The author is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.