Apprehend the outlaws

The latest incident took place in Pabna district in which 11 outlaws supposedly belonging to Janajuddho faction of Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) were brought down by a contingent of RAB and police after a fierce gun battle. The encounter continued for over two and a half hours with both sides trading bullets at random. The area where the fight took place is known to be infamous for harbouring the cadres of PBCP, who often swoop down on the villagers to loot and plunder.

Since the attention of the administration is presently focused on apprehending the leaders and activists of the banned Islamist militant groups, the activists of PBCP and similar other factions seemingly have been reinforcing their strength. It is alarming piece of information that as many as 50 PBCP armed cadres had gathered in the area to carry out unlawful activities of enormous proportion, which has been successfully foiled by the police.

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The incident of Thursday amply suggests that these elements remain very much armed and active in the pursuit of their agenda, the details of which are not clear to the citizens as a whole. We strongly feel law enforcing and intelligence agencies of the country ought to go deeper into the malaise that has manifested in the shape of Janajuddho and give full effort to trace their leaders and close the chapter once and or all. This outfit and some other smaller factions operating in the remote areas in the northern region cannot go on creating law and order situation for ever.