It's law and order, stupid!
LAW and order in Bangladesh has seldom been good. But never before has it been so bad as now. On earlier occasions, we could at least indulge in wishful thinking that things would improve, our law enforcing agencies would come of age, and, above all, the people at the helm would mature enough to rid us of the menace.
The public was fed on these hopes for long. They no more work. How could they when the lurking dangers on the law and order front are so ominously real? During the closing days of the last AL government, law and order suffered a nose-dive, reaching its nadir during the succeeding BNP-Jamaat regime. Ever since then, the country couldn't come out of the quagmire.
The laxity and lapses made on this front have now come home to roost. That the lawlessness has escalated was also recognised last week in the monthly DMP briefing on crimes. As revealed by the DMP source, the theft, dacoity, and hijacking committed last month came as serious cause for alarm.
During the same period, the cases of murders doubled. According to newspaper reports, on one night last week there were three cases of murder and a case of unnatural death. At the same time, there was a daredevil dacoity in five houses in old Dhaka's Sutrapur.
Even in the crowded areas of Motijheel, Mohakhali, Farmgate and Sadarghat the so-called "Thu-thu" (spitting) parties are menacingly active. The bus and railway stations as well as steamer ghats are in the thrall of "Malam" and "Agyan" parties. Where are we living?
Political revenge and vengeance are no less responsible for the collapsing law and order situation. The excesses of the front organisations of the ruling party have made it precarious. A new dimension has been added due to the threats given by the militants. The authorities are also concerned about sabotage attempts on our rickety water and power supply system. Are we virtually under siege?
The public reaction to the breakdown of order is obviously one of shock and trepidation. But for the remorseless crime lords, killing is a game, kidnapping an adventure, and rape a fond pastime. As fear and anxiety stalk the countryside, Dhaka, the country's nerve centre, has virtually turned into a criminals' den.
Yet, law and order is the first and foremost test of a credible government. In its absence, the authorities have little justification to stay. As in the past, the present government's actions also, if any, are based on a lop-sided concept of law and order. They seldom realise that the real power to govern springs out of moral authority. Instead, the ruling party wants to exercise power through muscle.
It is amazing that a highly-mandated government like the present one has to so frequently err in its political conduct with regard to a poor-second opposition which is gasping for mere survival -- making a confrontation inevitable and further aggravation of law and order irresistible.
Yet a harmonious relationship with the opposition and settlement of issues peacefully has great potential for promoting a stable law and order situation. By antagonising the opposition, the government will only compound its problems.
Squashing the weak is always a zero-sum effort, which only dents the ruling party's democratic credentials. It also gives its unruly cadres a taste of crude power, which they often exhibit even by challenging law enforcing agencies.
In the meantime, the nation seethes for what it perceives to le the deceit meted out to it by the AL government headed by Sheikh Hasina. Law and order figured prominently in the election campaign, and the AL-led Mohajote was catapulted to power by vowing to restore it and promising to root out terrorism.
But unfortunately such prospects appear bleak when it starts to blame the preceding governments ad infinitum instead of clamping down on professional terrorists and criminals, including those hiding behind the Awami cloak.
According to the inherent dynamics of intra-party violence over the spoils, the prevailing disorder will only intensify. Not withstanding the AL's attitude and actions, law and order is at the core of the country's survival, progress, and prosperity. The country is held hostage to its vicissitudes, not allowing it normal economic life or an investment climate or environment for production.
In a law and order situation where all hell seems to have been let loose, a national effort of all social and political forces will have to be employed to combat the menace. The inevitable point of departure for this will, however, have to be the recognition of its gravity in a national context.
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