Editorial
Murder in broad daylight
None should get away with such a diabolical crime
SPELLING out yet another stark reminder of deteriorating law and order in the city, a criminal gang on Friday perpetrated multiple murder at Karwan Bazar, fired shots in the air and made good their escape mocking at whatever police presence there might or might not have been around. Incidentally, was police patrol lowered on a Friday?
Of the three killed two were business leaders belonging to the ruling alliance. The murders are suspected to have been carried out in retaliation against initiatives the victims had taken to put a stop to extortionist forays by the killer gang. In the last one and a half decades, some 34 people have been killed at Karwan Bazar alone aside from other variegated criminal offences taking place.
Little wonder why Karwan Bazar is a metaphor for crime beneath its normal-looking exterior. As the hub of wholesale markets for vegetable, fish, fruit and a whole range of other consumer items, this marketplace is a day-and-night witness to financial transactions running into millions of Taka. Behind the scenes is a hush-hush den of so-called 'toll' collectors eyeing on a slice of the pie. The businessmen have often complained of extortionist demands over mobile phones alleging that the police hardly address their grievances when approached. With booty-sharing being a prevailing practice, so it's alleged, the cops who are supposed to be on duty tend to look away.
Whilst the home ministry and the top brass in the police ought to institute a probe into such allegations by way of ensuring effective policing and thereby rolling back falling public confidence in taking a grip of the situation, the over-arching question that needs addressing is: why law enforcement in terms of surveillance and actual crime control is not adequately focused on a marketplace that is so vulnerable to extortion and other forms of crime. Given the limited radius of the wholesale network and retail marketing outlets, what stops the local police and the various business associations to mount adequate guard against criminal elements?
As far as the specific murder goes, the culprits must be ferreted out, charge-sheeted and duly convicted in a court of law bearing in mind the self-evident truth that impunity, being the multiplier of crime, should be stopped on its track.
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