Editorial
Escalating crime undermines citizens' faith in law enforcers
Government must get a grip on the situation
There has been a clear, steady decline in law and order all over the country. The degree to which crime has been going up has once more been manifested by the brazen manner in which a group of gunmen stormed a market in the city's Mirpur area on Monday, leaving a person dead and eight others injured grievously. In fact, it appears that as the days go by, criminals are increasingly getting the upper hand, so much so that even the administration is clearly at a loss as to how to tackle them. And this failure to tackle them has of course to do with the rapid return of many or most godfathers of crime who had during the period of the caretaker government either fled the country or lay low. This latter point is buttressed by the thought that returning criminal elements associated with the ruling party may clearly be playing a role behind the rise in crime.
Add to all the above reports of how trade in the selling and buying of illegal weapons has lately turned into a lucrative and dangerous business. Contract killings have in recent weeks been responsible for the deterioration in law and order. At the same time, petty crime in the form of mugging and robbing and plain theft has come back to haunt citizens' lives. Besides, ruling party elements, through an unbridled programme of extending control over institutions, and laying claim to tenders and the like, have only exacerbated the situation and no one in political authority has yet been able to clamp down on them. Given such stark realities, one quite does not understand why the authorities are not being able to put their finger on the core of the issues involved here and then move on to combat the menace. Those who bring disrepute to government and destroys its credibility are actually enemies of the government and should be treated accordingly.
One of the prime reasons why public confidence in the ability of the government to guarantee rule of law and ensure a decline in criminal activities throughout the country is low is the all too evident laid-back attitude which has come into the home ministry. It is one of those sadly unusual situations where a ministry is reduced to being a rudderless body because of the absence of political leadership. The home minister is away in Singapore for medical treatment, while there has been no word yet on when the minister of state will return home from his personal visit to the United States. In other words, a crucial ministry now seems to be at sea regarding its normal, routine functioning. And so crime goes on apace.
A hard, indeed purposeful and professional handling of the situation is called for. The police should be encouraged to act without fear or favour and will have to be sufficiently equipped with transports and other logistical gears and gadgets to match the criminals who have become sophisticated in their operations. Besides, the law-enforcers are thinly spread on maintenance of law and order and crime control, an imbalance in force deployment that has largely resulted from their preoccupation with VIP duties. This needs to be corrected.
The overarching reality that must dawn on the government is that without an effective maintenance of law and order neither is good governance possible nor investment in the economy would be forthcoming to the desired extent.
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