What change in a crime-infested society?
EDGAR Allan Poe, HG Wells, Washington Irving, Arthur Conan Doyle, Earle Stanley Gardner, Bram Stoker, Merry Shelly et al are known for their stories that delved in the world of the macabre, or crimes of most heinous nature. But the blood-chilling things they wrote about did not happen in real life. The ghastly characters they created did not live in real life. That is why those stories have always been considered classics, masterpieces.
But the days of the classics are long gone. The House of Usher has long been rendered into ruination. Things have undergone changes in this modern world that we live in. Meaning of life and living has changed. Playful imagination has been replaced by stark reality. Today, stranger things happen in real life. There are more hideous men and women in our midst than what those great writers could ever create with their imagination.
Today, there is an alarming slide in law and order in our society because of fast erosion of morals and values. The law enforcement sector remains painfully politicised. And it is shameful that health and education are now two highly commercialised sectors thanks to a host of corrupt people. The public transport system is infested with criminals. It is of no use banging your head on the wall about it. There is none to see or listen. the food sector offers more poison than nutrition to the people thanks to some criminalised traders.
Already a large chunk of the ever-increasing population has no work and, as a result, the jobless are being drawn into the crime world. A flawed economic system is creating more poor people than it should. The number of criminals will rapidly increase when our population reaches the ceiling of 30 crore. How big a police force and Rab shall we need to keep law and order?
It is the duty of the politicians, whether in government or outside, to think about these grave issues and work together to create a just, safe and orderly society. But most of them, unfortunately, directly or indirectly contribute to the sliding of law and order, morals and values. In the rural areas and also partly in the cities and towns the local goons of many MPs and chairmen keep law enforcers in their pockets and go about breaking laws with total impunity.
Instead of working together to implement an efficient population policy or traffic system etc., most politicians, whenever they get the opportunity, join hands to pass insinuating and devious remarks about the members of the civil society and the press. It happens when they find something "unbelievable" to write about the corrupt politicians. And whenever they do so, those politicians find all sorts of words to deny any wrongdoing.
But, think of it. The honest and respectable politicians never utter a word about the criminal activities of their own party men when such news items appear in newspapers. They keep on denying, but the whole world knows that many killers, muggers, snatchers, swindlers, tenderbaz, kidnappers and war criminals remain under the protection and security of some criminalised politicians, businessmen and members of law enforcing agencies. Lawlessness is the result of less law enforcement, when and where essential.
But why blame the politicians only? What about many of our teachers? The irony is, some rogue teachers are blackening the image of the entire community. Here is one example. Six teachers and three students of one college in Green Road area have been arrested for ransacking property of another college in the same area. Six teachers? Yes, you heard it right.
What about the slide in the morals of students of famous educational institutes of the country? It shocks us when we hear that Dhaka College students are involved in kidnapping for ransom, and also collecting tolls from the local shops. And they openly fight with students of other colleges in the neighbourhood for the control of the million taka "banijya." It is crime, plain and simple.
Such criminal activities do get reflected in the overall performance of the students in competitive examinations. In this year's HSC examination, Dhaka College performed poorly. What a pity. So many glittering stars of this nation had gone to this college before going to Dhaka University or Calcutta University.
Now we see a new game of vendetta started by the known corrupt souls of the country who were sent to jails for committing palpable crimes, including amassing wealth beyond the comprehension of their fourteen generations.
They have come out on bails and now alongside some of the politicians, who were possibly wrongly implicated in some kind of corruption cases, have started to demand withdrawal of cases framed against them. Though they could not produce evidence of earning the wealth through legal means, yet they are using their political clout to get their cases quashed. So, Altus and Faltus will soon be back with a bang but poor Ram or Rahim will never know why they were in prison.
Last but not least. We have a plethora of well-equipped intelligence agencies in the country. But with all the power and with all the gadgets, they could not track down foreign trained terrorists who have been coming to Bangladesh since the Russians left Afghanistan. They have been coming in the guise of religious leaders and staying in madrasas across the country. They have been traced out only recently, when the damage has already been done.
These foreign terrorists have been giving madrasa students training on terrorism to create a fighting force that would one day topple the democratic government and help attain their political ambition. They do not believe in the country's constitution and sovereignty. It is a major crime network that is working steadily to destabilise the state.
Therefore, change in a society full of wrong people in the right places will only remain a dream unless we act now. Will any of the theories of development be of any use in a crime-infested society?
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