Still-born Peace in Feni
Less than two days after the ruling and opposition parties had agreed upon a truce, Feni was rocked once again with unnerving yet familiar crackles of gunshots and explosives. The latest flare-up followed arrests of two leaders of Jubo Dal, front organisation of BNP, and entailed familiar rituals of political violence - putting barricades on the highway, setting a public bus ablaze, damaging other motorised vehicles, rampaging shops, trading gunshots, exploding home-made bombs and crackers, so on and so forth.
We are sorry at the demise of good senses in the politicians and, at the same time, are outraged by their devil-may-dare attitude towards the law of the land. The face-off between ruling party legislator Joynal Abedin Hajari and local BNP leader Joynal Abedin has had the Feni residents reel in a reign of terror over the last couple of years. In their frenzied attempt to get control over the whole, the two leaders have actually been held hostage to their whims. While police, inadequately equipped and, perhaps handicapped by the involvement of a ruling party MP, have helplessly witnessed armed goons indulge in the orgy of killing and getting killed, the central leaders in both ranks have been inexplicably indifferent. Indifference, in this case, suggests, more than anything, approval.
The violence stemming from the two Joynals should be put to an end. The local administration-brokered truce between the two parties has proved to be fragile. The government, especially the Ministry of Home Affairs, should realise now is the time to clamp down on the armed goons before the matter goes out of hand. On the other hand, there should be intervention from both AL and BNP central leadership. In the name of party politics, the fierce Feni foes have already gone too far. It is time to put them under a tight leash. Otherwise the whole affair would go simply out of control, for both the government and the opposition.
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