Editorial
Bangla Bhai equated with other criminals!
Isn't it a retreat from the earlier stance?
THIS is a classic case of shooting at a moving target. What is being done with Bangla Bhai is a pantomime display with all the illusion of something being done, yet nothing happening in reality. Appearing as a bandit leader with a sinister bigoted agenda, the impunity he has enjoyed through administrative inaction is turning him into a legend of sorts. Arrest orders issued by the prime minister which raised the fundamental question why her directives were at all needed to apprehend such a proven criminal have been openly defied by the law enforcement people. So, the specific question agitating the public mind is: what is the prime minister doing to identify and punish those who have openly disobeyed her? Why are the PM and her office showing themselves insensitive to this highly culpable act of deliberate dereliction of duty. Whereas these questions awaited replies, we now have a diluted version of the government's earlier resolve to arrest Bangla Bhai. We have it on the authority of a political secretary to the prime minister that she has directed law enforcement agencies to arrest 'all people with criminal records, including Bangla Bhai'. This bracketing of Bangla Bhai with other criminals, the slight exception of a paltry Tk 50,000 price-tag on his head notwithstanding, is a tell-tale blurring of the line between one who diabolically ran a parallel government of killer bandits and the ordinary criminals. How can the two sets of criminals be equated? This looks like being a step backward from the focused orders for taking the JMJB chief into custody. Strangest of it all is that, IOJ, a component of the ruling alliance, has voiced its support for the so-called Jagrata Muslim Janata outfit iconised by 'Bangla Bhai' dubbing it as a 'social movement'. All this is indicative, however much one may try to cast off the impression, of a retreat from the government's apparently toughening position on the 'Bangla Bhai excesses'. If somebody should interpret it as a mere extension of the indecisive policy followed regarding the super bandit, could he be blame-worthy, judging by the placing of Bangla Bhai in the same bracket with other criminals even after repeated defiance of the PM's orders? We are sorry to say that the firmness with which he should have been dealt with is grossly missing. If this continues, it will be suicidal for the government and a body-blow to the rule of law already in no good a shape.
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