Stop mass arrests
Mamun Ali Khan, CMA, ICMAB, Dhaka
It is indeed sad that we, the general people of Bangladesh, are facing a lot of problems due to political instability. The ruling as well as the opposition party is responsible for this . From our point of view we can say that the ruling party should show patience in dealing with opposition activities . But the government has failed in this respect. Thousands of opposition activists are being arrested and the situation is going from bad to worse. Among the victims, a big portion has no connection with politics. The government should be a little more tolerant. ***It seems to me that the so called mass arrests in April and the new round of mass arrests are nothing more than a method for the police to cash in on an activity used by terrorists with so much success--kidnapping for ransom. Despite what the opposition says, I'm inclined to believe the police when they say that the arrests are not politically motivated. It seems that they are motivated by money. Those who are arrested are generally the poor who do not have a legal recourse or do not have adequate "contacts" to help them get out of their predicament. So the only option for them is to buy their way out of prison. And since there have been no charges filed against any of them or even proper records of their having been arrested, it's very easy for the police to simply let them out of their cages once payment has been made. Is it surprising? No! Their failure to arrest even one kidnapper of businessmen seems to me as an act of collusion and not one of incompetence. And it was only a matter of time before they created their own little earning regime from the scheme that they don't have to share with criminals. No newspaper has yet reported on how may of those arrested since April are still in prison and how many have been charged with any crime. Saif Ahmed, Mohammedpur, Dhaka
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. PHOTO: AFP |
