A good write-up

I wish to congratulate both the writer and The Daily Star for offering a write up on such an important issue. The article is not only well written but also written in a style and manner which make it easy for the general members of the public to read and understand the real issues at stake without being tainted by political considerations. The article is written in plain and simple language making it "simple and straight".

Before going into the issues raised by the author in the article, I would like to mention one other fact about the author. Brig. General Anam was the Commander of the United Nations Iran/Iraq Military Observer Group (UNIMOG) based in Baghdad during 1991/92 and hence stands out as an expert on the subject of security in the region.

The article mentions the use of the CUFL jetty for offloading of the merchandise, as rightfully described by the author as a key "government facility." Obviously, this matter of use of the jetty could not have been possible without the knowledge of someone of the 'Authority'. The author also rightly points out that the nature of the arms cache is such that these could not have been brought in for use in any terrorist activities within the country. Not only that many of the arms were "new" even for our army.

I therefore regret the insensible and uncalled for politicisation of the issue both by the government and the opposition. Just consider the statement made by no less than the state minister for home affairs when he says, " Our investigation indicates a party is involved in this haul." He says this while observing and "supervising" the cache in some open field location in Chittagong long before the actual FIR was officially lodged. For God's sake, for once let us rise above petty political and partisan interests and work united to put an end to recurrence of any such incident before Bangladesh becomes a Bali, a Nigeria, an Ethiopia or a Somalia. Last but not least in importance is the suggestion made by the author about the involvement of the Interpol in the investigation process. We should most certainly take it into consideration.

I would also like to state that time is of real essence here. On the other hand, once the facts are established and the investigation complete, the government should make the findings open to the public through the media in details in order to make the people security conscious.