"RAB or ROB"

By S. A. Mansoor Gulshan, Dhaka
21 April 2005, 18:00 PM
Thanks to Mr. Rahman for his opinion (DS: April 11). Starting from the following words of his last sentence "misdeeds carried out under the patronage of their godfathers", let us analyse the situation dispassionately. What Rab is doing is rubbing out the bottom rung of criminals; not the Godfathers. Eliminating ten godfathers would have eliminated the equivalent of at least two hundred or more criminal elements. Has Rab done it? The answer is a big 'NO'. Do you remember known undesired elements being publicly photographed with our political elite? Has Rab done anything about it? Once again the answer is 'NO'.

Rab if it really wants to be an effective criminal eliminating machinery; which was created because of corruption and mismanagement in police; (with some honourable exception); then like Caesar's wife it has to be above suspicion. If Rab is not absolutely cleansed of any misdeeds, it will end up just another set-up like the police, the erstwhile Rakkhi Bahini, only more frightening and dangerous; armed with armored personnel carriers and helicopters! May be these accessories are needed to catch the godfathers! They should rather be armed with detective capability to root out mindless killers, sundry criminals and most importantly their godfathers with various levels of patronage who till date have not come under the "crossfire" of Rab.

Till such time comes I am a bit skeptical as to how effective they can be in rooting out crime; for beneath the veneer of political activism (honourable exceptions excluded) we reach into the various subcutaneous layers of criminal activity. I wonder if Rab can bring them under their "crossfire".