"Stop Crossfire Killings, Now"

There is no such thing as Law and Order in Bangladesh, there is no justice for the innocent and victims of crime. How can anyone in Bangladesh have any confidence in the judiciary system when we have Law enforcing officers who are corrupt who will only work if you are willing to bribe them. We have police (high ranking officers, OCs and higher) who collude with criminals, we have judges who can be bribed for their decisions. If people believe this doesn't happen, then they are living in a state of denial.

I have seen the work Rab do, and I think they are doing a great job in ridding Bangladesh of hardened criminals and terrorists who otherwise would be terrorising innocent civilians and then hide behind the very legal system which is supposed to protect the public, but shamefully and disgracefully fails to do so.

You talk about a civilised society, you have travelled the world and would surely be able to distinguish between civilised and uncivilised societies. Civilisation in Bangladesh is questionable and open to debate. In my opinion, in a country where politicians are corrupt (right from the top to village politics), the police and law enforcing officials are corrupt and openly take bribes and criminals are not brought to justice, students are hell bent on politics and go on violent and destructive demonstrations (hartals) at any call from their corrupt political leaders, private and public civil servants openly take bribes, the talk of a civilised society is futile.

So when an organisation (eg. Rab) does something to stop some people from criminal activities it has to be severe/harsh, otherwise nothing will ever change in Bangladesh.

I refer to the commentary on the above subject published in the July 21 issue of The Daily Star. Indeed, the article is very well written and certainly reflects concerns of an enlightened citizen in a truly democratic society where people from all spheres of life respect laws of the land. In other words, where the society is civilised.

Where I differ from you is on the circumstances when Rab was formed, circumstances in which people were killed in crossfire and the residual effects of Rab activity on larger sections of the population. I ask a blunt question to you, are we anywhere near a true democracy? Are we anywhere near a truly civilised nation? Do we (most people) really have true patriotism?

There are special circumstances when a nation has to take some extra ordinary steps to protect the interest of the majority of the population. The law and order situation in Bangladesh deteriorated so much that people were not safe at their homes, at work or on the streets, in fact there were no safe shelter for them anywhere. The whole country became captive at the hands of a handful of criminals who could take an innocent life for money, for any cause or no cause. Simply put, people were living in a hell. It is not that there were no laws to punish these criminals but there is a saying: where there are laws there are legal loopholes. High profile criminals were arrested but the next hour they got out on bail and then continued their criminal activities with more vigour. In the eyes of a true justice system everyone is innocent until proven guilty and that is the loophole. Money can buy time for the criminals, money can buy their innocence. Justice system sometimes becomes hostage to money and crime especially in countries where, by and large, civility is absent from the society. Time and again the law enforcing agencies also became helpless due to these legal loopholes. If members of the elite Rab force did not eliminate these criminals, I fear we would have had the same law and order situation if not worse than that prevailed three or four years ago. Because they have taken some seemingly brutal extra judiciary measures, people are now living in relative peace, and confidence in the country's law and order situation is on the rise both nationally and in the international arena, which is reflected by the huge flow of foreign investment. This in turn is creating more jobs and improving economic conditions of common people on top of the significant improvement in law and order situation. Is extra judicial killing worth a sacrifice for the nation?

I am not trying to hail the extra judicial killings. Any killing is brutal, all lives are precious gifts of God but sometimes one has to take desperate measures to combat desperate situations. Even the best democracies and most civilised nations like Canada, USA, Britain where rule of law means rule of law, governments are taking many extra judicial actions that they consider a small sacrifice to protect the larger majority.

Shahid H Khandker Markham, Toronto Canada