Will the PM intervene?

The prime minister who a year ago showed the will to tackle law and order by calling the army to crack down on criminals, including those in her own party, now seems to have withdrawn herself, thus allowing the law and order to slip to an all time low.

The criminals have come back with a vengeance after the army crackdown. Doesn't the government feel a loss of face by the way the criminals have come back? The editorial was right in suggesting that police alone cannot halt extortion/ransom killings having political patronage.

The need of the moment is political will of the PM, who alone can rise above those who are providing the criminals political patronage. It must be more than well known who in the ruling alliance have links with the criminals.

Why doesn't the government start with the latest killing in Dhaka of the travel agent and unravel any links that those responsible for the murder may have with the 'power centres' and further unravel their links with the police? The question arises because people are convinced that such linkages do exist.

Extortion is now not only a major political problem for the country; it is also a major economic problem, for it is fast bringing business to a standstill as your editorial rightly suggests. The police too have a responsibility and so do their political bosses . The home minister has been given too long a rope to put his act together but he has failed .

Then why not take the police officials to task for not attanding to a complaint lodged by the deceased two months ago about the extortionists ? The suspension of the four policemen who failed to act when the criminals were running away is again the wrong response: hanging the petty criminals and letting the masterminds go free.

Finally, can the government not consider allowing very limited number of security agencies the authority to use firearms to protect in the first instance leading business places of the capital?