Bombing investigations and unsavoury questions

Many an incident of bomb blast occurred in Dhaka (left) and elsewhere (Gazipur) after Udichi.

In the fitness of things every criminal case should be disposed of on its own merit. That is the ideal. There are, however, objective conditions in Bangladesh to doubt that the fate of some cases, if not many, did not have the benefit of such ideal standard. The inordinate delay in the holding of trial of the 'Udichi' incident should not escape the attention of concerned commentators. Some cynics say that the expeditious holding of this trial may have produced different findings. This writer is not sure but would like to dwell upon certain facts and circumstances of our socio-political existence and in particular the perilous political polarisation of our society that has a definite bearing upon the basic regulatory function of investigation by the state agency, the police.

If the investigating agency stands accused of being dictated by the wishes of successive political regimes as has been commented upon, then we need to find out why this has happened. In the same vein one needs to know why some very high-profile politically sensitive accused did not have the benefit of obtaining bail in any one of the multiple cases lodged against him at a particular point of time but subsequently got it in all the cases with the ushering in of another political regime. It is not for this writer to ascertain the varying judicial wisdom but the concerned members of public get upset when they see the same accused (since convicted) being sought after by the powers that be. Does not such a scenario send disconcerting and conflicting signals to the investigating agency whose operatives have learnt to live with the reality? The cynics might say that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds and as such our investigative agencies must be able to appreciate the dynamics(!) of emerging political reality.

The pernicious culture of playing to the tune of unscrupulous political masters or pandering to their unholy wishes by the investigating agencies and other sensitive State agencies has not occurred all on a sudden. Spells of unconstitutional rule, particularly during 1982-90, have substantially damaged the ethos of our public service including the investigating agencies. While leadership deficits account for some malfeasance, the real damage has been done by an insensitive and myopic dictatorial establishment that was hell-bent to screw all regulatory and corrective institutions. The unwholesome effect of such institution-bashing is now being felt by a concerned citizenry. One is, however, not oblivious of the fact that the democratically elected but temperamentally dictatorial regimes since 1991 have been any better in realising the damage done to the professionalism of the services. The halo and elan of public service has meant little to the political leadership who have spent more time and energy in fostering the growth of pliable and time-serving personnel for achieving their selfish goals.

While the public's right to be informed cannot be denied and the nation's concern for the safety and security of innocent lives cannot be brushed aside, we will perhaps do well to look at the factual dimension of the bomb blasts in a dispassionate manner. Almost immediate apportioning of blame mostly on rivals of the other camp by responsible persons after each occurrence has become a pathetic recurrent reality. Indiscreet and uninformed comments in such sensitive matters further compound the environment in our society where almost everybody -- from the humble to the mighty -- has some expertise on law and order, observes a cynic who has been in the business of law and order for quite some time.

Unfortunately, not many people realise that dangerously accusatory comments even before the investigation has started to create an undesirable influence on the investigators, particularly in our society for reasons that perhaps do not need elaboration. This, however, does not mean that our investigators invariably tailor their investigations according to the dictates of the authority as often alleged in the media. Nor are they indulging in the dangerous game of playing to the gallery as is the practice in some segments of our administration. What, however, is not attracting our attention is the predicament of the investigating agency in a situation marked by opposing pulls and lack of adequate scientific supports. Investigations of bomb blast cases need sustained painstaking efforts in a professional manner without any influence peddling. Readers may recollect the time, energy and resources devoted to the investigation of the explosion incident that led to the death of Rajiv Gandhi of India. It needs to be emphasised that unnecessary and motivated haste in the investigation of such cases might prove counter-productive.

The police including the central outfit of CID (Criminal Investigation Department) have been portrayed as having very little or no technical expertise and therefore, deemed as incapable of satisfactorily investigating bomb blast cases. That is the impression one gets if one has to go by the media reports. These reports often do not mention that technical expertise is only one part of the investigative process, that collection of non-physical evidence on the basis of sound and credible intelligence plays a major part, that our police officers trained outside the country do not find adequate technical and organisational support on return to efficiently operate, that some such bomb incident cases ended in chargesheet and did not have the benefit of expeditious trial and last but not the least, the difficulties experienced by investigating officers in the face of virulent claims and counter claims of culpability loudly made by leaders from across the political divide.

While the police must unearth and detect the bomb blast cases and prevent such incidents from happening by dint of quality intelligence, they cannot be expected to put a complete stop to such incidents because of circumstances beyond their control. Extreme views advocating and implementing annihilation of the opponent is a sad socio-political reality of our society and in rooting out this menace the police is at best a marginal player. Similarly, the so-called extermination campaign of class enemy by apparently ideologically motivated elements cannot be effectively controlled by adopting a purely conventional law and order approach. Extremism of the so-called fundamentalist variety can be countered by a joint strategy of persuasion and tough action, with political direction being conspicuously pronounced.

In all these matters, the acumen needed is political sagacity and patience to fight the painfully long battle against extremist depredations and insurgency. If it is a political battle with armed support and not the other way, we will definitely overcome the present predicament sooner than apprehended. Violence must not be allowed to be a way of our life along with a political consensus to abjure it. The police, admittedly, in this regard have a secondary role to perform and that relates to prevention of some description and intensive investigation once the damage has been done. Let us make sustained efforts to facilitate the organisation in acquiring the hallmarks of a professionally upright body.

First of all, it has to be ensured that following a bomb blast leaders of the political parties do not engage themselves in an acrimonious blame game and thus help and facilitate the investigators to do their job in a professional manner. Political or ideological linkage, if any, would be brought to light if the occurrence is treated like a criminal offence. A pre-conceived notion about possible perpetrators will more often lead to the harassment of innocent citizens while the real criminals will move unhindered. We must ensure that in upholding the public's right to be informed, a situation is not willy-nilly created wherein the entire process amounts to an investigation by the media. Needless to mention, such a scenario will seriously prejudice the rights of the victims and the interest of the prosecution because in our legal system the onus is on the prosecution to prove that the defendant/criminal is guilty beyond the least shadow of doubt. Let us remember that the anger, excitement and the euphoria will not be there at the time of trial before the court which will pronounce its verdict on the basis of cold facts and credible evidence.

Secondly, there is a pressing need of adequate training, both in-country and external to be organised along with simultaneous creation of exclusive units in selected places. These units must have sufficient technical support to conduct the initial investigation. Since these exclusive units will not attract volunteers for practical reasons, it would be necessary to provide them very attractive incentives (material and non-material) for drawing the proper talents from the police organisation. At the same time very intensive or in-depth exposure will not be necessary at this stage as the Armed Forces expertise can always be counted upon as supplementary assistance.

Thirdly, increased support needs to be given for strengthening the laboratory of CID that has a ballistics section in a less-than-modern condition. Some high quality and high priced capital equipment have to be bought for this section for providing technical support to the investigators whose reports, strengthened by such support will automatically assume considerable significance evidence wise. Consequently, it would be easier to convict the mischief makers.

In a perilously polarised polity where criminals enjoy political patronage, criminal activities are accorded respectability for so-called political compulsions and a loathsome all-pervasive distrust between different social and political groups prevail, the predicament of police investigators who have the double jeopardy of being less-than-credible in the eyes of the law of the land and the members of public, can only be appreciated by a reasoned observer. Our investigators definitely suffer from inadequate scientific support but even under the present circumstances they can achieve commendable success. Our investigators for reasons known, do not operate in a favourable environment where helpful information comes voluntarily from members of public but still like our physicians they do good clinical investigation without laboratory support by virtue of their intuition, gut reaction and the limited information network.

We will definitely put ourselves and our future generation in peril by our inability to let a truly professional investigating agency grow in accordance with the dictates of the law. Viewing criminal occurrences from a political angle only will be ruinous because that would not only be a damper to the growth of professionalism but also in the process shatter the remaining confidence reposed in the vital institutions of the State. We still have pockets of excellence in our investigative outfits and it shall be in the fitness of things to allow such outfits to attain professional excellence without being tainted by any direction. Let the actual facts and circumstances of the incident be ascertained as is the job of the investigator and let that be placed before the court for adjudging the guilt.

Muhammad Nurul Huda is former Secretary and IGP.