Journalist killing spells doom for society

Once known as the most tranquil zone in Bangladesh, standing not for from the lush green Sundarbans, Khulna and its environs has turned out to be a valley of death for journalists. After the killing of Manik Saha, New Age's special correspondent, last January 15, Daily Janmabhumi (Khulna) editor Humayun Kabir Balu was bombed to death by unknown assailants last June 28 in front of his house. With the killing of Balu, a valiant freedom fighter and a journalist of repute and liberal values, who waged war against underworld crime, terrorism and the killing of thirteen journalists in the last ten years in the south western zone, the nation once again feels outraged and shocked.

Khulna has during the last few years featured as the nation's most crime-prone zone with deadly murders committed with increasing frequency. Most shocking has been the number of journalists who have been killed. Strangely, the Khulna police have proved to be totally incapable of arresting such a menacing rise in crime. There is a general sense of alarm across the nation, especially in Khulna, that has been aroused by such a crime-wave targeting newsmen with the sole objective of dissuading them from exposing the vices of society. Humayun Kabir received several death threats for focusing on the crime situation in Khulna, especially voicing disgust, anger, and protest at the ineffectual and flawed investigation of the killing of Manik.

In the Manik Saha case, none of the 12 charge-sheeted accused belonging to outlawed organisation Janajudha could be rounded up. In this case, in the final report, the name of the godfathers masterminding the attack was missing. In the Shamsur Rahman (killed in Jessore in 2001) case, most of the charge-sheeted criminals are evading arrest or are now out on bail. The same goes for Saiful Islam Mukul who was killed in 1998 and Harun ur Rashid who was killed in 2002.

Drastic changes in police administration in Khulna have come and gone in the last few years, but the one thing that hasn't changed in Khulna is the law and order situation. Tragically enough, in recent times the law and order situation slipped so drastically that the mayor and minister in charge of Khulna admitted the failure of the police administration to control crime and made the somewhat uninspiring gesture of relinquishing his job.

The ruling alliance speaks in parliament and in the media of the good work done by the police, but the multi-pronged strategy launched to combat crime draws only jeers from the unconvinced citizenry. The words also seem hollow because a good number of influential political leaders and some insiders who prop up the government are history sheeters. Shockingly, some such insiders have been indicted in the recent currency racketeering detected at the Zia Airport. Several incidents this year have established that many of these political giants are still running mafia gangs in their region.

Patronage of criminals by politicians and a demoralised police force have pushed up crime in the country. During the past year, there has been an alarming increase in murder, dacoities, and looting compared to the corresponding period last year. The present alliance government tried to absolve itself of all blame saying that it had inherited a shattered economy and a mafia-infested country. But the mafia infested regime has obviously continued to flourish and this has serious repercussions since it puts normal living, business activities, and investment climate into jeopardy.

Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna have attained the dubious distinction of being a criminal's paradise, where the most heinous crimes are committed at will with alarming frequency. Armed with the most sophisticated weapons, mafia dons have become a nightmare to the ill-equipped and ill-trained police in the large metropolises. For the past year or so, the country has resembled a circus. One wonders if there is anything remotely close to a government having administrative control of the country. The administration, apparently has been obliged to play second fiddle to either Bangla Bhai group in the northern part of Bangladesh or PBCP (Janajuddha) in the southwestern part of the country.

Having committed the most atrocious crimes including about fifteen murders, Bangla Bhai and his operatives are virtually running a parallel empire. Should people be inclined to believe that the honourable persons adorning the government are there on the strength of their supposed competence? Surely, to give the country a semblance of governance, one has to rise above cadre politics whose raison d'etre is self-enrichment. If politicians of integrity and competence allow themselves to be browbeaten by their less wholesome colleagues, should they not share the responsibility for the disgraceful state of affairs?

The murder of scores of businessmen in Dhaka and Chittagong at the behest of cadre politics has struck terror in the city's business community. The administration has been assuring stringent measures against killing, extortion, and abduction of business people and journalists as well as other members of civil society, who are up against such menacing brutality and crime, but precious little has been achieved.

Far from inspiring confidence in the administration, these measures and assurances that seem to be mostly hollow, have increased the sense of insecurity among the people. Shockingly, the administration's blatant failure to book the perpetrators of journalists' killing one after another have thrown the journalist community into utter despair and many of them are under pressure from their families to leave this hazardous profession. Unless the government takes some drastic measures to provide security to the members of this vital community, democratic values would be put to severe test. Given the fact that the present alliance government has been in power for more than two years with such an impressive majority, there was so much these government could have done to give governance a new direction, but they did nothing but tinker. They tinkered with economic reforms instead of giving them a new thrust. Somehow they forgot that law and order was their first priority.

Should the government be reminded again that unless the law enforcers are given a free hand to curb crimes and criminals, regardless of party affiliations, mere spending of crores of taka on import of sophisticated weapons will be of no avail. The tragedy perhaps could have been avoided. For some time now it was reportedly known that the outlaw organisation, the PBCP gangs operating underground, had been hurling death-threats at Humayun Kabir Balu, and Balu reported the matter to the police. It has been reported that Balu survived some previous attacks also. Balu, Manik Saha, Shamsur Rahman and their like tried to identify trends in the society and trace the tensions that lie underneath. Killing of journalists in the southwestern region of the country one after another appears to be the only logical culmination of years of soft pedaling and apathy to such a grave issue, which has totally discredited the administration, and allowed criminals and armed gangs to hold sway over a region which is now on the brink of anarchy.

The cult of terror, extortion, abduction, and killing began in the late 80s in this second industrial town of Bangladesh when its jute mills, the lone newsprint mill, shipyard and Mongla port activities ground to a halt. Large sections of the adult populace in Khulna and adjoining districts Jessore, Faridpur and Barisal swarmed Khulna for work, but livelihood went suddenly out of employment. Evidently that sorry state of affairs marked by poverty and joblessness bred the ideal situation for criminality of all hues. But crime has now expanded and engulfed the entire southwestern region of the country and even the political system. Neither of the parties has proved to be immune to the contagion.

The growing criminalisation of the state has hoovered up every element in the society including the bureaucracy and the law and order machinery. With the BNP led alliance coming to power in 2001, there has been wide spread transfer of officials from the level of DCs, SPs, right up to the level of IGP and secretaries. The trails of crime investigation has been lost in the process and even the simple maintenance of hospitals and schools remains unattended to in the midst of personnel switches. The swing door phenomenon in the bureaucracy and the consequent policy waffles has turned the country into an investor's nightmare.

In the country, the law lacks its proverbial long arm. And the fact is that criminals have given the slip to the police or are in connivance with them. People by now have come to know the cosy nexus between police officials and criminals. It has to be said ad nauseam that the criminal laws of the land are inadequate to secure the punishment of such murderers and extortionists. What is lacking, however, is proper judicial administration, resolve, and lastly, executive nod. It is ironic that judicial activism and state run policies have never addressed this problem nor demonstrated its concern for the journalists, let alone ordinary peoples' security. No wonder politicians and policemen are encouraged to short-circuit the process. Getting tough on crime requires the active concurrence of the administrative machinery. Without that helping hand, the rule of law and civilised governance suffers.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.