Rampant crime: Strike at the roots of the torment

Reports of gruesome murders published in the newspapers in the recent past reinforce our belief about the horrendous crime situation in the country. Of late these were -- Bashkhali: eleven of a family burnt to death followed by five butchered in Pabna. Newspapers carrying reports of such gory incidents chill our bone. Some ghastly incidents of the recent past will illustrate as to how youngmen in the age group 16-25 are slipping into crime wave. Some of them in the meantime have become so notorious that even when public can identify them, law enforcement people cannot. And with such patronage they have been receiving from the police, they have turned into dreaded criminals. Reports have it that Yakub Ali Eku (25), a member of gang leader Zisan was driving through Khilgaon area in a motorbike when his rival ex-gang members shot him to death. Police sources now say that Eku was killed as a sequel to feuds relating to sharing of extortion booty. The irony is that police couldn't nab him earlier even when he was spotted in many places. Paradoxically, Yaqub Ali Eku was involved in the killing of two D.B. Inspectors, Nure Alam Shikder and S.I. Alamgir Hossain in the Sunrise International Hotel at Malibagh.

Despite mobilisation of strike force at strategic points in the city in the month of Ramadan, extortion bid by such young deviant youths resulting in injury and even death has not abated. Two young men, Rony and Saikat, identified criminals in the Babubazar area of the city, got seriously injured by mob beating while collecting extortion money from businessmen on November 11 last.

It won't be enough to describe the situation in the country as just sickening. Much to our embarrassment and shock, we will find that youths aged 18-25 years are striking terror all over the country. There are armies of gangsters on police records who have a finger in every pie of economic transactions -- be it railway and bus tickets, inter-district goods movement by trucks, tender dropping in any state-level works, or transfer of land ownerships. The cult of warlordism that began in early 1980s in this poverty ridden country especially in the Dhaka city area has now spread throughout its length and breadth. Crime has now engulfed the entire administration and political systems. None of the major political parties has proved to be immune to the contagion. Most of the murders committed these days in the country relate to either drug sale or drug money sharing other than ruthless measures resorted to by addicts. Reports have it that in the Tutpara area of the Khulna town Aminul Islam Nira (35) a drug peddler was killed by his associates over sharing of the drug sale money on November 3 last. Mansur (25), a drug dealer at Palpur village in the Kuchai union of Sylhet, was killed by his neighbours on November 4, as a sequel to past rivalries. Earlier newspapers headlined a gory report on August 12 last that abductors slaughtered Polash, an eight year old boy, at Phulpur village in Mymensingh. The four abductors, two of them college students, all aged between 18-20, kidnapped Polash for a paltry sum of Tk. 20,000/=. Most astoundingly, Kabirul who kidnapped and killed Polash enjoyed board and lodging in Polash's house. This country is no stranger to violence and atrocities. But any one will find it impossible to explain the abominable ferocity of killing a minor boy for ransom money. This Phulpur barbarity or Rajoir killing of minor boys some days earlier has breached the line between human and animal behaviour.

Undeniably true, we live in violent times. Political infighting, revenge killing, extortion, rape and murder are now committed by those perceived as the most innocent -- the young. Sadly true, these youngsters who suddenly turned into criminals operating individually or in groups seem to come from affluent, well-connected families and the crimes they commit seem to be more vicious and widespread than ever before.

Dowry related murders in recent times, also keep rising. Sakina Khatun (16) a newly wed wife at Ramgati, Noakhali was killed by her husband Zahir because of her parent's inability to meet the dowry demand. Rehena Begum (25) in the Mahadebpur village under Lakhmipur upazila was killed by her husband Ismail in dowry related conflict. But the tragic killing of a young house wife and her 11-month old son Tariqul by her husband at Netrokona for failing to meet the dowry demand overwhelms us with shock and grief. Statistics are damning. In past one week or so 10 persons including four housewives and one child were killed in seven districts as per newspaper reports and on a certain day in August last eight persons were killed by the gangsters in the city alone. The tragic conclusion that can be drawn from these ghastly incidents is that the perpetrators of these crimes are all youngmen soaring with ambition but bursting with greed and lust for ready money and quick success. It is the brutality of these crimes that has awakened the country to the beast that runs loose in young people.

The Crime Records Bureau in its latest report states that young people belonging to 16-25 age group are responsible for 80 per cent of all crimes committed in the country. More shockingly, about 60 per cent of those involved were young first timers. In the Dhaka city robbery, extortion and docoity have escalated sharply with youngsters accounting for 80 per cent of such crimes. Police records reveal that 90 per cent of all crimes committed this year have been by young men trying their hand at crime for the first time. According to police sources as well as newspaper reports, everyday in the cities like Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi some rich businessmen get robbed or kidnapped on ransom bid, commuters get mugged on highway buses, railway stations and bus terminals, women get raped or boy friends posing romeos throw acid on school and college going girls. Most shockingly, in most cases women in the age group between 16-30 are living under constant threat to their lives and in several cases, wary of the humiliation, they have chosen to end their lives.

In recent times crime pattern has taken a new shape. For well-known criminal gang leaders, a generation of cheap labour becomes available. Hired goons in the age group 16-25 are now doing the most atrocious jobs ripping apart the age-old societal norms and value systems. Crime dossiers and lists of bad characters -- the foundations of detection -- are of no use since a vast majority of criminals are young novices and new recruits. Quick money seems to be the new mantra. With family values already under stress and job market squeezing up, crime suddenly seems to be an alluring option. For them, crime pays!

How could this youngmen, sensible and educated in most cases, be killing so dispassionately? Experts offer a raft of reasons but hasten to add that generalisations are difficult because each case is unique -- each young criminal has his own genes, his own family background and his own response to the many forces in modern society that encourage violence. But the most common factor is: the present generation is going through one of those plastic moments in history -- where old, known value systems have crumbled and new ones have not formed.

Unfortunately the pleasures, comfort and luxuries of modern life with its dazzling display on media permeated into our life style and the idealism that once illuminated educated or even the rustic rural life took severe knocks and materialism wore them down. The youngsters -- those born in the late 70s and right through 80s -- grew up in a world full of scams and corruption. They are not interested to know what happens to others, but in what they want to change their own life styles -- and fast. They want ready success, ready money, unbridled life with all the comfort and luxuries and they believe they can use any means to get it.

Inspired by the ostentatious living they see next to their door, most children or youngsters to-day prowl tirelessly for a better deal that will free them from the restraints that their parents faced. Ambitions soar and image of making it big, say for example, owning luxury, cars, dazzling home appliances, dinner and drinks in posh hotel and rendezvous with socialite girls constantly play on the mind but when failure strikes, most can't handle it.

Sadly true, most of the youngsters these days are drawn to crime for reasons that are our own making. Even after going through all the struggles and securing the university degree or technical qualification most desirable for a job when he moves from door to door for a job the lack of opportunity frustrates him. And soon the tremendous pressure to survive and to succeed builds up anger and leads him to astray. Sanity blinks or so to say totally evaporates and the result is: they jump into horrendous crimes, some through circumstances, some through peer pressure and there is no coming back.

They can kill people even for a paltry sum of 500 taka, they can loot a beggar's scanty earning of Tk.Ê100/= as it happened in Manikganj town in this month of Ramadan. Two youngsters riding a motorbike swooped on a beggar while he was counting the day's earning in a central crowded place in town. Hardly any study about the behavioural pattern of such deviant youths in our country has been done.

As said earlier, most of these criminals come from upper middle class families or middle class families where parents have little time for them. A generation of latch-key children have grown up with loosening parental control. Absentee parents mean they don't get the nurturing, guidance or supervision necessary to instill a set of values or a proper behaviour code. Studies have revealed that it is the youngsters ensconced in the security of their middle class homes who commit crimes because they feel they can get away with it. On the other hand, government and theoreticians are pitching for more stringent laws, more effective and more swift judicial system. But that's like shooting at the moon.

The real challenges lie within the society itself. The government needs to step up the battle against drugs and crimes and work out ways to distribute wealth more equitably. More money should be poured into education providing more opportunities for the young. Youngsters need to know that society cares about them. And above all, parents should take a long hard look in the mirror. For, the values of today's youth are merely magnified reflections of their elders. They need to discover all over again values like receptivity, kindness and tolerance. This may sound nauseatingly obsolescent in today's world of violence. But they are the only ingredients of peace.

Md. Asadullah Khan, formerly a teacher of Physics, is Controller of Examination, BUET.