The gunning down of two young men by a gang of assailant s in the office of an engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar eomes within weeks of a similar ghastly incident that took place in the office of a manpower recruiting agency. The dead, according to the police, were themselves mastans against whom several cases of terrorism had earlier been filed with Mirpur thana. The killers are thought to be the dead ones rivals in the tender business. If the police are right, can we have an explanation as to how these known terrorists could be enjoying free life and doing tender business all the while? Why canno t the police catch the arms-wielding mastans who failed to accept the opportunity to surrender their weapons under the government declared amnesty?

We are weary of the customary police version after each such gruesome murder. The police came up with the same statement when an TPGMR doctor was killed and also when two young men were shot dead in a manpower recruiting agent s office. It appears that where there is money, the mastans go grab it, and to extend the inference, the police too are not far behind. Otherwise, why would the police be failing to take a preemptive action. The home minister has to intervene personally to make the police act.

In a situation of abject insecurity economic activities are bound to suffer immeasurably. The promise shown by the home minister earlier is fast fading out. We have made the point clear that law and order is the test of governance. On that count this government is losing its grip. We reckon crim-inalisation of politics has been responsible for the pervasive spread of terrorism through the fabric of the society. Can the government make a choice between conventional politics relying heavily on armed cadres and neutral and fair dispensation of justice? Party politics in that case may suffer a little but the future of the people will definitely be secure.