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Ruling party men's backing contributes to crime spree

M Abul Kalam Azad
Law and order in the country has been deteriorating due to rise in criminal activities, which in many cases are being aided and instigated by elements within the ruling party, according to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
They also said return of many absconding seasoned criminals from abroad since the election, and a lack of leadership from the home ministry in curbing crime are also reasons for the upward trend in violent crimes.
Highly-placed home ministry sources said unless the government takes immediate measures to arrest criminals, the numbers of killings, extortions, and tender manipulations will continue to rise.
According to police records, a total of 1,706 persons were killed across the country in the first five months of this year with 397 being killed in May, preceded by 349 in April, 323 in March, 300 in February, and 291 in January. The number had been 1,660 for the last five months of2008.
Records of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) reveal that the number of killings has been rising in the capital too. In the first six months of this year. 157 persons were killed in the capital, 30 of whom were killed in June, 21 in May, and 24 in April.
The numbers of crimes like extortion, mugging, issuance of threats over the phone for money, and repression of women have been climbing to serious levels over the recent months, although ruling AL in its election manifesto pledged to put up a tough fight against crime, and provide security to every citizen.
Sources said numerous criminal groups allegedly backed by the ruling party and its front organisations--Bangladesh Chhatra League. Jubo League, and Sramik
League--emerged since Awami League-led grand alliance's ascension to power in January this year. Those groups are involved in extorting citizens, manipulating tender processes, and collecting illegal tolls.
Yesterday's shooting and killing of one person in Mirpur, the recent triple murder in Karwan Bazar, looting of gold worth Tk 1.7 crore in Gulshan, kidnapping and killing of an engineer in Mirpur, and looting of a money exchange place in Malibagh in broad daylight arc some of the glaring examples of deteriorating law and order in the capital.
"Some notorious criminals, who had earlier Qed the country to evade arrest, recently returned home and have started getting involved in criminal activities again," said an official of an intelligence agency’.
He said law and order is deteriorating quickly in the southern region of die country as armed members of outlawed parties are active again. "Unrest is again gripping the region due to increasing number of killings in which outlaws arc involved," he added.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun and her deputyThnjim Ahmed Sohcl Taj, both not being in the country at the same time, is also hampering
anti-crime drives of the government.
Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder however said the ministry is working in coordination with different law enforcing agencies to maintain order. "There should be an improvement in law and order soon," he told The Daily St ar yesterday.
He said DMP will soon prepare a fresh list of top criminals and launch a drive to arrest them. ' Nobody will be spared if found responsible for causing law and order deterioration, including even ruling party people." he added
Police investigations reveal, existence of many illegal hotels, crimes surrounding trading of garment industry wastage, extortion in kitchen markets, and drug peddling are some of the root causes behind the escalating rates of crimes including killings in the capital.
Around 300 groups of blackmailers comprised of 1,200 operatives are engaged in extortion in the capita), who usually target the better off section of the residents.
DMP high officials sat for a meeting at the police headquarters on Monday to figure out more effective strategies for fighting crimes in the capital.
Presided over by DMP
Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque, the meeting decided to implement some new measures to increase efficiency of the department in crime fighting, including dividing areas under each police station into individual jurisdictions under each subinspector of a station, and S increasing the number of motorbike squads in each station for patrolling neighbourhoods.
A senior police officer posted at the police headquarters identified shortage of manpower and logistics, a lack of training of police personnel, and undue pressure on police for favours from ruling party leaders and activists, as some factors for the poor show of the police department so far. He said 313 posts of police officers out of a total of 1.590 allotted for the department still remain vacant, hampering policing a lot.
"DMP has only 24.000 personnel, a half of whom remain busy with VIP duties, and with guarding key point installations. Fighting crime with such a small force is very tough in a city which has a population of 10 million." the officer said.
The officer added that the government should immediately recruit several thousand more cops to beef up the force for effective anti-crime drives.