Highly placed sources said the dilemma has stalled the execution of a home ministry order to arrest JMJB chief Azizul Islam alias Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai.

The self-styled vigilante outfit bludgeoned to death three alleged leftist outlaws in Naogaon last week and is preparing 'to punish' seven more people including a former legislator and four union parishad chairmen.

Some senior ministers and ruling BNP policymakers strongly favour Bangla Bhai's arrest on the grounds that there cannot be a private force parallel to the law-enforcement agencies to launch an anti-outlaw drive.

"Whatever this Bangla Bhai is doing is totally illegal because the law does not permit his actions. On one hand, it proves that the government has failed and on the other, it is ruining the image of the country. Consequence of such a militant force will be dreadful," said an influential cabinet minister, on condition of anonymity.

Some other BNP leaders, mostly from greater Rajshahi region, however, have been opposing the home ministry order since its issuance and supporting the Bangla Bhai outfit all the way.

Allegations are there that a cabinet minister, a deputy minister and several lawmakers hailing from greater Rajshahi region are backing Bangla Bhai. They maintain that local people have welcomed Bangla Bhai and his men since police have completely failed to tame the outlaws in the northwest.

Home Ministry officials said the May 17 meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order chaired by Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan discussed the matter. It asked the home ministry to go for immediate legal action against Bangla Bhai.

The officials said State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, on instructions by the cabinet committee, ordered the inspector general of police the following day to arrest Bangla Bhai. High civil and police officials claim that the split in the government over the issue has rendered them helpless.

A top home ministry official told The Daily Star yesterday, wishing anonymity, that the order to arrest Bangla Bhai is not being implemented due to heavy pressure against the arrest.

Sources at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the minister-in-charge of Rajshahi, a deputy minister and several lawmakers of Rajshahi region recently brought the issue of elimination of outlaws to the attention of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

They told her that police failed to protect local people of greater Rajshahi who have long been repressed by the outlaws. The police failure prompted local people to launch the JMJB and the hunt for outlaws in the area side by side with the law-enforcing agencies.

They also argued that a stop to the ongoing vigilante operations of the JMJB would only fuel outlaw activities.

Home ministry officials also said they have information that besides the local ministers and lawmakers, some Islamic organisations and ruling coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami's local units are indirectly supporting Bangla Bhai.

A home ministry official quoting intelligence reports said that two religion-based parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, are not only backing the JMJB and Bangla Bhai, but also helping the Islamist outfit with manpower and light weapons.