Editorial
Probing August 21 killing
Let justice be done
The government has definitely made a timely move in the matter of investigating a good number of tragic incidents in the country. The decision to have the August 21 2004 tragedy and similar cases registered with the monitoring cell of the home ministry is one that will send down a feeling that the wheels of justice may finally be beginning to turn. Yet, even as we welcome the move, we cannot but note once more a clear sense of irony here. It should, morally as well as politically, have been the job of the elected government in office at the time the sad incidents occurred for the series of tragedy to have been thoroughly looked into and for the guilty to be brought to justice. That nothing was done, that indeed there are reasons to think that patent attempts may have been made to undermine facts through pushing what were half-hearted investigations into other directions, remain symbolic of the mis-governance we have been through.As far as the August 21 tragedy is concerned, one recalls the constitution of a one-man committee to inquire into the mayhem. It remains a disturbingly amazing reality that the inquiry came to be tainted with a politically partisan hue and that the report it prepared was never brought to public notice, except as some incomplete and fragmentary news reports. It was a plainly disgraceful act. It is, therefore, in the larger interest of the nation that the tragedy, together with all the other cases the government has focused on, be inquired into in a proper and conclusive manner. That can be done through a speeding up of the investigative process and a filing of charges related to the incidents. It will be worthwhile noting here that the authorities can advance the cause of justice further through a meaningful pursuit of the cases related to the assassinations of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and the lawmaker Ahsanullah Master. A refreshing side to the move for a fresh probe into the series of tragedy in question is the belief that this time round a hard-nosed, no-nonsense and objective approach will be applied to the necessary inquiries. We expect the law enforcers to do everything that was not done or was prevented from being done earlier about going to the bottom of the cases in question. In nearly every situation arising out of a fresh burst of tragedy, evidence was rather cleverly wiped out, leaving even elements of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain's Scotland Yard unable to make any inroads into their own observations of such outrageous happenings as that of August 21. We believe the new spurt in investigations will add impetus to our renewed efforts for an establishment of the rule of law in Bangladesh. A speedy inquiry into the twelve sensational cases the government has taken up for consideration followed by a judicious disposal will, we are quite certain, contribute to the refurbishing of democracy the nation as a whole is today engaged in.
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