Killing to make a killing

LAST February, a ward commissioner in old Dhaka was gunned down on his way home from the Friday prayer. The assailants fled the crime scene, only to resurface in police custody few weeks later. Every crime leaves behind evidence. Here the evidence comes in a trail of hidden hands. This is a land of all possibles, although it may not be a land of all possibilities.
The hired hands, which pulled the trigger, came at the end of a long and effective chain of command. It turns out that these hands worked for a man, who lives in another country and runs his contract killing business by remote control. Behind that remote man was a businessman who is in jail for packaging the deal. Then we hear about a man behind whose wish was his command.
If nothing else, the efficacy of this chain of command itself should be the envy of any institution. The whole thing was well coordinated, without delay, without dithering and, above all, it was carried out with utmost precision. The right target was hit at the right moment and the killers got away smoothly as planned.
The credit may go to the captain of the team, depending on whom we choose between the man sitting in a foreign land whose men carried out the killing, and the man on whose behalf the killing may have been commissioned. But the man of the match is certainly the businessman, who acted as a go-between. This man is quite a story. He has tons of money, many acres of land, and at least three wives. Here is a kind of man, who is man enough to cut many of us men to half their size.
This man with his 4th-grade education, learned to make money before many of us learned to count. He intimidated people, and then got rich at a dizzying speed. In arithmetic progression of mischief, he amassed his fortune by geometric progression. Then this man also has spent his money with the same brisk hands.
He has invested in housing projects, hospitals, garments industry, supermarkets, etc. Then he couldn't help letting some of his creative juice flow. He got into the movie business, the last refuge of any scoundrel, who believes money can buy him the power of imagination. The sheer titles of the movies he produced could send anybody gasping for breath.
Yes, he is the man of this match because his performance exemplifies the game. A car thief recently boasted that he wasn't afraid of law since he had always bought his way through courts and prisons. He is worth ten crores today, and vows to stop stealing cars only after he will make two hundred crores!
Notoriety in this country is now an open secret, and prison does nothing but certification to criminals so that they can practice crime as professionals. Sooner or later our businessman will get out of jail. He will throw his money, and others who have stakes in him will also throw their money. In this country, money works like tsunami.
That's more murderous than murder. When people get stinky rich it happens in two phases. In the first phase, the man makes money. In the second phase, money makes the man. The car thief and the ringleader of the contract killers are still in the first category. They are committing crimes because they are making money.
The businessman comes under the second category. He is the living example of a man who has been made a monster by his money.
That should be a matter of real concern. If we look around, we are flooded with the prototypes of this businessman. Our homes, offices and streets are packed with creatures behaving like slot machines. They don't spit out service or favor before a coin is inserted.
Some doctors don't treat patients. Some lawyers don't defend clients. Some journalists don't write facts. Each of us has cut out a turf for himself, a sphere of extortion where we force others to pay. Our businessman is a concentrated expression of that money-based madness. He outshines others in his enthusiasm to risk more in order to gain more.
Many centuries ago, Cicero had said that endless money formed the sinews of war. The killing on Friday is proof that he couldn't be more right. It was reflection of this society in a puddle of blood. We're risking more to gain more, ready to kill so long as killing makes a killing.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a columnist for The Daily Star. E-email: [email protected].