The enemy within?
Who is behind all this?
AN immutable law governing power is that it cannot be shared, because the one holding the sceptre brooks no competitor. Perhaps because of the spirit of that law, Sheikh Hasina has surrounded herself with diehard loyalists in her ministerial team. That is fine. Anyone in her place would do the same in this country. Although it ensured her grip on the levers of the power many feel that a good deal of experience and efficiency has been compromised, leaving the vital flanks of governance vulnerable.
Notwithstanding the sincerity and ceaseless efforts of the members of her dream-team a reality check reveals a rather dismal picture of the country's law and order, which has dipped to a new low in recent days. The ever-deteriorating crime situation reported points to a deep malaise, most of which is inherited from a messy past. But the new dispensation's achievement in curing them is not promising either.
While the occurrence of myriad crimes across the country and the law-enforcing agencies' perfunctory role -- with or without reasons -- in combating them cast a pall of gloom over the concerned citizens. The stunning news of the BDR mutiny, coming quickly on the heels of JMB's suicide bombing in the office of the police super in Gazipur, couldn't but be dampening and depressing. The nation was already grappling with the effects of the global recession, continuing high price of the essentials, and chronic power shortage amid numerous other socio-political challenges.
The carnage that started in Pilkhana on an efflorescent spring morning on the festive occasion pf BDR week is a national tragedy, opening up a new dimension to the problems the nation is already beset with. It's a tragedy because it could have been avoided, and even preempted, had all layers of the establishment been even routinely circumspect.
It's an enigma that a disaster of such tectonic proportions could befall the nation unnoticed by the concerned agencies, which are not negligible in number. Why couldn't the authorities be forewarned of the looming danger lurking behind the ceremonies? It must have been planned over a period of time, coordinated at various levels and the timings synchronised before the execution on fateful February 25. It's absurd that no one could sense the approaching danger before the whole nation was caught napping.
There are people, including the prime minister, hinting that it was the handiwork of an interested quarter, that could be internal, external, or both. The deep-seated conspiracy is believed to have aimed at destabilising the government as well as the country at this delicate time of a transition. Looking at the scale, precision and savagery of the operation, the apprehension cannot be ruled out.
However, in spite of the authority's stark failure to see what was unraveling over the years in an otherwise disciplined force, it acted promptly when in the eye of the storm. The government dealt with the devils in a mature why, kept its cool, and took the right steps to defuse the crisis. But, by then, the catastrophe had already struck and taken its toll.
Even if the storm has blown over, the real problem with regard to the two centuries old tradition-rich outfit like the BDR still remains. Many interested eyes are focused on how the government will now take the developments surrounding the BDR to a satisfactory denouement. But, in all likelihood, things will no more be the same again in this fabled organisation.
This scribe had a stint of BDR service back in the late seventies, when it was an abode of tranquility with its highly disciplined soldiers who always cherished their leadership from the army. What went wrong during the intervening years that they are now averse to it? What made them a bunch of killers and looters? Why did they turn brutal and bestial? Was it only the issue of deprivation? It will be another tragedy if the answers to these questions, and more, remain unearthed or are hushed up.
We have already paid dearly for many of our lapses in the past, and are experiencing their agonising effects. We are aware that new government is barely two months' old and, as such, its achievements or failures do not warrant a critique at this stage, but a projection into the shape of things likely to emerge in future, when the AL will be cutting the shots, is in order.
There are few alternatives to experience. In the days ahead, it will require deft handling of the situation by someone more conversant with the dynamics at work in the minds of the men in uniform and their emotional innards.
So far so good. But let there not be a square peg in a round hole, although both are useful in their respective places.
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