Criminals in the capital are open firing nowadays, leaving victims dead or injured and people terrified. Over silly matters, delinquents take their guns out of holsters and pull trigger. Criminals, mostly juvenile delinquents, are suddenly becoming reckless.
Those concerned say that criminals are taking advantage of the weakness of the law enforcement agencies after the mass uprising. The trained people are taking care of them from behind the scenes.
At 5:30 am on Friday, five round firing sounds were heard in quick succession on at Sector 11, Pallavi in Dhaka. Upon hearing groaning, people went ahead and saw Jasim Uddin (44) and his younger sister Shahinur Begum (30) lying shot. Jasim’s wife Hena Akhter, who is undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, claimed that Jasim had paid a ransom for identifying the kidnapper a few days ago. She said: “While returning home, he (Jasim Uddin) had an argument with Sharif, Tuhin, Shahidul, Sujan, Riaz, and Blade Roni of the same area. Two shooting incidents took place with in a three-day interval in the same area.
On 1st February night, a banana trader named Jilani and a pedestrian named Shuvo were shot in a shootout between two groups of juveniles in Hatirjheel.
On 4th February night, an internet employee Md Suman was injured in a gunfight with a group of masked men on Rampura Wapda Road. Eyewitnesses said that Suman was drinking tea at a roadside stall. Suddenly, a group of 12-15 people with amours came on motorcycles and shot at him indiscriminately.
However, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Operations) SN Md Nazrul Islam told Bangladesh Pratidin: “We are working. We are conducting a drive as soon as we get information.”
Informing that a special drive is underway, he requested to share specific information.
On February 10, a youth named Raju Hossain (18) was brutally shot dead by unknown assailants on the banks of the Padma River in Daulatpur, Kushtia. The deceased Raju is the son of Ibrahim Pramanik of Farakpur Bhangapara area of that union. He worked as a laborer in Balurghat.
However, police have not yet been able to confirm the killer. Criminologist and Dhaka University associate professor Md Touhidul Islam told Bangladesh Pratidin that the common people do not want to see how many criminals have been arrested. They go to see who has been arrested.
“Not only must the stonecutters, but also the masterminds behind the crimes be brought under the law.” The criminologist said that with doing so peace must be restored in the state and society.
In response to a question, he said that if we continue to criticize, it will take a long time for the law enforcement agencies to return to normal. Then what will happen to the common people? Before abolishing any force, we must think about whether we can actually live without law enforcement agencies.
Therefore, it is necessary to identify the weak points of the forces and bring them into greater accountability within the legal framework.
It is learnt that the miscreants are taking advantage of the slow pace in recovering illegal and looted weapons and ammunition from the forces. They are getting involved in petty disputes among themselves. They are shooting at each other due to control over the drug trade, dominance, political and personal conflicts.
Although 'Operation Devil Hunt' has been launched by joint forces across the country for the past eight days, the number of illegal weapons recovered is negligible. This is because 5,750 weapons of 11 types were looted from various police stations and police establishments in the country before and after the August 5 uprising. 1,392 of the looted weapons, including 683 pistols, have not been recovered yet. Weapons from other forces besides the police have also been looted. The accounts of which have not been made public. 260,531 rounds of ammunition belonging to the police are still missing.
On the evening of January 10, gunmen who came to Dhanmondi 7 on motorcycles in the name of a top terrorist who had just returned from prison fired 10 rounds in front of an under-construction building. A building gate was set on fire by pouring petrol, and a CCTV camera was broken.
A young man named Sheikh Tanmoy shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway with a stolen weapon. Police recovered the bullet-riddled body of Shahida Islam Rafa on the morning of December 30. Tanmoy was arrested from Bhola on January 2.
Later, the pistol used in the murder was recovered from a pond under the Battali Bailey Bridge in South Keraniganj, Dhaka. Shahida's blood-stained vanity bag was also found on the side of the road at that time.
RAB Headquarters Director Lt. Col. Ashiqur Rahman told Bangladesh Pratidin that every member of RAB is working at their best to keep the law and order situation under control. Each battalion is working in coordination with each other to recover weapons and arrest criminals.
Translated by Afsar Munna
