We have seen before—especially due to political instability—that the law and order situation in the country has deteriorated. At present, centering on the election, the overall situation is becoming even more precarious. If this continues, the law and order situation will deteriorate further in the days ahead. The question now is: why are these incidents happening?
There are several reasons behind this.
One of them is that a significant number of illegal firearms looted from police stations after 5 August are still outside state control. These weapons are being used illegally. In addition, weapons are being smuggled into the country illegally through the borders on a daily basis, and these are being used in various ways—one of the most notable being political misuse.
After 5 August, top criminals and militants were released on bail en masse from prisons. Subsequently, the level of monitoring that was supposed to be ensured has not been maintained. As a result, identified criminals and terrorists whose cases were under trial have been freely released into society, where they are enjoying the patronage and protection of one political party or another. As part of this, they are being politically used amid political instability.
They may commit murders and various other crimes to eliminate political opponents. One of the major forms of this could be targeted killings. Over the past few months, we have in fact been witnessing exactly this. During this period, most of the killings and major incidents have been driven by political rivalry, internal conflict, and violence. If this continues, I believe the number of killings will increase further in the future.
Another issue is that not all political parties in the country actually want an election. Some may want elections due to strategic reasons, others for different reasons, but there is a class or political group that does not want an election to be held at this moment. Various conspiracies are also underway to divert the election in other directions. In other words, different types of conspiracies are increasing day by day.
If the government is not vigilant and fails to take appropriate measures, then even if an election takes place, many questions will arise about how acceptable it will be. Therefore, if the government does not take proper preparation and effective action from now on, I believe that killings will increase before the election and, at the same time, the election itself will be undermined.
Writer: Professor, Department of Criminology and Police Science, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail
