Security issues in public life have taken a nosedive in recent months. Financial insecurity of the people at the moment, though, is not of recent origin. In fact, it is a legacy from the past, ousted government. But far from improving, it has only worsened over the past months since the political changeover of August 5 last year. One can produce a hundred and one reasons as to why this is so. In most cases, those reasons may be genuine. But struggling in their day-to-day lives to make both ends meet, the common people who put all their hopes on the present interim government that it would finally be able to end all their miseries in no time has not happened. Some irreversible distortions to market structure already done during the 15 plus years of intervention by party thugs and cronies of the powers that be in the administration and businesses cannot be expected to be fixed overnight. Neither can the vested interests created during all the past years of despotism and firmly ensconced in the system be cleaned within months of the new government however well-intentioned it might be. But the common people with their back to the wall, thanks to unrelenting price hike of basic commodities and their fast-eroding purchasing power under the inflationary pressure that is showing no sign of relenting, cannot also be expected to be consoled with only sweet words. Worse yet, it is not only the growing financial insecurity that is their sole concern. Deterioration of law and order is yet another issue that is threatening the security of their lives. Though providing security in public life rests on the law enforcing agencies, so far, their performance in recent months has been nothing to write home about. Consider the disturbing show of strength reportedly by a juvenile gang of hoodlums, or what they are popularly called, kishore gang (teenage gang) in broad daylight in Cumilla town right under the nose of the police only demonstrates how inefficient and unprepared the police are to respond to any emergency related to law and order in time. Here again, the police authorities have very genuine arguments to justify their failures. In this connection, the home adviser recently spoke acknowledging many shortcomings of the police for reasons well-known to the public. On the issue of, for instance, combating crimes like the rising frequency of muggings and murders in the capital city, he said, the police are yet to be familiar with the nooks and crannies of the city to effectively free the city of petty or serious crimes. That means, due to ongoing restructuring of the police following August 5's mob attacks against them, many members of the Dhaka police are new here. So, it would take time before they are acclimatised with the city to play their expected role in combating city's crime efficiently. Perhaps, the same is the picture elsewhere in the country. The police are also in short supply of essential equipment including transport vehicles, walkie-talkies, etc., required to maintain law and order. When it comes to weapons and ammunition lost including small and light machine guns, pistols, shotguns, gas guns, teargas shells and launchers, stun grenades and so on were destroyed. Notably, a significant portion of those were lost during the violent mass uprising when out of some 664 police stations across the nation, 450 were set on fire. Amid such arson attacks large quantities of the crime-fighting gadgets and equipment were lost, it was informed. According to the police headquarters, during the uprising 5,750 firearms, 651,609 bullets were missing. With a note of reassurance, it was further informed that the process was on to procure those essential weapons and gadgets and get the stock replenished. Meanwhile, between August and November last year, 464 robbery cases were lodged with the police. In comparison, the number of murder cases filed in those months were alarmingly high at around 1937. However, the police headquarters said that cases against most of those incidents of crime as shown in the police records did actually take place during the previous government. Which is why the number (of criminal cases) looks so high. But that is hardly a good excuse because as it usually happens a large number of such criminal incidents often goes unreported. Had those also been reported and duly recorded, the number would be far higher. Now, the question the concerned citizens would like to ask the home adviser is why is the government so slow to address such an emergency like law and order? When it is a matter of physical security of the citizens, the response, however challenging, should have been prompter. As there is a government, the citizens would like to see some of its serious efforts and actions proving to be a deterrent to such crimes.
In fact, they want to see immediate result. The interim government is indeed in a tight spot to deliver in line with the popular expectations. But so far, the progress of the government in meeting the urgent requirements of people--- be it in the sphere of personal security or that of financial one--- is hardly reassuring. Naturally, the public's resentment is growing against the government. Unsurprisingly, the quarters within the system and outside it, who want to see the government fail, are no doubt contributing to make that happen. The situation calls for a unity among all the forces and their support for the interim government to bring about the much sought-after change in society.
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