Horror of abduction stalks

Committing a crime and then laying the blame on others is often a common theme in most of the Bangladeshi or Indian thriller movies that are box-office hits. The theme is smartly tailored to create an air of tension and agitate the cine-viewers so they get glued to the silver screen and wait impatiently till the villain is nabbed and punished and the truth ultimately triumphed. But villains in the political arena of the country are not that unlucky; they escape their crimes mostly unscathed.
'Blaming others and claiming to be victims' is nowadays the hallmark of Bangladeshi politicians when they are in power and can easily ride roughshod over the members of opposition political parties. They use 'blame game' to excuse their own bad behaviour in order to achieve an often selfish end.
Of late, there has been an alarming rise in the incidents of abduction in Bangladesh. Abducted people are either murdered or made to disappear forever. These are mostly forced or enforced disappearances being perpetrated by an unknown force, though there is a strong belief in the opposition political circles that such disappearances are being carried out with acquiescence of the state machinery.
A handful of Bangladeshi intellectuals, who earlier used to blame unequivocally some bad policies of the government in public forums and television talk-shows, now appear to be deaf-mute. Well, some such think-tankers had unpleasant experiences when people in plainclothes also knocked at their doors. Once bitten, they are now twice shy.
Perhaps afraid of facing the similar music, spokesmen of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main opposition political party, also seem to be petrified as they mince their words of protest against such heinous crimes of abduction and forced disappearances. However, BNP called for a countrywide hunger strike last Sunday, not 'Hartal', to protest against the continuous crime of abductions, murders and forced disappearances and also to express their dissent against fabricated litigations, mostly politically motivated, against BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and her eldest son Tarique Rahman.
People in Bangladesh were unprepared for the spectre of abduction that confronted them first on April 17, 2012 when Ilias Ali, a former parliamentarian and the Organising Secretary of the Bangladesh National Party, along with his chauffeur, was kidnapped allegedly by Awami League, the party in power. The government, however, denied that. Till today, there has been no trace of the two abducted men. Nobody had claimed responsibility for their abduction, nor was any ransom ever demanded.
Plainclothed officers are usually undercover detectives whose mission is to sniff out underground criminals like drug dealers and absconders. It is a custom required by criminal codes that police in their uniforms should present to someone a summons or warrant issued by a magistrate before arresting him. Exceptions are of course allowed when the suspect is a dangerous criminal on the run.  But, most of the arrests of civilians including political figures are being carried out by plainclothes police personnel without any warrants or summons, defying laws of the land. In some instances of robbery, ransom-taking and abductions police personnel and members of RAB on duty were implicated, arrested and sent to jails.
"Arrest without warrant is a common practice although the police must follow the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as the High Court directives in this regard," said Rafique-ul Huq, a senior Supreme Court lawyer. Mr. Huq further said, "We are now living in a society where everyone fears for his life, where anyone could be abducted or become victim of forced disappearance." Police authorities have however recently advised their personnel not to conduct operations without uniform. But, it has been too late to save many victims.
The latest incident that sent chills down the spines of many in Bangladesh happened a few days back with the seven decomposed bodies found floating in the river Sitalakhya and a ditch in Naryanganj. They were abducted and murdered. Lawmen failed to find any clues behind the gruesome murders. Observers believe the incidents of such abductions and murders are repeating mainly because powerful quarters were sheltering the perpetrators.
Some topnotch politicians in the government, including the prime minister, have accused the BNP of plotting the secret killings and clandestine attacks. Meanwhile, three RAB officials were dismissed from their services for their alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of seven people including Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam. Of course, those who were the main accused are still at large.
Couldn't our leaders be a little more patient before the probe was over?
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