Law and order before elections

The law enforcement agencies will be launching, after the expected announcement of the election schedule, a drive to nab criminals and seize illegal arms. This drive will, according to last Wednesday's disclosure by the Inspector General of Police in Dhaka, be purported to helping create the maximum of tranquil conditions in the country before the holding of the national elections. This disclosure is obviously intended to send a signal to all potential lawbreakers about the dragnet to be applied against them -- imminently -- for the purpose of the smoothest holding of the election. There can be no questioning of either the timing or the appropriateness of the move. Gangsters on earlier such occasion, were not much inactive and did seek to make their hay by exploiting the events. They made all attempts to flex muscle and incite violence with payoff from the candidates or their supporters. Will the law-enforcers succeed to put such gangsters to a disadvantage this time? Or, will the gangsters be helped from advanced knowledge of the drive against them? The law enforcers must do every possible thing to nab the gangsters to help create a congenial environment for holding of free and fair national elections. And all concerned would agree that there is no alternative to such elections for facilitating an early return to a representative government.
It was found in the past many times that declaration of dates or even approximate dates, warned off the targets of such a drive and they went into hiding and avoided detection and arrests. Therefore, the element of surprise and innovative tactics can lead to greater success than a stereotype move with more symbolism than substance. The law enforcement bodies will have to be wary about these hard facts and devise their plan accordingly. If they plan their operations with these considerations, then greater positive results are likely. Media reports suggested that a considerable number of identified, hardened criminals who left the country for neighbouring India after the change of government in January, 2007, are inclined to return home with a view to lending their mercenary services to candidates and the parties during the election. Therefore, the greatest vigil will have to be mounted on the borders to net them as they make an attempt to cross over.
The best results are usually obtained when the law enforcers work in close harmony with the people and get the latter's unstinted cooperation behind their efforts. Keeping this knowledge in view, police stations in each election constituency should go to work at the soonest to build up a nucleus consisting of locally knowledgeable persons and give every encouragement, protection and support to them to help them identify members of gangs already existing in the areas or who would be arriving there coinciding with the nearing of the general elections that are otherwise scheduled for December 18. The inviting of such people's participation in law enforcement can work very well indeed if the same is done sincerely raising their confidence.
Usually, before elections in the past, a tradition was noted of asking even owners of licensed firearms to deposit the same with police stations and offices of district commissioners (DCs). But this move was in many cases found to be a source of harassment for their very largely law abiding owners, apart from damage caused to these weapons from improper maintenance under deposition. People with licences can be counted in most cases to be responsible persons. And action can be taken anytime against those who are not observing scrupulously the related legal requirements for keeping firearms in their possession. Instead of fruitlessly targeting all such firearm owners, the challenge for the law enforcement bodies really is laying their hands on the hundreds of thousands of unlicenced or illegal arms which are in the possession of the underworld. Law enforcement bodies should rationally go after mainly such unauthorised arms used by the gangs.