Doing business without fear

Businesses are seemingly in for yet another trouble after the recent political turmoil. Terrorists and extortionists, as many recent events suggest, are trying to go on a rampage. What is really dangerous is that some errant and misguided elements in the law-enforcement agencies have allegedly emerged, of late, in creating terror among members of the business community. Mostly middle and small businessmen and traders are thus reportedly falling prey to their nefarious designs.      

Dropping of an apparently abducted Chittagong jewellery trader alive on a road in Comilla after being held captive for nearly a week has sent jitters to members of the business community. He was allegedly taken to a microbus at gunpoint by a group of miscreants posing themselves as so-called law enforcers. He was reportedly tortured in captivity inhumanly. Filing of a case against a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officer and a police informer in a court by the trader for allegedly snatching 80 'bhori' gold in Dhaka, according to reports in the media, is instrumental in his kidnapping in the port city. However, a full picture of what happened to him or why it occurred to him, is yet not available.

In another development, a so-called nephew of a lawmaker from one of the constituencies in Sirajganj was carrying a 'licensed' shotgun while trying to enter the office premises of Roads and Highways Department. Possibly his intention, as the reports said, was to snatch tender documents or extort tolls.

Even the RAB itself arrested on February 15 a police officer and three of his cohorts in Savar for being involved in criminal activities.

The RAB certainly deserves kudos for doing its job diligently in most cases. All law-abiding citizens do acknowledge their services. But they also sometimes face difficulties.

Since the victims are also involved in criminal activities, they don't dare to inform the law-enforcement agencies about such incidents or seek help, according to Habibur Rahman, director of RAB media wing. "We suspect that such criminal gangs comprising former law enforcers are also active in other areas in the country," Habib added.

The RAB on February 19 arrested Faziqul Islam, assistant sub-inspector at Savar Model Police Station, and his three accomplices while they were abducting a smuggler, who was illegally carrying US dollars, in Savar.

"ASI Faziqul led the operation for abduction using his pistol, ammunition and hand-cuff while he was off-duty," the RAB official said at a press briefing at its headquarters in the capital.

The other three gang members are Rezaul Haq, 40, a former army soldier, Sujan Sheikh, 25, a police informer, and Miran Khan, 35, a local criminal.

The RAB seized an illegal firearm, two sharp weapons, two pairs of handcuffs, a piece of iron rod and a motorbike from the members of the gang.

All the afore-mentioned three incidents are separate but taken together these pose a serious threat to businesses across the country. Businessmen and traders who are particularly dealing with cash money, become, thus, easy prey to extortionists' tactics.

The rise in incidents of extortion, mugging and other sorts of crimes, as reported in newspapers and which also go unreported, speaks of deterioration in the law and order situation in all major business centres. This has worried and disturbed the members of the business community greatly and prompted them to ask the law enforcers to deal with the law breakers firmly. But no indication of any worthwhile improvement in the situation is visible yet.

"We want security of businessmen", said the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Shahjahan Khan last Tuesday.

According to media reports, industrialists and businessmen are finding it difficult to sit in their offices due to frequent visits there by toll collectors and telephone calls of terrors asking for tolls. Some of them are learnt to have stopped attending offices nowadays.

Besides, incidents of crimes, including mugging, theft, robbery, abduction and murder, have recorded a spurt in the recent days as police personnel had to be kept busy to fend off political demonstrations and acts of violence. Like the owners of transports and the leaders of the transport workers, the owners of garment factories have also sought government protection from extortionists and trouble-mongers who are out to destabilise the country's vital garment sector.

As shown by the TIB Corruption Database, law-enforcement is one of the most corrupt government agencies. An earlier survey by TIB found that 97 per cent of those questioned had little or no confidence in the integrity of the concerned personnel.

It said, a segment of the police runs one of the largest networks of extortion in the country. Vehicles transporting goods must pay tolls to traffic police to move from one police station to another without harassment. Such tolls depend on the type of vehicles. The practice is reported to be widespread among the police all over the country - the most lucrative routes are along the Chittagong-Dhaka highway, due to the arrival of goods at the port.

The tolls increase transportation costs for every type of business from the smallest to the largest.

The TI household survey of corruption has also examined Bangladeshi's experience with the police. Of the total respondents, 84 per cent who had interaction with the police reported some sort of corruption. Of those who experienced corruption, 96 per cent had paid bribes for the release of goods seized illegally. Bribes are also paid to file a complaint by 88 per cent of the respondents who had experienced corruption. The average bribe reported in the survey was Tk 9,675.

Different chambers in the past urged the law-enforcement agencies to ensure neutrality in performing their duties so that the businesspeople can do business smoothly and without any worries. The chamber leaders have requested the government to set up the close circuit television (CCTV) camera at strategic points and strengthen highway patrol to check snatching and robbery on the highways.

Mentioning that some 30 million people are still not productively employed in the country, the chamber leaders said that only the private sector could create employment for such a huge number of unemployed people -- open and disguised ones.

Current and future investments -- both domestic and foreign -- depend on political stability and improved law and order. The worries expressed by leading members of the business community about the wrongs committed by a section of law-enforcement personnel have also long been the concern of the general public. The business community leaders have unambiguously noted the involvement of a section of law enforcers in crimes, thus giving rise to issues of a nexus that can only undermine law and order. There are some police stations which allegedly link up with criminal gangs regularly commandeering goods from covered vans and trucks on long haul routes, especially on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

It's time the political leadership holding the reins of power intervened to ensure safety and security to the members of the business community and to remove their sense of fear, while carrying out their day-to-day operations. Otherwise, businesses will not flourish. And if it does not, the economy, which suffered immeasurably during the period of the recent political turmoil, will again sink to a new low in the days ahead.

arjayster@gmail.com