What’s going on?

The AL must be happy that the BNP has been so effectively enfeebled but shouldn't it worry that the law and order situation is so stretched? That it's spilling over from normal security concerns to questions of the ability of the existing security governance?  But though killings and murders are happening regularly, the recent murders over the last one year have been impacting the public space and triggering protests. One is not able to comment much about the killings arising out of internal conflicts within the party in power or the RAB police encounters, but it's the public killings that are costing images. In this Facebook age, nothing is a secret and resentment and protests quickly spread. Mass media is no longer the only source of information and in Bangladesh, where censorship in some degree still applies, social media has rapidly filled the gap, no matter how well. But does it matter anymore if we are unhappy? Is Tonu a case of murder or an indicator of swelling resentment that explodes and dies from time to time?

Tonu murder case is the most disturbing murder-rape case we have seen in a  long time but nothing compares with what the public thinks is the cause for applying the delay tactics by the authorities. bdnews24 ran a poll which gave the results below.

Government must clear the air?

Apr 6, 2016 8:32 AM

Sammilita Sangskritik Jote President Golam Kuddus feels the government's silence over Sohagi Jahan Tonu's murder is causing confusion. He says the Home Minister or the IGP should appear before the media with investigation updates. Do you agree with him?

• Yes – 83%

• No – 17%

This is the most definitive statement of what the public thinks is happening. Most people think that the civilian government is protecting the reputation of the cantonment. One remembers that the PM had said that the government "couldn't protect the bedroom" but the cantonment is not a bedroom but supposedly the most secure place in the country. Tonu's body didn't arrive at that place with marks of violence on her out of thin air. Ignoring the protests including by Gana Jagoran Mancha and other youth organizations is very much possible, but what will the authorities do with the resentment that is rapidly brewing in the public mind?  Meanwhile, in an unusual break away position, Gono Jagoron Mancha has accused that the Nazim murder case was a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from the Tonu murder case.

It's not being politically successful if anyone is publicly  perceived as being on the side of the rapist-killers. And it's even worse to be considered by the same group as being so incompetent that it can't even protect people in the most secure space, the cantonment. Just as the BB bank heist was damaging not only because money was lost but also because the central bank seemed to be run by people who are clueless about internet security in a cyber age, so is the failure to present the guilty in the Tonu case before the public. No government law enforcement regime should look like it's unable to arrest the murderer of a case which has gone so public.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court called for applying new legal strategies in such cases. The response to the bdnews24 polls said this.

New strategy in Tonu murder probe?

Apr 3, 2016 8:45 AM

Chief Justice SK Sinha thinks that, to investigate sensational cases like the murder of Comilla college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu, the authorities should mull a new strategy instead of applying the laws passed in 1898. Do you share the same view?

• Yes – 93%

• No – 7%

But one thinks that it's not just the issue of applying a law passed in 1898 that needs addressing but also the attitude towards public accountability and transparency. The public suspicion is that the killers of Tonu may be in the cantonment itself, which is why there is no progress in the case. It's leading to loss of confidence in both the civil and military bureaucracy.

The "dribble" approach is not working either. It has been said that several members of the armed forces have been interviewed which also pointed out that no officer was on that list.  What sort of conclusion does it look like has the pubic made from such a police statement?

In an independent country, we should be able to do better. Such delaying tactics are very counterproductive because now that the people are rightly or wrongly convinced about the identity of the criminal(s) what will a prolonged investigation achieve? The post-mortem result that no rape was committed has made the case worse and now people are thinking what no publicly elected government would want to hear. Sadly, this was wholly unnecessary.

Meanwhile, at Banshkhali the local MP has blamed the BNP for the killing of protesters. This may have worked a few months before, but not anymore. Nobody thinks the BNP is capable of much and are hardly worth using as a blame party. As it is, Rampal plant in Sundarbans has made the situation very charged and selling Banskhali as a BNP conspiracy will not work much now. No matter how political it is, the Homestead Owners Committee represents public sentiments and anxiety about losing their homestead. Taking homesteads for private power plants will not work as an argument in a largely impoverished land squeezed country.  Plus, charging thousands of people with all sorts of crime is not going to go down well. And since the owner of the energy factory is a newly arrived AL loyalist super wealthy, connections will be made which will carry a political tone.  Was this needed ?

It's true that the BNP is almost gone, which is fine. But the feeling in some quarters is that the public is gone too. The public is here and the authorities need to take them into account. It's no longer a political party issue but a public one. And that is why, the reaction to the latest murder of the blogger by supposedly Islamic militants is going to raise more questions about all the murders and not just the latest attack. After all, if the bed room, the sitting room, the public street, and the cantonment are all beyond the capacity of the law enforcement regime to protect, what exactly can they protect?