Home ministry is in an ineffective state, resignations alone will not change the picture: Akhtar Hossain
The Ministry of Home Affairs is in an ineffective state because of the deterioration in law and order and the failure to control drugs and extortion, National Citizen Party (NCP) Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain has said. Speaking on the very day State Minister Ishraq Hossain resigned, he said on Monday that merely taking steps such as a resignation to try to create a positive image for the government would not be enough — effective initiatives are needed to improve law and order.
He made the remarks while talking to journalists after exchanging Sharodiya Durga Puja greetings at Dhakeshwari Temple in the capital on Monday. Akhtar's comments came as a direct counter-position to the positive message the government side has been trying to convey around Ishraq's resignation.
Akhtar Hossain said incidents such as drugs, extortion, enforced disappearances, murders and rape are taking place in different parts of the country. Overall, the authorities responsible for eradicating drugs are in an ineffective state. Bangladesh's border is also in an unprotected state, he alleged, and various kinds of drugs are entering the country across that border.
On Ishraq, he said the weakness of the law and order situation has come to the fore through the episode in which Ishraq Hossain took to the streets brandishing a weapon while the police could do nothing. But Ishraq's resignation does not prove the government's commitment to improving law and order, he said. A question has also arisen as to whether internal BNP feuding lies behind it, he added.
The NCP member secretary said the home ministry must take effective initiatives to improve law and order. The border must be secured to stop the entry of illegal drugs. At the same time, the government must take effective steps to overcome the deterioration in law and order.
He also said law and order will not improve through an incident such as a resignation alone. The home ministry's failures must be identified and necessary action taken. Taking a few steps from the top without solving the problem at its root can look like eyewash to the public, he warned.
Referring to the resignation of a BNP woman MP in the Radda incident, Akhtar Hossain said it is still not clear whether the law was properly enforced there. Whether anyone has been arrested and necessary legal action taken is also a question, he said. In other words, even after a resignation, his doubts remain about how far the legal process has actually advanced.
In his view, although the government is trying to create a positive image through resignations, the real problem is not being solved that way. Structural failure cannot be covered up with one or two resignations — on that reasoning, he questioned the acceptability of the government's steps.
He also said the government is showing failure in various fields. That failure cannot be hidden through one or two resignation incidents. Only if the country's real crises are solved will the government's steps gain acceptance among the people.
Akhtar's remarks have widened the political debate after Ishraq's resignation. While there are attempts to present the resignation as an example of government accountability, the NCP has raised the opposite question — what action is being taken against the institutions whose failure, it is alleged, led a state minister to take to the streets himself.
As a result, the discussion is no longer centred only on Ishraq's departure. The effectiveness of the home ministry, drugs entering across the border, extortion and the overall deterioration in law and order — these questions have now come to the fore. What effective steps the government takes in response to this criticism in the coming days will determine what message this resignation episode ultimately sends to the public.
