Despite repeated warnings, condemnations, and assurances from political leaders and law enforcement agencies, the persistent links between political influence and crime continue to exist in Bangladesh.
Recent cases involving land grabbing, extortion, attacks, vandalism, and looting, with alleged links to activists from different political camps, are a deeply troubling reminder of this reality.
What is particularly concerning is how easily political identity can continue to overlap with criminal activity. Different parties may have vastly different ideologies and political agendas, but when political connections are used to provide protection, influence investigations, or enable criminal enterprises, the distinction becomes meaningless for ordinary citizens.
We agree with experts and civil society representatives that those directly involved as well as their patrons must be held accountable.
We have heard these demands before, however.
We have also heard repeated promises that criminals will not be protected because of their political affiliations.
Such statements are welcome, but statements alone cannot solve a problem that has persisted for years and appears capable of surviving changes in political power.
This is precisely why the current political leadership must demonstrate that this time will be different.
A change in government or political leadership should result in obvious, measurable changes in the nation's security and law-and-order situation. Citizens should not be expected to accept the same criminal networks, the same impunity, and the same abuses under a different political banner.
The government must therefore move beyond short-term arrests and disciplinary action. Investigations must identify masterminds and patrons, prosecutions must be impartial, and political parties must dismantle the structures that allow muscle power to flourish under their banners.
Bangladesh needs long-term institutional action, not another cycle of promises followed by familiar crimes. Political change must ultimately be felt in people's daily lives.
For citizens to believe that the country has truly entered a new chapter, the rule of law must become stronger, more consistent, and unmistakably independent of political influence.
