Party tag used as license for illegal acts?

We want to alert the prime minister to the very acts of gross imprudence committed in her party's name by party cadres over the last few days. When such acts are done using the ruling party tag, law enforcers and other authorities are naturally reluctant to intervene.

Law enforcers themselves are, in fact, quite frequently at the receiving end of their hooliganism. The attack on police by Bangladesh Chhatra League activists when stopped from riding a motorcycle with three on board, injuring six law enforcers recently is the latest example of that. Worse still, they resorted to exploding cocktails even, simply for being stopped from doing something illegal. This, of course, is nothing new. BCL men recently injured two policemen and the Chittagong University proctor on August 11 when stopped from stabbing a fellow student. 

Such arrogance was again on display in Joypurhat where the Jubo Mahila Leage and the Awami League occupied government land to set up offices. A similar incident of illegal occupation happened in Sadullapur upazila also, where two ruling party front organisations blocked the quarters of the agriculture department supervisor. And there are, of course, numerous other such examples.

But what needs to be realised is that such behaviour does nothing but create public resentment against the ruling party. In its self interest, the ruling party must take action against such hooligans. Non-action in such cases is often taken as 'licence' resulting in more people joining in on such activities. We cannot over-stress the fact that it is high time for the ruling party to act.