Torching land offices

WE cannot but deplore in the strongest terms the senseless acts of vandalism that have plagued the country in the last two months, the latest victim of which, it seems, has become the land record offices across a big swathe of the country. A string of such incidents has been reported in the last three weeks where such establishments have been vandalized and the records burned. 

Even though these dastardly acts of sabotage have not led to any loss of life, for the criminals chose the dead of night for perpetrating such senseless acts, there is no denying that the fallout of such attacks will have a huge ramification on the citizens' property ownership. Bangladesh's land offices are hotbeds for corruption as it is, and, to make matters even more grievous, only 10 percent of the data is digitalized. It gives us reason to believe that a vested quarter is trying to take advantage of the present political unrest and is deliberately targeting such government establishments to grab from the poor whatever little pieces of land that they have.  

We know that every crime has a reporter, and no information is unattainable. In this context, it is crucial that the law enforcers use human intelligence. It is indeed bereft of any logic that they have not been able to nab the criminals for such subversive acts. Chances remain high that if these incidents are not stopped, they might develop into an insidious trend of attacking government record offices and will open new avenues for land grabbing.