Failure to curb land grabbing, extortion ominous sign for ruling party: TIB
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed its deep concern and outrage over looting and grabbing of the property of Radda MCH-FP health centre and the attack on the office of content creator Salman Muqtadir, and a bloody clash among local BNP activists in Kishoreganj over the possessing of a water body.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the organisation said the failure to control land grabbing and extortion across the country was not an isolated matter but an ominous sign for the government and the ruling party. TIB called for impartial investigations into the incidents, exemplary punishment for those responsible, and an immediate campaign of self-correction within the party.
In the statement, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the destruction of a charitable organisation that had provided healthcare to poor and vulnerable mothers and children for half a century, allegedly under the patronage of a reserved-seat member of parliament and in the presence of police, had set a deeply concerning example for the ruling party.
He said such actions by activists of the party that came to power through the mandate of the people in a historic election were sending a negative message to the public, particularly because the arbitrary conduct of the previous authoritarian government remained fresh in people's minds.
He observed that since the change of power in August 2024, widespread allegations had emerged across the country that a section of BNP activists, claiming to be among the beneficiaries of the political change, had taken control of various sectors, including bus terminals, footpaths, water bodies, sand quarries, cable and internet businesses, and had become involved in extortion.
This unhealthy competition and internal sabotage have in many cases taken the form of blatant violence, he said.
When a government minister described extortion as a transaction based on compromise, and no action was taken by the government, such misconduct became normalised, he added.
“If the ruling party does not immediately take strict self-corrective measures to uphold its electoral pledge to fight corruption, it may lose the ability to control the situation in the future,” he said.
TIB said that although organisational measures such as expulsion had been taken at the party level in some cases, law enforcement agencies had been unable to take strong preventive legal action because of direct or indirect influence from the ruling party.
As a result, a culture of irregularities and impunity is being re-established in the country, for which the government will have to bear multifaceted responsibility, it said.
The TIB chief therefore strongly called for proper investigations into every incident without delay and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Political observations, along with other programmes organised under the chairmanship of Daudkandi municipal BNP's former convenor Nur Mohammad Selim and moderated by senior joint convenor Peter Chowdhury, also make clear that effective measures are necessary to prevent the abuse of power.
