Editorial
Extortion the big issue
Nothing short of a strong political will can solve it
The issue of extortion has come in the news again, and this time through the mouth of another minister. The commerce minister must be complimented for not only acknowledging the existence of one of the deadliest cancers in the transport sector which is having a severe effect on our economy but unhesitatingly making public his views on the matter also.
At a seminar on farm produce exports organised by Bangladesh Agro-based Product Producers and Merchants Association the minister came out with what no one except for those who are involved in extortion will disagree. He said that extortion at different places and under different names was on and it was causing prices of essential commodities to go up. And he delivered the coup de main on the state of politics by saying that it was the big political parties that were encouraging extortion in their own interest. Needless to say, many of the political activists depend entirely on extortion for their livelihood.
The commerce minister's comments are in sharp contrast to the demand of the shipping minister and some of his fellow transport-sector leaders to the parliamentary sub-committee recently that in order to stop corruption in the transport sector extortion in that sector be made legal. The fact is that it is already considered a legal and rightful activity by the transport workers.
We had commented on the remarks of the shipping minister in this very column and deem it unnecessary to repeat those. What, however, we want to flag here is the need for the government to come out of the clutch of a nefarious group whose unbridled regime of extortion is adding to the plight of the majority of the people of the country who are finding it hard to cope with the irrational increase in the prices of daily commodities.
We also suggest the government bring to bear all its power to curb the phenomenon, and if need be enact new laws to address the malaise. However, laws notwithstanding, we can get rid of extortion, in this and other sectors, only when the political parties stop patronizing these groups.
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