Editorial
Police firing in Manikganj
It calls for a through investigation
During the countrywide hartal enforced by eight Islamist parties on Sunday four people were killed at in police firing at Singair upazila in Manikganj.
The police said they resorted to some 200 rounds of shots along with tearsgassing and baton-charging as the situation went out of control. Islamist parties as well as the opposition BNP claim that among the dead were their members, while locals said none of them belonged to any party. The villagers joined the pro-hartal demonstrators drawn by incendiary rumours spread from over
microphones.
What is further appalling is that, as a prominent Bengali daily reported, in one instance police allegedly fired at point-blank range. All this raises serious concerns about what really happened on the spot and what prompted the villagers to join pro-hartal activists during the clash and why the police lost control over the
situation.
It seems a big smokescreen has been created over the entire incident with the Islamist parties, especially, Jamaat-e-Islami at the centre.
We have already condemned Jamaat-e-Islami's aggressive posture during the recent weeks as well as in connection with Friday's violence.
We have also been appreciative of the police's handling the violence with equanimity in some instances.
But what did happen at Singair on that fateful day that made the police resort to firing needs to be gone into.
It is important bear in mind that the gun the law-enforcing agencies carry is to ensure people's security and not to be trained on them.
The Manikganj incident has raised a lot of questions that we want to see adequately addressed. It demands a thorough investigation to unravel the truth and bring the culprits to justice.
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