Editorial
Frightening revelation?
The government owes it to the people to hold a judicial inquiry
TThe free exchange of allegations between SA Khaleque, the ruling party MP from Mirpur and Salahuddin Ahmed, the state minister for communications, on the floor of the House Saturday should have left the government shell-shocked; but in public eye a concern for transparency might have been willy-nilly addressed. The BNP lawmaker accused the state minister of taking a bribe of Tk 25,00,000 in lieu of granting permission to Dipzol for setting up a CNG station, purportedly, on his land. He added something else to the accusation by pronouncing a poser that if 'hooligans or extortionists' were pampered like that how could the law and order situation improve? To that, rising on a point of personal explanation, the minister levelled a counter-allegation against the ruling party MP calling him a land grabber of Mirpur-Gabtali area. It may be mentioned here that only recently newspapers reported land-grabbing and forcible eviction from ancestral lands by the BNP MP from Mirpur. There is no doubt the government felt embarrassed over this unexpected turn of events with two of its own MPs being locked not in a debate but an extremely unsavoury diatribe. This has had to do with the image of the government, so that there might be attempts by some party insiders to persuade the two ruling partymen to withdraw from the warpath lest it affected the party reputation anymore. But we believe this approach, if at all taken, may only serve the party but not the interest of the people. The charges and countercharges, once made against each other, whatever be the trigger, on the floor of the House, are public property and knowledge now. These cannot be swept under the carpet. The government owes it to the public to pursue the allegations, order an inquest and bring out the truths. The 'embarrassment' should not be allowed to get the better of the government's best administrative judgement. It would also be impolitic on the part of the government if it happened the other way round. So, we demand a full-fledged judicial inquiry into the whole matter.
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