This is not the first time that the business community are expressing their frustration and dismay over the upsurge of crimes. But what is definitely striking about their latest call for action is the sense of urgency and desperation reflected by it. For, they are chagrined at and frightened by the free fall of lawlessness demonstrated by unabated abduction of businessmen, kidnapping of school children and the increasing tyranny of extortionism, hooliganism and murder. What is cause for particular disquiet is that while everyday major offences are committed there is hardly any news about getting to the bottom of a previous crime, let alone any punishment meted out to the culprits.

Add to this what chief of the foreign investors' chamber Wali Bhuiyan had to say at a luncheon meeting on Sunday: crime is now a profitable business; there is no incentive for honest men to remain honest. He is basically referring to the criminalised atmosphere.

We have seen some highly publicised special anti-crime campaigns or drives. Remember, the Operation Clean Heart and the Joint Police-BDR special terrorist combing operation in the south-west part of the country. The clean heart operation was expensive with its huge running costs. On top, it drew a justified flak for the human rights impingement taking a toll of 43 lives. Even if these are set aside, what did it achieve in the end that could be of an enduring value? The moment they left the scene, all the vanished thugs, villains and hooligans crept back into the open in style. The criminals thrive on a diet of political patronisation. Let's recall an incident both vindicating and abjuring it. At a roundtable organised by The Daily Star, Prothom Alo and the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Mannan Bhuiyan, the BNP secretary-general and Abdul Jalil, his counterpart in the Awami League, took a common pledge to keep criminals out of their parties. Although the promise remains unfulfilled, there is powerful logic for having such bilateral understanding; both the major political parties -- BNP and Awami League -- are overwhelmed by criminals. So long as the umbilical cord between crime and politics is cut off, ridding the society of criminals will remain a day-dream. The worry goes beyond a mere concern for administration and law and order; it has acquired economic, political and image-building connotations we can only ignore at our peril. So, the nexus between crime and politics has to be broken.