It is true that the government is currently in a desperate bid to haul up the JBM extremists but it is also true that the main two leaders Bangla Bhai and Shayekh Abdur Rahman are yet to be captured. On them many weird speculations are is circulation including the ones that these two are in safe custody and shelter of some powerful men of the 4-party alliance. Some men in the 2nd and 3rd line of command have been arrested and are being interrogated but until and unless the main two leaders are intercepted lives of the people shall continue to be in total jeopardy. And curiously enough the mainstream opposition Awami League is being held responsible for JMB atrocities to debase the image of the government (!)

Parallel to the bomb blasts across the country the present government has been caught off-foot by Transparency International imputing Bangladesh with the thorny crown of the most corrupt country in the world for the fifth time in succession. Yet the terrible obsession that has very palpably laid an awful seize on the present government is all due to the informal bombing operations of JMB. Though at the present moment, there has been a partial lull in the frequency of the bomb blasts, attributed to a number of arrests of the lower ranks, the overall organisational strength continues to be simply buggling. News are pouring in on the financial support JMB has been receiving from some Middle Eastern countries and a few other unknown sources. Here, the ominous aspect of money laundering invariably takes the upper hand. Yet the mischievous transactions taking place surreptitiously towards JMB funding remain unearthed. Hence, among the numerous interventional options the government has already obtained legal sanctions for telephone bugging obviously to spot out the major partners in and out of the country. An ordinance in this regard is already in place.

The ordinance for legalising telephone bugging has provoked adverse reaction among different sections of the civil society and political parties in the opposition besides eminent personalities in legal profession, intellectuals etc. It is said to have been promulgated to contain unfettered activities of extremist militants and to prevent suicide bombers. Almost all the elite citizens have expressed their fear and apprehension about wrongful application of the ordinance. And in the context and experience of Bangladesh such apprehensions may not prove to be unfounded eventually. The celebrities have also described the provisions in the ordinance as an attempt at infringing upon the fundamental rights of the people, opposed to freedom of expression and direct intervention or meddling in private life of the citizens. In their considered opinion the ordinance shall have afforded the government enough power to transgress into lives of individual citizens.

As a matter of fact, the whole process of going for legal provisions in support of telephone bugging was done all in haste. The 'Tele Communication Act-2001' was amended hurriedly by the cabinet to proclaim the ordinance through the president. It was done in such a manner as the Parliament was not in session. In support of such an abrupt action the aspect of terrorist activities (of JMB) was taken for a pretext. It was contended that the militants had been pursing terrorist activities using mobile telephones freely. In the amended law (as per ordinance) the Home Ministry has been empowered to bug telephone of any one at any time. Similar provisions, claimed to have been in vogue in many other countries, have been alluded to, for affording justification to GOB proceedings in this case.

Yet such a flack empowerment of the Home Ministry continues to be unacceptable with the people at large. From past experience there persists a genuine fear that the amended law may be misused in cases of the leaders of the opposition political parties, chiefly Awami League. Such bugging, on the one hand will interfere with the normal process of communication between opposition leaders and, on the other hand, it will afford the present government a surreptitious opportunity to pre-empt opposition political strategies to their own advantage. In the Bangladesh context there is no safe ground to reassure any one against the inappropriate use of the amended law.

In another statement on January 04, 2006 in a discussion meet the law minister Moudud Ahmed reaffirmed introduction of yet another law providing more stem measures against militant activities in the country. We are yet to see how much appropriately such a new law is used in practice.

Till now the telephone bugging ordinance is considered to have been a sinister attempt at strangulating liberties of the civilians since there is no honest assurance from any quarter of the government on its one hundred per cent appropriate use without prejudice. In this connection we may refer to similar provisions in US laws but those have some positive and redeeming features. They are not to be freely applied in any case without prior approval of the court. A recent news tells about infringement of the provision of court's approval by President Bush himself. Such violation has provoked tremendous protest and row across the United States of America. In Bangladesh, on the country, the movement in favour of civil rights and personal freedom is yet to gain the desired momentum to pressurise the government. Still then, it shall be entirely the responsibility of the government to ensure that the provisions of the new ordinance are not abused in any case under any circumstance.

Kazi Alauddin Ahmed is a management consultant.