To Whom It May Concern,
Bangladesh has taken an incentivized step to bring criminals back to social lives. According to available sources, the concerned authorities have offered pirates, robbers and other criminals especially those who were involved with poaching and other criminal activities in Sundarban and other areas in Bangladesh to end their criminal activities and come back to social lives several times. Notably, the first offer was made to the pirates of Sundarban in 2016. Up until now, the step has brought several hundred pirates to social lives with financial and legal support, along with an amnesty from the government, in Sundarban and several other areas. This is definitely a good step taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Bangladesh.
In addition to providing anxiety-free social lives, this effort reduced criminal activities in Subdarban and other areas to a certain extent and has the potential to further reduce crimes and encourage many others to come back to normal lives in Dhaka and other areas of the country, if it is continued. But it has yet to bring the desired outcomes. Even if less, piracy, robbery and other forms of crimes are going on in Sundarban and many other places in Bangladesh because many have not yet come to social lives and the godfathers behind the recruitment of pirates have not yet been brought to justice. Consequently, according to available sources, the godfathers can recruit pirates from nearby villages or localities especially in Sundarban.
Moreover, the lives of many of those who were brought back to social lives from their uncertain criminal lives are not as good as were expected. Many are, according to available sources, struggling financially, legally and socially to re-integrate themselves into society and frustrated because of several causes including a paltriness of the government grants they have received and the burden of meeting the cost of the lawyers. Notably, many are facing legal troubles in their reintegration without the required legal assistance from the government despite its promise. Under such a context, it may not be surprising altogether if many of them are re-encouraged to go back to their earlier criminal lives or get engaged in other forms of criminal activities.
There are definitely resource-based and other limitations. Yet, to get the desired outcomes of the rehabilitative step, flaws need to be addressed. Providing legal assistance is needed to ensure that their return to social lives is quicker and many other criminals are encouraged to come back to social lives. Also, anxiety-free life as offered by the government should be continued and financial security needs to be ensured with loans or a higher amount of grants. Recently, the concerned authorities have increased the effort to other areas including Cox’s Bazar but these are scant. Since many are involved in criminal activities because of a lack of opportunities, the government can extend the effort to other areas and criminals.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
