It is not reasonable to portray the overall law and order situation as dire by lumping together a few isolated incidents of cocktail explosions in the darkness of night or symbolic chaos created in deserted places, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said.
The country's law and order situation is fully under control, and the government is committed to ensuring an industry-friendly and investment-friendly environment at any cost, he said while speaking in parliament on a point of order on Tuesday.
The minister, while responding to Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman's claim that the situation had deteriorated, said no blueprint of collective conspiracy, internal or external, will be allowed on this soil.
He said it cannot be claimed that the overall political and order situation of the country has deteriorated based on isolated incidents such as a cocktail explosion on the roof of a car at night in the Business Faculty area of Dhaka University or arson on abandoned vehicles in deserted places.
The minister alleged that some accomplices of the "ousted fascist forces, staying inside the country and fueling from across the border," are hatching conspiracies to create instability.
The government and law enforcement agencies have thwarted their nefarious attempts and blueprints with patience and skill, he said.
"If any attempt is made through a conspiracy to create an opportunity for that fallen force to return, it will be exposed before the nation," he said adding that the law enforcement agencies would suppress any such attempt with an iron hand.
He said that for some time, various conspiracies by the fallen fascist forces have been visible to destabilize the country. Politically conscious people of the country can understand these maneuvers. The accomplices of fascism hiding inside the country are trying to become active again.
The Home Minister said it is necessary to find answers to questions about how persons who have fled abroad and taken shelter are conducting political activities from there, what the legal validity of those activities is, and who inside the country is cooperating with them.
He said a blueprint was drawn up to create instability and chaos in the garment industry, one of Bangladesh's major export and foreign exchange-earning sectors.
Money was poured in those efforts from inside and outside the country, the minister said adding that law enforcement agencies have tackled the situation with great patience.
They did not use excessive force; rather, they themselves were injured in various incidents, he noted.
He said Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia, Hemayetpur, Narayanganj, and some parts of Mymensingh are important centers of Bangladesh's garment industry.
In these areas, industrial police, regular police, BGB, and other law enforcement agencies are performing duties in coordination, he said. To keep production and export activities normal and to protect workers' employment, meetings have been held in phases with the leaders of industry owners and workers' organizations. They are cooperating with the government's initiatives, he added.
The Home Minister accused a few industry owners in those efforts of destabilizing the country along with the accomplices of the fallen regime.
However, he said, industry owners have been assured that an industry-friendly environment will be ensured. The investment environment in Bangladesh will remain fully intact, he assured.
