Drug Abuse and Teenage Gangs Must Be Tackled Firmly

Reports indicate that theft, robbery and mugging are increasing in the country. Social problems such as teenage gangs and drug addiction, once considered mainly urban problems, have now spread across the country, including rural areas. This is a matter of grave concern for the state and society.

These social problems did not emerge suddenly. Over decades, the absence of the rule of law, fascist misrule and a culture of impunity have contributed to the present situation. When protectors assume the role of predators, and politicians, lawmakers and law enforcement personnel violate the law and become involved in rampant corruption and criminal activities, public safety is severely undermined. This situation has emerged through widespread corruption and the criminalisation of politics.

A report published in newspapers yesterday said that 386 teenage gangs involving 4,000 members have been identified across the country. Regardless of the number of teenage gangs cited by law enforcement sources in the report, their actual number and the scale of similar social crises appear to be much higher. Although most hotspots of teenage gangs and drugs have reportedly been identified, no effective measures to prevent them are visible. The inactivity of law enforcement agencies and local administration has essentially allowed problems such as drug addiction and teenage gangs to spread increasingly. With few examples of strict punishment against most drug dealers and criminals, the situation has now become difficult to control.

After the July uprising, a section of law enforcement personnel left their workplaces and effectively went into hiding. The chain of command within the forces broke down. Taking advantage of this situation, drug smuggling and drug trading increased. In various parts of the country, people took the law into their own hands and became involved in a form of mob culture.

As part of a deep conspiracy to destabilise and render the interim government ineffective, people from different professions took to the streets with various demands. The government came under considerable pressure to deal with movements and provocative activities by hundreds of political and non-political organisations. Professional criminals, drug dealers and teenage gang members took advantage of the situation.

After dealing with these challenges, an elected government was established through a free and impartial national election. Although a democratic environment has returned, no visible improvement in public safety and the law-and-order situation can be seen.

Even during the previous Awami League government, reports were published every year of departmental action against thousands of police personnel due to growing criminal tendencies among law enforcement members. However, most of those measures amounted to lenient punishment for serious offences. When even offences carrying the highest punishment are dealt with only through reprimands, transfers or temporary withdrawal of benefits, criminal elements within law enforcement become more reckless and do not hesitate to establish links with professional criminals or act as their accomplices.

Although people’s expectations for change have been strong amid the changed political reality, no visible reflection of that change can be seen in practice. At the same time, associates of the absconding fascists are attempting to exploit the deteriorating law-and-order situation for their own purposes.

Social and political criminal tendencies such as drug abuse and teenage gangs essentially originate from a culture of impunity. From time to time, the government and law enforcement agencies issue strong warnings against these groups, but little effective action is being taken.

The operations of the Department of Narcotics Control are effectively little more than symbolic. Instead of focusing on the smuggling of heroin, phensedyl, yaba and other conventional and unconventional drugs and arresting major drug traffickers, they appear more interested in raiding licensed bars in cities and making headlines.

The moral decline and waywardness of teenagers and young people have become more pronounced through the political criminalisation of previous periods and the removal of Islamic education and values from the education curriculum. Added to this are the easy availability of drugs and various forms of smartphone addiction, including online gambling and pornography.

The young people of a country who can risk their lives to resist a powerful fascist authoritarian regime require proper attention to the social, political and psychological causes behind a section of the youth increasingly becoming drug-dependent, morally degraded and involved in crime. Effective measures must be taken against these causes.

Alongside controlling cybercrime, access to websites and apps that push children and teenagers toward addiction and deviant behaviour must be blocked. In many developed countries, smartphones are not readily available to children and teenagers. There must be monitoring and corrective initiatives for adolescents before they become involved with teenage gangs.

Parents cannot avoid their responsibilities in this regard. The country’s young people are its main strength and resource. No development plan can succeed if they are pushed toward moral degradation, frustration, crime and drug addiction.

Recently, Ishayat Shahriar Opratim, 13, the teenage son of a teacher at Comilla University, was brutally killed by a teenage gang. The expensive mobile phone possessed by the teenage son of the Bangla department professor, who holds a doctorate degree, had made him a target of the criminal group.

Parents and guardians must rethink their approach to their children’s future. At the same time, the government must reach an effective decision on this issue. Sustainable initiatives to prevent social degradation and juvenile crime must be undertaken by involving education researchers, psychologists, social, political and religious leaders, education curriculum developers, crime experts and relevant law enforcement officials.