Don't practice what you preach

I've always had the impression that Bengalis were a nation of hypocrites. Harsh? Perhaps - but a fair analysis. Currently everyone thinks that the 'Jouto Bahini' or joint forces are carrying out the anti corruption drive. In reality this so called Jouto Bahini is actually just the Army officers and their henchmen (soldiers). Since 1/11 the lemmings have come out of their barracks and occupied civilian premises.

As an example in Sylhet they have occupied the football stadium. From there they carry out their so called anti corruption drive. Don't get me wrong they have caught a lot of the 'bad guys' such as the thieving bastard of a Mayor of Sylhet - 'Kamran' etc. In fact I'd say nearly 80% of the stuff under the Army has been good. So what's wrong? Well they are doing whatever they like with impunity. Above all they do not practice what they preach.

Now to the main reason of the blog today. Just got a confirmation about corruption by the army. You see in BD if a police officer wants to get posted to a certain location then he has to pay a bribe to the guys in charge of the postings. This usually filters into a tiny sum to the guy at the top. For example I know a police officer who paid Tk 3 lakh (approx £3k at the time) so he did not get posted somewhere else. The reason? Well he was making a tidy sum in bribes at the police station he was posted at.

So what's that got to do with the army/ jouto bahini/ lemmings you say? Well the confirmation I received is that the commanding officers who have been given charge of a district have been paying in the region of Tk50 lakh (Approx. £40k) to be posted as the guy in charge. Why would one pay so much to come out of the barracks and rule a bunch of unruly civilians? Well for a start you can take bribes off these so called unruly citizens. And with the anti-corruption drive the guys that usually take all the money off the everyday citizens is either locked up or on the run. So using the pretext of anti-corruption drive they have got rid of their competition in addition to making themselves a nice tidy sum. Hmmm more of the same please....