United, they now choose to fight

They were repeatedly tortured by crime rings. They sought protection from police but their cries fell on deaf ears every time. The state did not punish the culprits; neither did it do anything to make them feel safe.Having lost faith in the law enforcement agencies, the people in the capital's Bhashantek slum now have taken up the matter into their own hands.They have teamed up to form a vigilante force -- Lathi-Banshi Bahini (Stick-Whistle Force) -- to guard the area at night.Equipped with sticks, flashlights and whistles, they split in eight to nine groups, each consisting 25 to 30 men, and patrol the 40-acre area from dusk to dawn to prevent criminal activities.

HOW IT BEGAN

The move came following two grisly incidents this year.In the first, a gang led by local thug Mamun forced nine members of a family in a room, including six women, undressed them all and assaulted them for about 15 hours on February 11. Two other male members of the family were beaten up outside the room.One of the women was pregnant. The child she later gave birth to lived only four months. It all happened for six tolas of gold that too was alleged to have been stolen by a member of the family.

A case was filed accusing Mamun and his accomplices. But police never arrested him though he allegedly was moving about in broad daylight under the nose of the law enforcers.Then on October 10, local youth Nasir Hossain was killed allegedly by Mamun and his cohorts for protesting verbal abuse of his cousin by some gang members.Local police faced widespread criticisms following the incidents.A day after Nasir's death, Dhaka Metropolitan Police suspended all the 19 personnel of Pashchim Bhashantek Police Outpost following allegations that they had been in collusion with the local goons. Both the officers-in-charge of Bhashantek Police Station were withdrawn.But by then, the slum dwellers realised that they would have to do something for their own safety.On October 14, they formed the night patrol teams.

HOW IT WORKS

According to locals, around 10,000 people live in nearly 4,000 shanties in Bahshantek divided into three zones.The physically fit males of the families voluntarily sign up for the patrol teams and a person has to join the patrolling teams every third night."Whenever the members of a group find something suspicious, they blow whistle and inform other groups over the phone. Then someone makes an announcement through the loudspeaker in the mosque and seek others' help," said Farid Chairman, a community elder.The Lathi-Banshi Bahini has already caught a drug peddler and seized around 100 bottles of Phensedyl. They also apprehended a couple of thieves and are hopeful to oust the drug rackets from the slum forever, he added.Locals provide the volunteer guards with food, said Farid, who has been living in the slum for more than 25 years.

"Although small scale crimes were not uncommon in the slum, these crossed the limit in recent months largely due to police inaction."Before the formation of Lathi-Banshi Bahini, police would pay little attention to our complaints, but now they are praising the initiative," Farid added.Police admitted the locals were doing better than the law enforcers in checking crimes."The situation in the slum has improved since the locals initiated the night patrols," said Abdul Kalam Azad, officer-in-charge of Bhashantek Police Station."The alleys inside the slum are like mazes. It's hard for us to track down criminals hiding somewhere along those mazes. But the dwellers know it all too well," he said.Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmud Khandker could not be reached for their comments on this as they were abroad.

SLUM DANGEROUS

The slum area is a safe haven for drug peddlers, and six to seven drug rackets including the one run by Mamun operate there, Nasir's brother Mosharraf Hossain told these correspondents during their visit to the slum recently.They sell all kinds of drugs, including yaba and Phensedyl, and would go any length to run their business, he said."They even force school-going children to sell drugs. If a child refuses to obey their orders they would beat him and his family members, and sometimes would harass young girls in the family," he added.The truth behind this was found in what 45-year-old Kashem Ali, father of two sons aged 14 and 11, said."Around a month back, I found out that my sons were involved in drug peddling. They were working for a gang led by Salam. I immediately sent the children to my village home in Noakhali."Enraged by this, Salam's gang attacked my house and vandalised it," Kashem said while patrolling the area with his group on Sunday night.He also narrated the horror story of how his sons were brought into this business."At first, my sons refused to join Salam's gang. Then Salam's men tied them in sacks and dipped them in a small pond full of catfish inside the slum area. The crooks continued to torture my sons until they agreed," said Kashem with tearful eyes.

A 25-year-old resident of the slum said three days before the Eid-ul-Azha, Mamun summoned him through his cohort Kana Alam. After taking him to a nearby open place early in the morning, Mamun and Alam forcefully handed him two firearms and then took photos on a cell phone.Then they threatened him to circulate the photos on the internet if he did not join their gang."I refused to yield to their threats. I would rather disclose the truth if I am arrested," said the courageous youth, who got married barely seven months back and now is dreaming of happy days ahead, to The Daily Star.Nothing unpleasant happened to him in the aftermaths as the night patrol began soon after the Eid, keeping the thugs away. He now has joined the guards.There's no way, however, to think that the crime rings sat idle after the community vigilance began.Asma Begum of the slum said five men of Salam's group demanded Tk 50,000 in extortion from them on October 25 during the daytime when there's no patrol team at work.When her husband, who lives on tutoring children inside the slum, told them of his incapability, the group locked him with his two children inside the house.

"They then asked me to arrange the money. I went to Farid Chairman and sought his help. Some 20 to 25 neighbours then chased them away and rescued my family," Asma told The Daily Star.Apart from drug peddling and extortion, the goons also control the gangs of petty thieves and run the businesses of providing illegal connections of electricity and water supply to the shanties there, locals alleged."You would not be able to sleep in peace here. You would wake up with the sound of gunfire almost every morning," said Moktar Hossain, a grocer in his late 30s, who voluntarily joined the vigilance team, referring to the pre-patrol time."We sought police help every time a crime was committed here. But police did very little, if anything at all. Now we want peace here," said Moktar.

AFFECTED BUT HAPPY

The males of the families mainly earn their living by working as rickshaw pullers, day labourers, construction workers, waiters at restaurants and shopkeepers.If they stay up all night for guarding the slum, they cannot go to work the following day, meaning no income for the day."If I guard the area on one night, I cannot pull my rickshaw the next day. Eventually, I lose Tk 300-350 a day," said Abdul Alim, 55, while walking down the narrow alleys inside the slum area on Sunday night."Nevertheless, I am happy. At least, my family can sleep peacefully at night," he said with a smile on his tired face.