Ministers, RAB and law
Is Khandaker R Zaman (January 19th) trying to tell us that since the US and UK have illegally invaded Iraq and killed civilians, the Bangladesh government has acquired the right to kill any alleged criminals in its custody without any trial? In that case, Zaman’s logic would be as outrageous as the abusive language (‘stupid’ and ‘corrupt poodle of the powerful’, etc) he used to describe people those who have a different opinion than his own. One can ignore the insulting words as an outburst of an ‘instant justice’ mindset.
The saner world is the world where saner people live and does not necessarily refer to any country or government. Edward Said would turn in his grave and John Pilger would send a protest note if they are included in the company of Khandaker R Zaman and the present Bangladesh government in their celebration of better law and order achieved through a programme of systematic and designed extra-judicial murder of people in custody.
The New Age editorial of January 10, the one from which I took my cue, aptly showed that so-called ‘crossfire’ killings are nothing but planned murders of alleged criminals (also some extremist political elements) by the agents of the government. The editorial ended with the following comments, ‘…civilised societies respect the concept of every individual being innocent until the contrary is proved by the law. And civilised nations are never comfortable with the spectacle of men dying in ‘cross-fire’ in the depth of the night.’
RAB agents did not fall from the sky with wings or halos above their heads (angels), they are created by the same administration — the same Prime Minister, the same Law Minister and the same (State) Minister for Home —those who also headed the —‘ …the judiciary, particularly the lower judiciary itself is corrupt to its bones and criminal justice system patronizing and protecting the rights of the criminals’ (Zaman’s description) — for the last three and a half years.
If Khandaker R Zaman, like many others, sincerely believes that long term law and order can be achieved by systematically violating the fundamentals of laws by the government agencies, then he is not only delusional, he is also singing the same tune as his declared enemy is doing in the international arena.
Bilayet Hossain
Oklahoma, USA
Look who is talking!
Whenever the Awami League calls hartal we hear the secretary general of the BNP, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, speaking his words of wisdom and telling us that hartal has lost its appeal and it should be banned by enactment of law. Seems like a very well intended and a mature idea. Bhuiyan has our support. But (and it’s a very big but), does Bhuiyan really want hartal to be banned? We are not convinced. He is only saying this because currently his party is the ruling party, and as soon as the BNP goes into opposition people like Bhuiyan will not remember a single word he is saying now. Where was Bhuiyan the last time the BNP was in opposition and was calling hartal almost every single day? That time the AL came out of its way to ban hartal and even promised that it will not use hartal again. Sadly, the AL’s good gesture wasn’t reciprocated by the BNP and as a result we now have the AL calling hartal for carrots, cabbages and cows. Take the hartal of January 8, for example. The AL said it called hartal on that day to protest the price hike. We all agree that the prices of essentials are way too high and our incompetent government is not doing as much as it could. But can the AL explain to us how shutting down the country, creating panic, violence, injuries and clashes would help bring the prices down?
If Bhuiyan is really serious about banning hartal then he should promise us (by writing to a newspaper), that the BNP has ‘unconditionally’ decided to shun politics of hartal and will never again use hartal even if the AL uses it. Now, some of you might say that this proposal, with the word ‘unconditional’ is unfair to the BNP. I agree. But it is necessary if we are to really shun hartal politics. We have seen in the past that one party says it will not use hartal but the other party doesn’t do the same and so it all goes back to square one which is exactly why we want the AL or BNP (whichever) to ban hartal without any reference to the other party. Banning of hartal should have nothing to do with the ‘other’ party. It is about the people, the damage and destruction of our country and economy, and the suffering hartal inflicts on our people. If one party promises (and keeps its promise) to ban hartal unconditionally, the other party which doesn’t do the same will be cornered. People will see them as the selfish leaders. So will the BNP really shun hartal? My answer is a 100 per cent NO. Parties that hold millions of our people hostage can’t do anything good for our people. It is not in their nature.
Azad Miah
Oldham, UK
Dynastic politics and democracy
In a monarchy, a king’s son is the crown prince and upon the death of the king the crown prince assumes the kingship. In a republic, a son or a daughter of a Head of State or Government has no such hereditary claim.
Ours is a republic and hence the offspring of the president or the prime minister have no legal claim to political power. Unfortunately, recent events in the country suggest that de facto, our country is following the footsteps of a monarchy in determining political succession. While a democracy does not preclude the sons and daughters of our Head of Government from laying a claim to political power; this claim should be made like any other citizen of the country. Using parents as a ladder and then circumventing the democratic process to land into the top job is an absolutely un-democratic concept against which we must evolve conscious response if we have the welfare of the country in our hearts.
The issue came to sharp focus with the recent visit of the son of the leader of the Opposition to Bangladesh. The press treated him as a crown prince is treated in a monarchy giving the impression that after Hasina, the leadership of the AL would automatically fall into his lap. The fact that he does not even live in the country seems to have not attracted any attention as the AL and the Press went into high gear in heralding Joy as a leader of the AL when Sheikh Hasina chooses to step down.
The BNP is already into motion in telling the nation that after the Prime Minister, it is her son Tarek who would assume the mantle of top leadership of the party. Although not acknowledged officially, everybody in the country knows that Tarek runs a parallel administration from the Hawa Bhavan. While not in anyway slighting the leadership qualities of the two sons in question, Joy and Tarek, we should have serious reservation to this development in our politics. The two, if they have political aspirations, should prove it like any political leader in the country and rise through the ranks.
Shahjahan Ahmed
Dhanmandi, Dhaka
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