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Saudi King Abdullah’s suggestion that observer status for India be considered in the Organisation of Islamic Countries is weighty enough not to be ignored. There will, however, be many in the Muslim world who will not take kindly to the suggestion given that, in their view, India simply does not happen to be a Muslim or Muslim-majority country. A sign of how the Saudi monarch may have created a bit of a problem for Islamic purists in the OIC has already begun to manifest itself through comments in sections of the Pakistani media, who have attempted to bring into their arguments the old points about India’s political nature as well as the issue of Kashmir. One understands that the mindset in Pakistan is still orientated to an adoption of positions at the regional or global level at variance with what the Indians may have to say on particular issues. Notice the fanaticism that has come into the opposition to the screening of an Indian movie in Pakistan. But such attitudes cannot always be a factor when it comes to dealing with a changed world. The point which people must remember is that regional bodies today often operate on the principle that they can or will invite influential nations to be with them as observers. It is not hard to find such a principle working with organisations like APEC. The OIC, in another way of looking at it, has as its principal interest the promotion of Muslim welfare all over the world, not merely in its member-states.
   Given such interests, it is not surprising to note, through going back in time, that secular nations such as Bangladesh have felt little reason to stay away from a membership of the OIC. And at this point in time, the Russian Federation enjoys observer status with the OIC, which is a clear indication that there really can be no bar on important or powerful states being invited to be part of the team, albeit in a limited way. The reality where a possible Indian link with the Islamic organisation is concerned is that more than a hundred million Muslims happen to be citizens of the Indian state. That ought to be good reason for them to be represented in the OIC which, on its own, cannot simply walk away from them by suggesting that the country they inhabit does not conform to Islamic laws or ways of life. Such a large body of Muslims cannot be ignored by an organisation which reminds people all the time that it is the welfare of the Muslim Ummah it seeks to promote. The days when Pakistan’s General Yahya Khan compelled the Rabat summit of Islamic nations in 1969 to force an Indian team to leave are gone. Moreover, it will be naivety on anyone’s part to ignore the fact that India, along with China, happens to be a rising power on the global scale. When the Saudi monarch expresses an interest in Delhi being part of the OIC arrangement, he surely has very well thought-out reasons to do so. One never knows what the future might bring. There are sizeable Muslim populations in such countries as China. In Britain, Muslims number two million and may well claim bigger arithmetical areas in future. It will not be easy to look away from such facts.
   One knows, of course, that the question of India coming by observer status at the OIC is naturally wrapped in complexity. But it is the reasoning behind it that ought to be studied before any premature statements are made. Besides, if the Saudi king truly means his proposal to be considered, the issue must be thrown open to all members for consideration. If the matter eventually rests on whether Pakistan will be comfortable with the idea, it will be unfair to every other nation in the OIC. Bilateral difficulties ought not to come in the way of a reforming zeal in any regional or global political enterprise.

Bangladeshis in foreign prisons

We are concerned that as many as 684 Bangladeshis, including 21 women and 8 children, are held in prisons in 27 countries. This disheartening news was revealed by none but the ministry of foreign affairs at an inter-ministerial meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was held in the home ministry office with trafficking remaining as the main agenda. We feel the figure given by the foreign ministry is only a tip of the iceberg, as various other sources claim that many more Bangladeshis are languishing in the jails of Europe, USA, the Middle-East, India and some of the South-Asian countries. The total number, as such, would cross the two thousand marks. However, what we appreciate about the foreign ministry disclosure that the said ministry and home ministry together have taken the initiative to bring the Bangladeshis back.
   We hope this time there would be more action than mere talking and figure quoting, since the high profile meeting at the home ministry was attended by representatives of different ministries and non-governmental organisations, and it was decided that a report on trafficking in women and children would be published by February this year. We understand, this will be the second report of the government on the important subject as the first report was published in February 2005. This may be mentioned here that in response to the first report, the US State Department had upgraded Bangladesh’s rank in the index of human trafficking and put it in ‘tier-2 watch list’ from tier-3, the category of most vulnerable countries of origin in human trafficking. According to a New Age report, Bangladesh was upgraded once again in June 2005, when it was put in tier-2.
   It is needless to mention here that a large number of our children and women including adolescent girls are getting trafficked across the borders, and the latter in most cases are landing up in the brothels in India and Pakistan. The women are usually taken to the forced labour camps in the neighbouring countries. Many of our fishermen also lose their way in the deep sea and land in the unknown shores. Therefore, it is doubly important that our law enforcing agencies and Bangladeshi missions in foreign countries attach utmost importance to the rescue of these unfortunate souls. We hope the government and the concerned departments would come up with pragmatic steps to bring our people home at the earliest.

Prisons are cruel places to be, for any one for that matter. And when it comes to children, no place can be more abominable and monstrous than prisons. Prisons in any country and of any standard rob a person of his or her dignity, self-esteem, mental strength, future hopes and aspirations. Being in a prison is like being buried alive.
   When the question of the conditions prevailing in the prisons in Bangladesh come into discussion there is not much to write home about. These places are crammed with five times more inmates, health and hygiene conditions are disgusting, and crime within the prisons walls also abound with the help of a section of corrupt officials and staff. There are allegations that drugs of various descriptions are easy to come by if one has the money to pay for them Then, there are stories that many hardened criminals are nowadays running crime syndicates from inside the prisons. Inter-groups fights and even murders take place within the high walls of the prisons in the country.
   When prisons are such dreary places to be, imagine what over 900 children and adolescents are doing there? Surprisingly, the children continue to languish in the jails, though there is a three-year old High Court directive that clearly tells the prison authorities to transfer the children to the correction homes. According to a New Age report on Thursday, these children, 58 of whom are girls, are to be found in 64 of the prisons across the country. The report says that in 2003 a High Court Division bench of Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury and Justice Nijamul Haque detailed a seven-point directive for the government when disposing of a notice it had issued on the government on January 4 the same year. It said, ‘Juveniles accused are to be transferred to correction homes and other approved homes with utmost expedition,’ It further said that ‘Juveniles accused in jails must be kept apart from other prisoners.’ But, unfortunately, according to a study conducted by Save the Children, UK, the directives are yet to be implemented in their entirety. As a result, the young children are languishing in the jails and being subjected to physical, mental and sexual harassment by the older inmates of the prisons. Often when they are released they turn into mental wrecks and find it difficult to adjust with others in society. Studies also revealed on a number of times that many adolescent boys turn into hardened criminals after going through the rigour of the prison life when they spend years in the company of senior dangerous criminals.
   The study, as reported in New Age, further says that five hundred and twelve boys, and 58 girls were in prison and 213 boys and 29 girls were in three correction homes of Kishore Unnayan Kendra (juvenile correction centre) as of December 2005. We have come to learn from the said report that 874 boys and 87 girls had been in prison in January, 840 and 69 in February, 842 and 71 in March, 792 and 83 in April, 732 and 70 in May, 656 and 78 in June, 669 and 78 in July, 685 and 81 in August, 599 and 87 in September, 565 and 67 in October, 514 and 72 in November. The number of children in the three correction homes was 217 in January, 234 in February, 241 in March, 215 in April, 250 in May, 230 in June, 238 in July, 255 in August, 255 in September, 249 in October, 250 in November and 242 in December. The New Age report further tells us that the court also observed that the government should ‘consider withdrawal of juveniles accused from prosecution under Section 494 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in appropriate cases, especially from the cases charged under ordinary penal laws’.
   Now, let us see what the laws of the land say about children in prisons. According to the provisions of Section 82 and 83 of the Penal Code, the court had directed the government to consider making prayers to the courts concerned for discharging the juvenile accused in appropriate cases. But, Section 82 stipulates that no child under nine years of age will be convicted, tried or charged for any criminal offence as they are to be considered innocent. And Section 83 says child aged nine to 12 years will also be free from being charged for criminal offence; however, he or she may be charged and tried if the trial court considers him or her as matured.
   Thanks to the relentless movements by the child rights activists of the country the court instructed that some representatives of children and non-governmental organisations should be co-opted to the high-powered national committee dealing with the enforcement of the juvenile justice system. In this respect, the court has directed that all visits to the children should include human rights activists, especially representatives of local children organizations and other civil society members. We feel this is a right step towards ensuring wellbeing of the children in prison and this would help them in getting proper legal help. We are happy to note that according to the last two directives some NGOs dealing with child rights have already been included in the monitoring cell in each district.
   Possibly we are seeing some results already for taking such steps. From various media reports and departmental records it shows that the number of children in various prisons across the country is gradually diminishing and an effective system of monitoring of juvenile criminal justice has been developed following the judgement.