This refers to the story “Four shot dead in Bangladesh protest “ (Feb. 25). The country is passing through a critical time. It is caught amid an issue that influences the collective psyche of the nation.
Tensions are running high in the street as protesters seeking severe punishment for “war criminals” are coming out in their thousands on a daily basis in the country’s capital. In this broiling climate of hate and anger, we all need to be composed and exercise the utmost caution in our words and actions against all provocations.
People’s every day life and living have become very insecure. Police are using real bullets to contain otherwise unarmed protesters. Every day, media is reporting about deaths of people from firing and related violent incidents.
Life has become so dangerously insecure that women at home worry about the physical security of their husbands and school going children apprehending that they may become victims of violence.
A case in point here is what happened in Singair out of capital city. We are given to believe that misleading messages were broadcast over the public address system there at a time when the anti and pro-strike groups were chasing one another. The message had hurt the sensitivities of the local people. The result was police firing that unfortunately cost the lives of four people and left more than 50 injured including many policemen. And none of them belonged to any political party, according to the locals.
The main duty of a government in any country is to protect the life and property of citizens. But the government here is blamed for protecting its favorites with law enforcement people while the same law enforcers are seen going after politically dissident elements with savage instincts. Rubber bullets, teargas and batons have been replaced by wanton firing of live bullets no matter whether completely innocent uninvolved human beings sometimes far away from the trouble spots are killed.
We certainly have a government in Bangladesh. It should carry out its basic duty of freeing people from their very justifiably felt deep insecurity. Keen observers of are saying that an initiative to keep alive dangerous confrontational conditions between the antagonistic groups is on although this attitude is fast dragging the country to the depth of grave insecurity in all respects. — Naser Mullah, Riyadh
Bangladesh protest
