Rights activists and civil society members expressed their concern about the sufferings people went through yesterday due to the political strife between Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies. They criticised both the undemocratic attitude of the ruling AL as well as the power-hungry attitude of the BNP-led 20 party alliance, which caused immense sufferings to common people
all over the country throughout the day. Sultana Kamal, executive director of rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, said: "Unfortunately, the nature of politics in Bangladesh has become power-centric. What the politicians are doing brings uncertainty, insecurity and suffering to the ordinary people who apparently do not feel a part of their game. Any political crisis should be solved through democratic measures of which dialogue is an important part. Any application of undemocratic, forcible measure should be avoided to allow people to manage their own life peacefully and without fear." National Human Rights Commissioner Prof Mizanur Rahman said: "The kind of situation we are in is unexpected. Who would take responsibility for the sufferings common people and day labourers had to go through due to the political parties' face-off? Would the government take responsibility or the political parties who claim they do politics to mitigate the sufferings of people?" Terming the BNP-led alliance's boycott of the January 5 polls a "wrong decision", he said: "BNP did not take part in the election because they did not have faith in the people. They resorted to violence instead." Referring to the country's electoral law which allows a candidate to win even when unopposed, he said the election could not be termed 'illegal'. "Instead of holding common people hostage, BNP leaders could have gathered in front of the Central Shaheed Minar and threatened the government with immolation if their demands were not met. But they did not do so. BNP leaders did not die in violence but common people who support the political party did," he said. Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Shushashoner Jannoy Nagorik, said : "We gained independence to have democracy in this country. We deserve to have a democratic system, where people have the right to vote, to move, to assemble and to express their thoughts. All of these are under serious threat now." Advertisement About the government's claim of providing security to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia by deploying law enforcers around her Gulshan office, Majumdar said: "Everybody knows that this is a total nonsense. There is no basis for such a claim. This is basically to prevent her from going out and holding demonstrations or whatever she wants to do. This is an excuse. It defies all logic. This is not democracy." Regarding the indefinite countrywide blockade announced by the BNP Chairperson, he said: "This is creating an instable situation, pushing us towards an uncertain future. I hope political parties will try to resolve their disputes through dialogue rather than all of these senseless acts that are going on right now." Eminent jurist and rights activist Shahdheen Malik said: "Events of the last 48 hours certainly do not augur well for the democratic rights of citizens. In fact, political right -- that is the right to free movement, to freedom of speech, to freedom of assembly and association -- is under serious threat. The government is apprehensive that the opposition parties will resort to violence. However, such apprehension does not in any manner justify a complete ban and prohibition on all political activities by the opposition parties." As for the restriction imposed on BNP's Gulshan office, he said: "The statement and utterances made by the spokesman of police, by ministers, Awami League leaders and even by the honuorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seems to be as far from the truth as possible. The claim that hundreds of law enforcement agency personnel were deployed for the protection of Begum Khaleda Zia would perhaps go down as the most blatant lie of the decade. It is most unfortunate that our politics has now degenerated into lies." "These events also indicate the total helplessness of the citizens, their insecurity and inability to lead a normal life. In these circumstances, one can only hope and pray that normalcy in our lives will return soon," he added.
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