It was broad daylight. A very special day, with the so-called security blanket covering the capital city, especially in the vicinity of its epicentre -- Dhaka University. Law enforcement personnel were nearby. Some valiant Good Samaritans caught a few lowly culprits and handed them over to the police. Police let them go and then filed a case against some unknown persons -- another nickname for the so-called greftar banijyo.
The picture is made clear. One does not need to be super smart to know the innards -- even a complete moron can.
Well, this is nothing new. This is nothing new to talk about. This is the new norm. When a government flaunts development at the expense of democracy and human rights, it zestfully captures or kills its vocal opponents, and like Dhritarashtra, disavows all sane words from modern-day Vishwa -- what else can the nation expect?
Yes, the sons of Dhritarashtra were eventually vanquished at the outskirts of Indraprastha. History repeats itself and such are the stories of kings and queens and their kowtowing minions.
I can write tomes as to the misdeeds of the police and RAB and other law enforcement outfits. But I shall not. I can write even bigger tomes about the misdeeds of all those lesser leagues and dols. But I shall not. I also can write tons of tomes as to the misdeeds of the nexus of politico-royal.
But I shall not. Because, eventually, it boils down to the Hobbes vs Locke, free untethered human nature of jungle vs human nature tethered by the holy scripts of social contract -- the constitution spelling the rights and obligations of all citizens, and at the same time, spelling the means of guaranteeing those rights.
In a country where the citizens vote in droves to give a party supermajority, in effect, giving the right to cut and paste the constitution as it wishes, constitutional entropy is bound to happen. In a country, where the ultimate state power is entrusted to one person, such abuse of power is bound to happen. In a country where legislature is a rubber stamp (thanks to Article 70) and the judiciary is a coterie of the elite closely tied to the executive -- what else can one expect?
In a country where politics, business, and the military are one and the same, and where voices of the likes of Henry David Thorough and MK Gandhi are not heard loud and clear, and where the citizenry is hibernating in a deep state of apathy ... expect nothing better.
Mohammad Zaman is a physician and occasional writer.