They are really good at pouncing on opportunities to gain politically from virtually every death that results from hartal violence.
Be it the opposition or the ruling party one thing they are absolutely not good at is looking after the families of the victims, especially those who are killed in clashes.
Political parties often even stage “stunts” by organising protest rallies and conducting gayebana janazas mass prayers for the salvation of the deceased souls – branding the hartal casualties as “martyrs.”
Maruf Hossain, 20, was a Dakhil student in a madrasa and worked for a welding workshop in the southwestern district of Magura. He was the only earning member of his family. Every evening he would do the grocery shopping on his way back home to his seven member family – two brothers, two sisters and his parents.
On October 28, Maruf’s family was waiting for his return as usual. But he never got back home because he was killed in a clash between police and hartal supporters in the district.
The BNP-led opposition alliance was quick to claim that the deceased was their activist.
Maruf’s family, however, claimed that he had never been involved with any kind of political activity and that he had been forced by the local BNP activists to join a pro-hartal procession.
They alleged that the opposition parties had never taken any step to financially support the hapless family that had just lost its only bread winner.
It has literally become a tradition in the country that every time someone is killed in political violence, both the ruling party and the opposition promptly claimed that the deceased belonged to their side.
In that way they believe that they can draw public emotion in their favour and demean their political rivals.
In recent decades, an increasing number of people have been killed in violence who are either not regular activists of the political parties, or are just innocent passers-by who've been caught in the middle of skirmishes accidentally.
According to Rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, 2,519 people were killed and around 150,000 injured in political violence in the past 22 years.
Analysts say as the dominant force behind the country’s politics changes from ideological drives to fortune hunting, the so-called regular activists tend to stay back and push the irregular ones forward during street violence.
The Dhaka Tribune published a story a few months ago about how non-political people, especially teenagers and young men in their early 20s, were “hired” during hartals to take part in violent street protests.
While the “hiring” is mostly done for monetary payments, local political leaders often intimidate neutral individuals, especially from the lower income groups, to come and join programmes, many of which often take violent turns.
In the turbulent 1960s, 70s and 80s, people used to spontaneously take to streets to press on autocratic regimes. But in recent decades, people tend to stay inside during hartals mostly because they are scared of violence as they cannot identify themselves with the “loose” motives behind the hartals, analysts say.
Noted columnist and political analyst Syed Abul Maksud says: “Hartal is a democratic right of political parties. But overuse has rendered this political weapon blunt.
“Waziullah was the first victim of the historic six-point movement [of 1966]. But does anyone know what has happened to his family? The political parties are responsible for any sort of political violence. The parties exploit the activists for their political benefit, but none of the victims get compensation.”
On the same day Maruf was killed, teenage day labourer Arju was killed in a similar skirmish in Puranbazar area of Chandpur district town.
The ruling and the opposition parties pounced on the opportunity to claim that Arju belonged to them. Arju’s parents claimed that their 15-year-old son had not been involved in politics. He used to work for a local spinning mill for a monthly wage of Tk2,000.
Talking to witnesses, our Chandpur correspondent reported that the house Arju lived in with his parents was very close to the place where the violence took place that day.
They said the boy had been on his way to take a bath in a nearby pond when suddenly an opposition protest turned violent and the boy was killed in a stray police bullet.
Two local BNP leaders and an Awami League leader reportedly gave Arju’s family Tk10,000 each, although Arju’s family claimed that they had not got any money.
Even Foreign Minister Dipu Moni visited Arju’s family and promised to provide all kinds of assistance, but anything in line with that promise is still to happen.
These are just two of many other cases. Every time a Maruf or an Arju is killed during hartal, the ruling and opposition block wastes no time in making sure that the deaths benefit them politically.
In most cases, though, these parties would never care to know what had happened to the families of the deceased.
At least 26 people were killed in violence concerning the opposition’s 60-hour countrywide hartals over the last two weeks.
The families of at least five of the deceased have alleged that other than expressing shocks at the deaths, Awami League and BNP leaders have done nothing to ease their predicaments.
