Bangladesh has been noticing a spate of lawlessness lately where citizens of foreign countries have been the targets of heinous crimes, some leading to deaths and grievous assaults where no proper motive has yet been identified.
These foreign citizens being killed or attacked have added an unpleasant and sour note in the nation’s overall security and ambience. These untoward incidents have exposed, once again, that the law and order situation has slowly deteriorated over the last few years here in Bangladesh. It is apt to recognise that, rather than defending and attempting to prove that our Home Ministry and all its ancillary divisions are doing a stellar job, the fact that these killings are merely the symptoms of aberrant behaviour and/or inter-party feuds, culminating in such viciousness.
This sanitised perspective may quell the fear of certain citizens, but a large part of our nation’s psyche will forever be haunted with many concurrent streams of consciousness as to what undercurrents of local or international politics or cultural, religious intolerance had contributed to such decadence.
German philosopher Immanuel Kant once mentioned that anarchy consists of “law and freedom without force,” barbarism as “force without freedom and law,” and despotism as “law and force without freedom.” Sensibly speaking, if one were to draw a conclusion as to which of these states Bangladesh belongs, opinions can be nothing if not divided. The point to be made, however, is, regardless of the division, a brute majority of the people in Bangladesh would collectively voice a mix and match of these elements right now.
This predicament and sense of assumed failure within the legal system ought to raise eyebrows among the powerful. It goes without saying that citizens would probably cast a C+ or B- in this domain, in spite of the legions of new police and other relevant forces being recruited, supposedly to bolster our country’s security measures. The sense of security in Bangladesh is definitely at an all-time low and needs immediate resuscitation.
Since the security surveillance measures in our nation are not as pervasive as other, more advanced countries, the responsibility to safeguard our citizens becomes all the more burdensome. It is good to see that the government is taking security more seriously now, but government politicians blaming the opposition for anything and everything that goes wrong does not pass us by. Such distractive behaviour does little to enforce the objective of seeking the actual culprits out.
It is, therefore, natural to feel that our government is not quite rising up to their expected duty of keeping its citizenry safe and secure.
We, the common people, are no longer living in a secure environment where our loved ones can go about their day as usual, as a sense of danger and insecurity follows us every which way -- this is not a picture of the “Sonar Bangla” Bangladesh had envisioned.
The demand of the peaceful, law-abiding citizens to voice their frustrations to the government and the ruling party is making rounds. The government has been flaunting its successes in developing Bangladesh, and yes, they deserve kudos for that, but they have to be doing equally well in the affairs of providing security to the nation, more so for our foreign guests. Just think about the image Bangladesh must be cultivating at the moment in the international press. As a nation, we cannot allow militancy to take root. We need to be more vigilant as citizens along with the government, and ensure that a balanced approach to personal liberty and security is well maintained.
On the other hand, instruments of control used by the government are currently hurting the spirit of a democratic nation. A nation bereft of democratic values will ultimately fall flat in its vision of being just that, a democracy.
History remains a silent spectator of change when actions trump reason. The perils continue to mount today and smart citizens within the ruling party and the government may realise that inclusive democracy is healthier than a democracy under the brutal guns of the government.
If we consider democracy as a golden goose, then let us unitedly speak up and let the government and the party in power know that there are better ways of “managing” democracy, and that nurturing it and not stifling or suffocating it is the way to go. We need to free ourselves from being threated by a “lack of security” by engaging the government in providing an acceptable standard of security, from Teknaf to Tetulia, while establishing an inclusive society vibrant with a democratic soul.
