Let us make society livable

People appear to be living in a state of fear amid frequent incidents of brutal killings and torture across the country. Free-thinking bloggers are being killed. Children and women are falling victims to murder. They are being raped and some of them are even killed after rape. There have been cases of so-called cross-fire and incidents of forced disappearances. Society at large has been condemning these in harshest possible language and the media has been terming these as 'savage', 'brutal', 'inhuman', etc.

On July 08, thirteen-year old Rajon was tortured to death by a group of criminals at Kumargaon Bus Stand area of Sylhet city. In less than a month later, another boy of the same age named Rakib, met his cruel death allegedly at the hands of his former employer, owner of a motor workshop at Tutpara Kabar Khana of Khulna. It was a barbaric killing. Rakib used to work in Sharif's garage. He left the job and that was his only fault. Outraged garage owners got hold of Rakib, took off his trousers, pushed a tyre pump into his rectum and pumped air into his body. Locals caught Sharif, Mintu and their mother and handed them over to police. It was a gruesome murder. Rabiul Awal, an eleven-year old boy, was hacked to death on August 4, 2015 at Amkhola village of Taltali upazila in the district of Barguna on charges of stealing fish. Another incident took place on July 23, 2015 at Magura which became talk of the country. On that day, a pregnant lady, Nazma by name, was standing on the veranda of her house. She was reportedly shot in the belly when two factions of the Chatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, clashed with each other and exchanged fire.  The girl child in her womb was also hit by a bullet. They are now safe after relentless and sincere efforts of a medical team of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) has come out with alarming statistics of child killings. Statistics published in the newspapers of August 07 and 08th reveal that at least 968 children were brutally tortured and killed from 2012 to July 2015. Out of these, 209, 218 and 350 children were killed in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. During seven months of the current year, 191 children were tortured to death. The number of child killings rose by 61.0 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013. The BSAF deplored this  'alarming rise in child killing'. The Forum has also noted that incidents of murder, kidnap, human trafficking, rape and sexual harassment and violence against children are also on the rise.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad has come up with statistics of violence against women. According to its statistics published in the national dailies of  August 05, rape and murder topped the list of violence against women and children during the month of July. On the basis of their consolidated figures collected from 14 national dailies, 83 incidents of rape took place in the country in July. Of them,  nine women and children were killed after rape and 15 women were gang-raped. Statistics further show that there were 95 incidents of rape in June 2015 out of which five were murdered after rape. Their figures also reveal that 41 women were tortured for dowry out of which 19 were murdered in July, 2015. In total, 62 women and children were killed.

Bangladesh achieved a lot on socio-economic front, but could not earn much in terms of international image. The country is among the top ten in negative terms in business investment environment, liveable cities, and kidnapping of citizens etc. Recently, Control Risk, a British consultancy firm, prepared this list. The position of Bangladesh is the 7th. When one assimilates the views and concerns of various rights organisations and intelligentsia, one can point fingers at political wickedness, non-accountability of law-enforcing agencies and weak culture of rule of law. The gravity of the situation reached an alarming stage when seven persons were abducted and killed by some member of an elite force at Narayanganj last year. Some previous incidents of kidnapping were found to be politically motivated. Some victims could not come back. They just disappeared.

The present state of affairs in Bangladesh pertaining to cruelty and violence against women and children has raised concerns both at home and abroad. Serial killings of bloggers have also raised an uproar in the society. NGOs, law enforcers, rights organisations and international organisations have expressed serious concern over recent child abuse and gruesome murders of a large number of children in Bangladesh.

Apparently, people point their fingers at law-enforcing agencies. Recently, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Prof. Mizanur Rahman said in Sylhet, "Growing incidents of child abuse and killings are a matter of concern. It is a sheer human rights violation……… It should be investigated if these incidents are taking place due to negligence of the police administration or other government agencies". But this cannot be the whole story.

We should put our heads together to find out means of curbing brutalities in the country. The weaknesses of the statecraft, political and social order, education system, law-enforcing agencies, administration of justice, etc. should be remedied. There is also a necessity of reaching a political consensus and above all, sincere intention of the government to prevent lawlessness in the country.

In a state of lawlessness, everybody loses and nobody wins. Let us make society livable with the guarantee of life and liberty.

The writer is an economist and columnist. chowdhuryjafar@ymail.com