| Civil
rights in Bangladesh perspective |
| By:
Khawaza Main Uddin |
| 000 000000 |
| Bangladesh
is not a classical case of civil rights. The
level of awareness about the fundamentals of
civil rights is still very poor. At the same
time, civil rights of the people have been neither
clearly defined nor practiced, as the Western
theory of such rights does not match in the
Bangladesh perspective. In a society like this
where most people do not afford to fulfill basic
needs of the families, the question of traditional
notions of civil rights appears to be a sheer
fashion, let alone establishment of the superstructure
of the society. |
| 000 000000 |
| The
Constitution of Bangladesh imitates the concept
of civil rights, making the state, or in other
words the government, as the guarantor. But
do the people and the individuals enjoy what
is called civil rights even as per existing
criteria? If the answer is NO, then who is responsible
and what are the major hindrances? Since the
government is made the protector of civil rights,
alongside many other things, it could be blamed
for violations as such. |
| 000 000000 |
| Furthermore,
it is the state, which rather created troubles
and pitfalls - deliberately or inadvertently.
Someone could not have criticised the government,
had the people lived in an anarchic society.
Interestingly enough, leaders and bureaucrats
while in power nurture an alien structure, which
victimises all except them and their term of
being victimised comes one day after relinquishing
power. So, the structure is not for the people,
anyhow. |
| 000 000000 |
| For
example, a person suffered six years in detention
without trial and finally got acquitted. Who
will pay for this harassment? Again, a busy
businessman or a common citizen is compelled
by the Prime Minister's security guards to stay
2-3 hours on a Dhaka street, what can s/he do
for his/her disturbances or the losses incurred?
The Constitution tells about equality and liberty
of the citizens. Can anyone move freely, act
fairly and enjoy the civic amenities? In Bangladesh,
the proposition of civil rights tends to be
only lip-services. |
| 000 000000 |
| In
spite of the negative aspects of civil rights,
there are strong values and inherent ideal thinking,
which can be translated into civil rights to
make suitable in the local institutions. It
is difficult to accept how a Westerner will
be able to understand and prescribe civil rights
the Bangladeshis require. The extremely individualistic
individuals do not have salvation for the self,
not to mention the society. |
| 000 000000 |
| The
ideas of civil rights in Bangladesh context
should be multi-dimensional. The country's government
and specially intelligentsia failed to promote
those to compose unique definition of civil
rights. It's high time the citizens redefined
their civil rights. From within the complicated
composition of socio-political realities, voices
are being raised to assert civil rights. That
is only the ray of hope as yet. |
| 000000000 |
000000000
|
|
|
|
Photo:
Azizur Rahim Peu/ Drik
|
000000000 |
