Editorial
Police excesses on lawmakers
Govt owes an explanation for it
The way police last Wednesday pounced on the opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque and beat him up mercilessly during hartal was most reprehensible.
We are stunned at this uncalled-for and barbaric police action on a lawmaker on the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) premises while he along with his other party colleagues were holding a protest march.
We condemn such brutal action by the police on an opposition law-maker.
The incident raises serious questions. Is there any executive order against people staging protest marches and rallies? Or have hartal or hartal-related processions been prohibited by the government?
As it could be gathered from reports, there were no indications that the processionists in question were turning violent. Evidently, there was hardly any situation that might call for such disproportionate police response. Surprisingly, at the spot of incident, the agitators were heavily outnumbered by the police.
So, what baffles us is what did really prompt the law-enforcers to behave violently? Did the members of the law-enforcing agency behave in that manner on their own or did some quarters in power have a hand in it?
On this score, the remark of the state minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku that the BNP leaders had provoked the police to commit excesses on the Opposition Chief Whip needs mentioning. Is then the state minister for law anyhow trying to justify the brutal police action on the opposition lawmaker?
Since members of the police and other security agencies are employees of the state and not of the party in power, the incumbent Awami League (AL)-led government will have to come up with honest and credible answers to these questions
It may be recalled in this connection that, the present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was in opposition during the BNP government in the early 1990s, had on more than one occasion warned against politicising the administration.
Unfortunately, Wednesday's incident in the JS area casts serious doubt about police's non-partisan attitude towards the agitating BNP lawmakers.
It has become increasingly evident that the state's law-enforcement and other security organs are being abused by the successive governments in a partisan manner. But that goes against the very basic principle of a democratic administration.
In the background of deteriorating relation between the government and the opposition, the incident further complicates the matter.
The ruling AL must realise that police action reflects very negatively against the government and people's perception that the government is becoming increasingly repressive is gathering momentum.
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