The constitution is not a scripture
The constitution of Bangladesh is now suddenly elevated to the status of a sacred religious scripture. The media seems to portray it as sacred and sacrosanct. Why so, may I humbly ask? This document is supposed to reflect the hopes and aspirations of our people as well as the values and principles that they cherish and uphold. It is not a divine and infallible edict and criticizing it should not mean that we have to question that person's loyalty, allegiance or patriotism. The constitution itself guarantees the right to free speech. The irony is that the constitution also guarantees certain fundamental human rights and expressly prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Yet on a daily basis, in the name of remand, citizens routinely face police brutality in the form of threats, intimidation and torture. How do we allow law enforcers to violate and trample a fundamental right and yet want to hold those people accountable who dare to exercise their constitutional right of free speech?
As a nation we have always mixed up our priorities and are now facing the consequences of our frivolous actions. I fervently hope that common sense, reason and good judgment prevails and our sanity is restored.
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