Taking political leaders on remand

THE recent trend of putting behind bars a large number of senior members of BNP causes both surprise and consternation.  Police 'remand' is a euphemism for torture. A Dhaka court recently placed both BNP leaders Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and Fazlul Haque Milon on a 2-day remand in what was termed an “attempted murder” case. We believe that people of such stature being taken into custody and being linked to cases (like murder) over the last two months is aimed primarily at stifling the opposition parties' movement. We find the whole practice abominable. That senior members of the leadership of the single largest opposition party be treated as common criminals en-masse is not in good taste because it amounts to political harassment.
It seems political vendetta is being carried out against the opposition to silence them. This practice of intimidation is totally unacceptable in democracy. Indeed, we would not be out of line by stating that democratically, legally, morally, ethically, even politically, this display of state power is unacceptable. It goes to show how repressive a government can be in its relationship with the opposition's leadership. Needless to say, this sort of behaviour brings back memories of the days when the country was not a democracy.