THE United States, United Kingdom and European Union have come down heavily on the violence and shrinking democratic space in Bangladesh and urged all parties to engage in dialogue.”We call on all parties to exercise restraint and eschew violence and intimidation, and we urge the government to ensure people can freely exercise their right to peaceful political expression,” the US State Department said in a press statement yesterday, as reported by a local daily.
The heads of mission of the European Union resident in Bangladesh in a meeting with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali have also expressed concern over the shrinking of democratic space.”Actions to restore peace and stability should not be at the expense of freedom of assembly, movement and speech,” the EU said.
The western powers were prompted to make statements following the ongoing violence and disruption in the country which resulted in many deaths and destruction of properties. Just on Tuesday, former top diplomat and BNP Chairperson’s Adviser Reaz Rahman was shot. The political situation in Bangladesh deteriorated after the one-sided general election of January 5, 2014. The BNP-led alliance announced nationwide blockade for an indefinite period after the government did not allow it to hold public rallies and confined BNP Chief Khaleda Zia to her Gulshan office since January 3 this year.
The US State Department in its statement said the US was shocked and saddened by the attack on former foreign secretary Reaz Rahman and urged the Bangladesh government to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the attack.
The right to assemble peaceably is a fundamental right of people who are living in a real democracy. The right to be safe and protected from violence which destroys lives and property should be another right which is accessible to citizens of a democracy. It is not acceptable that one party is denied the right to peaceably assemble or that its organizers are shot at in a gangster film style manner. It is also not acceptable that the property of common citizens are burnt and destroyed without any heed paid for lives lost or property such as cars and buses damaged.
For all of this our political culture which spawns an endemic cycle of violence and thuggery must be held responsible. The culture of ‘you are evil so you must be stopped by any means possible’ has to come to an end. This will never happen if both the parties think that they are on the moral high ground. The people must not suffer needlessly, held hostage to the ideologies of the parties. There must be a third way.
