Staff Reporter :
Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain on Tuesday said that those who have denied human rights are criminal and those who kidnapped the right to vote of the people are the robber.
He said, “The independence of the country was achieved in exchange of many sacrifices. People are the owner of the country. So we have to protect the rights of the people. They should have been given their rights. Right to vote is a fundamental right. Those who kidnapped this right of the people are the robber.”
The Gonoforum chief was speaking at a discussion meeting under the banner of “World Human Rights Situation and Bangladesh” organized by the ‘Bangladesh Human Rights Monitoring Council’, a rights body, at the National Press Club on the occasion of the Human Rights Day-2019.
Former Advisor to the Caretaker Government Barrister Mainul Hosein also gave speech at the programme.
Bangladesh Human Rights Monitoring Council Chairman Mohammad Nurul Huda Chowdhury presided over the meeting while Executive Director of the organization Talukder Monirujjaman Monir conducted it.Former Ambassador Md Mofazzal Karim, former Minister Sheikh Shahidul Islam, Barrister Sarwar Hossain, Advocate Mahbub Chisty Masum, among others, also attended the programme.
Barrister Mainul Hosein said, “Youths all over the world don’t want to rely on past leaders and they are rising for change, they will bring about. At the UN Conference on weather a 15-year old youth from Sweden said we have come and we shall change.”
“This same message is coming from our younger generation also. They also are not waiting for the failed leaders, the present belongs to the younger generation and they are determined to give leadership for the change,” added Barrister Mainul.
He said, “After losing voting right we have lost all our human rights. All our efforts and struggles with our knowledge and wisdom following peaceful methods to change did not work and we failed.”
Barrister Mainul expressed his deepest pain for the fact that it has been possible to make our people so helpless and suffer so much because of the cooperation of sections of our own people who are maintained by the people to serve them. We know them yet we do not know them.
“As the people have no right, they are unsure of justice. Police can arrest under any pretext, make them suffer in jail without bail, taken on remand to police custody. There they can be tortured and if one is killed, it is bad luck. There is no accountability. Such interrogation by police should take place in the presence of one’s lawyer but this requirement is ignored with impunity,” he said.
Barrister Mainul referred to a recent judgement of Brazilian Supreme Court to point out that the court has decided it illegal to suffer punishment till last Appellate Court finds him guilty and he welcomed the judgement as just and humanitarian. Everywhere the people talk about humanity of justice but in our country the government tries to make whole justice system go away.
He cited the recent remarks of the Chief Justice of India who emphasised that cruelty is not justice. In contrast, our justice system is openly used for political vengeance.
He reminded the government that in the present time no government deserves respect internationally which denies human rights to their own people and unelected.
