Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
We have liberated our Bangladesh after a long struggle. We always want and wish our Bangladesh a violent free, terrorism free Bangladesh. If there are acts of violence, our Bangladesh will be a backward and ill faded nation. In no way, it will emerge as and advanced and ideal state. Violence creates terrorism, social anarchy, disharmony, chaos, conflict, confrontations, fundamentalism and many more and even killings.
The state of violence expressed itself in the most heart-rending assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and members of his family, close relatives and also in the gruesome killing of war-time political leaders in jail custody at the instance of the military-sponsored regime of August 15, 1975 headed by a powerful minister of Sheikh Mujib’s Cabinet and a war-time Minister and political leader. Violence jeopardized Bangladesh education, crippled creative genius, corroded political process, handicapped development, discouraged investment and substituted force and fear for argument and accommodation. It is said that a society where law is more feared than respected is itself a violent society, it nurses within itself the seeds of violence. In Bangladesh, how is not feared; it is scarcely respected.
We have had record of frequent murder of political activities, students, businessmen, women and other, committed by terror-striking ferocious people and musclemen as they are called. Numerous bomb explosion cases and acid throws have rocked the patriotic fervour of the nation. With such a long list of legacies of violence, it is perhaps not an easy case for any government to eradicate violence which is in the very nature of humans in some degree or other. Appropriate and adequate short-term and long-term measures and collective effort of law enforcement authorities, courts, civil society, journalists and news media, educational institutions, labour unions, political leaders and activists, cultural groups, youths, men and women etc. can keep violence under reasonable control, thereby making creative and productive activities possible to keep the nation on its development track.
We have noticed that violence is a popular theme in television and movie. This fosters permissive attitude to war violence. Since seeds of delinquency are generally sown early in the life of a child in the family, in the school and in the environment, it is necessary that measures are taken to prevent juvenile delinquency by all possible means. Nation-wide forum may be organized immediately by all agencies, first of all, to take the loitering poor and destitute children to school and to disengage them from begging and porter’s job in market places.
These children tend to be delinquents and future violent criminals as research into the life history of known notorious terrorists has already shown.
It is worthwhile to note that when students or higher educational institutions commit acts of violence in the campus and outside and sometimes confine their teachers under lock and key, it becomes and encouragement of law-breaking to many others who are not, in fact, so highly educated or not at all educated; and more so, when criminal cases, if at all started for violation of law, are not processed to their logical end. Campus disorder may be reduced substantially if academy authorities periodically hold assembly and parleys with parents and guardians of students to acquire capability to enforce effectively the rules of discipline and the public administration develops will to enforce criminal laws in the educational institutions under the Rule of Law ethos.
Since violence is man-made, we are of the opinion that it is humanly possible to control it by effective and adequate preventive and curative measure. And for this, the government would do well to form a galaxy of police administrators, social workers, women organizations, NGO leaders, civil society leaders, lawyers, judges, magistrates, academy authorities, journalists, educationists and political leaders of all complexions and constitute a grand ‘task force’ to study why it is not possible for ‘Police, Court and Academies’ to move effectively and demonstrate that they are equal to the challenge of violent crime and disorder.
There are social violence’s in many names as mentioned above. There are other violence’s, such as : political violence, violence against women, violence against minorities etc.
The September 29 incidents of Ramu and Ukhia are a clear reminder that the minority citizens of Bangladesh remain quite vulnerable to deplorable acts of violence even under a ruling party strongly committed to fighting religious or ethnic extremism. This commentary explores how best to reduce the future incidence of such heinous acts.
Domestic Violence Act has provided a holistic approach in defining domestic violence that covers physical, psychological, sexual and economical aspects of the menace. The Act also elaborates an explanatory lists which fall within the ambit of domestic violence. There are other history of violence. A thirteen-year-old was tied up and beaten to death, while onlookers stood and watched. A young man mercilessly beat his supposed friend and brazenly recorded it on video. A headmaster was humiliated and beaten in public by his own townspeople and students. A few young men killed 22 people at a restaurant in broad daylight. On the surface, these are three unrelated incidents that occurred in Bangladesh.
Domestic violence, for instance, is widespread to a staggering extent. It is almost taken for granted that husbands beat their wives, even in the cities where people are supposedly more educated and therefore, assumed to be less violent. Many husbands believe that it is their right to receive dowry from their spouse’s families. If they are denied, they feel wronged. Since they have been wronged, they feel the need to exact their idea of justice on their wives. It is frightening to think that we live in a society where we’re so convinced that it’s okay to be violent that we may even resort to gruesome murder if we feel that it is deserved (as in the case of mob justice).
This culture of violence also bears responsibility for the string of blogger killings that took place in the recent past. Between January 2013 and now, there have been no less than ten incidents where so-called atheist bloggers were hacked to death by religious extremists. It should have been cause for concern that in a democracy like ours, people were being brutally hacked to death for stating their views. Moreover we have the Political violence in Bangladesh is a variegated phenomenon. In democracy, it has been considered as a sign of an immature or even immoral political class. In our study, we are trying to offer a clearer basis to discuss this issue. We have prepared basic data on the prevalence of political violence, its regional distribution, the actors involved and the specific shape of hartal violence for the period 2002-2013.
Besides, Elections, war crime trials are some focal points of violence. Even if you discount this kind of big events there are a lot of different causes for everyday violence. It might be over position in the party, intra-party conflict, possession over properties, tender and other day-to-day life events. You have also ultra left wing groups. You have CHT.
There is no simple answer to the question. Violence against women covers physical violence, sexual harassment, acid attack, murder, rape, etc. Rape is one of the most brutal violence against women, which often leads to murder.
There are procedural gaps in the state interventions towards preventing such violence. Researchers point out that the incidence of violence against women is rising due to weaknesses in the legal framework, lack of gender sensitivity in the administration and poor law and order situation overall.
However, time has come for all the people in the country to combat violence against women. There is no strong alternative to social protection. People have to be made aware that the complex issue of women’s right is connected to human right in the complex socio-cultural, political and economic culture of Bangladesh. To conclude, it seems the best way to reduce violence is to improve security for ordinary citizens, promote freedom of expression and tolerance of competing views in all spheres, pass laws that make discriminatory intent behind a crime heavily punishable, and above all cultivate strong nationalistic pride and love for the country that once was earned by the promise of sanctity of life and liberty for all.
