Recently, the DS has been receiving letters from some of its readers who have been congratulating the government's new force-- the Rapid Action Battalion for the so-called good work 'crossfire'. Considering the extent of violent crime in our society it was not surprising to see so many of us wanting to go for curbing crime. But what troubles me is these people's understanding of basic human rights principles and the long time repercussion of the feelings that many of us hold about these killings. Such expressions as shown in those letters congratulating for killing some people without any trial, only epitomize the level of 'extremity' that exists in our society and in our people. Far worse news is that it is on the rise. We seem to be losing all our humane values and becoming a society moving towards the extreme end. And I hold the government responsible for this as it is their failure in fighting crime that is pushing us towards such extreme.The situation now is so critical that some of us are even inventing new theories of human rights whereby we balance the rights of those who are killed by criminals and those who are killed by Rab. And for obvious reasons we chose to put our weight behind those who are killed by criminals, because we feel that the people who are killed by Rab are criminals, hence they deserve to die.
I ask our responsible citizens and the civil society if they have lost their common sense. If they have any sense left, they would stand up and protest, rather than thinking blindly and ignorantly that this crossfire will achieve anything. And for now, let's not even go into a philosophical discussion about the rights and wrongs of extra-judicial killing, we are far from ready for it.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.