Killing in crossfire
Thanks to the government for taking cognisance of extra judicial killing in crossfires, allegedly by Rab. The government is perhaps going to initiate an executive enquiry by a magistrate. A question has already been raised by the Human Rights groups about its fairness. I fully share their views. I do it because the issue of separation of the judiciary from the executive is yet pending and the process might take a long time to be implemented. It would be advisable to initiate cases of deaths and follow all legal proceedings. Otherwise, some kind of patch work might lead to more questions and ultimately damage the image of the government. I also heard in a news broadcast that a kind of thinking is going on in the government to upgrade each police station headed by an officer with the rank of SP. If it comes true, Bangladesh will look like a police state and empowerment of police force will eventually mean de-empowerment of people. My feeling is that the government should pay more and more attention to strengthening the elected local government structures. Think how you can strengthen and empower the elected local government institutions. Perhaps donors should pay more attention to local government development. One should be careful about the negative impact on local government institutions due to over emphasis on the development of non-government organisations.
If I have heard the news wrongly, I stand for correction.
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