Use of hartal and police

Police actions and atrocities -- though there are allegations of police excesses in many non-political matters as well -- during hartals and other political programs have also attracted a fair amount of criticism these days, and rightly so. While corruption on the side of the government is doing inordinate damage to our economy and society, excessive use of hartal and use of police to suppress political agitations are constantly adding to the crises.

Admittedly, the people of the country have little fondness for hartal though it is a traditional democratic right. To be candid, the people of Bangladesh have seen so many hartals that they are raring to do away with them. People of various professions, and foreign dignitaries, have long been urging the political parties to find out alternatives to hartal. But, who heeds the urgings? While hartal is creating a dent in our economy, political use of police force is persistently contributing to spiraling of human rights violation in the country.

True, hartal is an age-old democratic weapon of political parties to protest against misdeeds of the governments. However, its overuse in recent times has not only turned it extremely unpopular but also made it utterly ineffective. Use of hartal existed and, of course, was sparingly used during the British period with good effect. In a research article by Dr. Ashraf and Dr. Alam, published in Chittagong University Journal of Social Sciences, interesting information -- based on newspaper reports -- regarding hartals in various periods and regimes, has been compiled.

According to that study, only 15 days of hartal were observed during 1962-71 (East Pakistan), only 5 days of hartal were observed during 1972-75 (Awami League regime) and 59 days of hartal were observed during 1981-87 (First 7 years of Ershad regime). Interestingly, however, 266 days of hartal were observed during 1991-96 (BNP regime) and 215 days of hartal were observed during 1996-2001 (Awami League regime). Though the frequency of hartal seems to have been reduced during the current coalition regime, an end to this gratuitous haemorrhaging of the economy is still not in sight.

So many days of hartal after restoration of democracy in 1991 is indeed a great blemish on our political history and is not only painful but thoroughly unacceptable. The net loss of one day's hartal is around 350 crore taka. The stated study further reveals that gross financial loss for hartals during 1991-2001 was 183,465 crore taka. And the loss continues unabated as hartal is again on the increase these days. What an irony! What a luxury of self-immolation! In passing, around 3 lakh crore taka has reportedly been squandered through syndicate during the last four and half years.

Concurrently, use, or rather, political use of security personnel has also reached unmanageable proportions these days. A bird's eye view of our newspaper reports and electronic media bulletins are enough to give us a clear idea about police atrocities during hartals and other political programs. Though the police have to keep law and order, their excesses in many cases verge on gross violation of human rights.

Odhikar, a human rights organization, in its recent report said 166 people were killed in the last six months by the law enforcing agencies across the country. Of them, 133 people were killed in crossfire. Odhikar also said 84 people were killed by the Rapid Action Battalion, 80 by police, one by forest guards and one by detective branch police. At the same time, eight people died in police custody at police stations and 29 died in jail.

According to Odhikar, 160 people were killed due to political violence during the same period. The report prepared on the basis of newspaper reports said 9,939 people were injured, 42 kidnapped, and 2,983 were arrested in politics related incidents. Besides, 4,557 opposition leaders and activists were arrested in raids across the country before the opposition's Dhaka Siege program, hartals, and gherao of the Election Commission.

It is high time that the leaders of our major political parties found an alternative to hartal and stop political use of security people. How long will they mess around? Finding alternatives to hartal is very much within their reach. Similarly, political use of police force resulting in their brutalities should also come to a stop forthwith -- which requires only political will -- to salvage the flagging image of this essential security organ. Continued failure in taking immediate steps on these burning issues will not only add to the frustration of the teeming millions but also continue to further debase the concerned in the public eye.

Kazi SM Khasrul Alam Quddusi is Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong.