Without a vision people perish

This vision and dream was that the people of this land would live in a society with the right of self-determination, to be realized in every form of freedom, whether political, economic, social and religion, and that the human rights of each citizens would be enjoyed to the fullest.

Unfortunately for us it appears that today the vision needs to be rediscovered because it has now long been shattered and marred. It is more unfortunate that it has not been marred by any foreign power, but by the people with selfish and vested interests within our own country.

We still quarrel over the question: "Who declared Bangladesh independent from Pakistan first?" We have been passing through a political weather that is getting mystified day by day. Today our young generation does not have enough reasons to show cheerful faces.

Our school and college-going children seem to have forgotten their smiles. This is because they wake up with uncertainties about their classes and they head back to sleep at night with more uncertainties about the following day. As the book of Proverb says: "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bone (Proverbs 17:22)."

The present Constitution of our country after the 5th Amendment made in 1978 has in it the Principles of State Policy (Articles 8-25, Section-II). It starts with the words of complete trust and faith in God, nationalism and democracy and economic and social justice. But the way, in which governments have been leading us, we have yet not paved the way for the citizens towards democracy, or a socio-economic justice leading to sustainable peace in any section of the people.

At present, we also have some political leaders constantly referring to the Constitution in their public speeches, demanding that everything in the national election must be carried out, following this supreme writ. However, when people are in power they tend to forget the solemnity of the Constitution and disrespect it when it comes to their own party and vested interests. Where do the Constitutional principles of human rights fit in when there are RABs with their so-called crossfires?

The president-cum-chief adviser himself has assumed the position of the chief advisor by neglecting the Constitutional requirements. I could go on, but I am not a person with a particular political affiliation. As an ordinary citizen of this country I would like to see that our country and all our people can be hopeful for a day when we will be able to hold a fair and peaceful election to constitute a Parliament which will mirror their genuine hopes.

A great deal of valuable and irretrievable time has been spent in dilly-dallying through exchanges of "letters" in the past, in the so-called dialogues a few months ago between the two big political camps and in all the activities concerning the electoral functions of the Election Commission and all that means. But the people still find themselves trying to figure out exactly what will happen in the near future in connection with the general election. As it stands today and as it will ever be for any nation to march with the time in peace and progress, there is no alternative to integrity and justice on the part of people's leaders. There is no righteousness without justice and fairness. I again quote from the Proverbs, the words: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (14:34)."

An overwhelming majority of our political leaders do not live up to their dignified status as leaders of people, a noble vocation and pledge. They are motivated by power and greed for dishonest incomes, and not by authentic patriotism and love and service to the people whom they are supposed to represent. We proclaim in the very national holy writ, God, to be our supreme source of strength and faith of all our constitutional thoughts and principles. But we do not respect the human rights of people. Today we need good and reliable political leaders, who will be able to create hope for a better future for us and for our future generations. Politics has become really challenging for honest and learned people somehow or the other.

Throughout history in every nation, people in the past struggled for establishing human rights and dignity, that all people are equal in the eyes of law. Law is common sense. This common sense is very basic to the foundation of a society to be free from despotism, anarchy and tyranny in any form. All the documents that enshrines fundamental human rights, whether it is the Magna Charta (1215), the Petition of Rights (1628), the Bill of Rights (1688) of England; or the Virginia Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence of America, and the American Bill of Rights (1791); the French Declaration of people's human Rights (1789), and so on, all have glorious histories of the people's struggle for establishing their human rights, the Crown of Creation, in the eyes of law just as we in Bangladesh have our own Constitution. In the course of history the UN came to articulate in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to encourage and motivate all its signatory countries to intentionally create environment that is conducive for the nurture, protection and enjoyment of human rights by the citizens in their respective countries.

This universal document was declared by the comity of nations on December 10, 1948. I am really interested to deal with the month of December since we won our victory against the Pakistani occupation army in 1971. Most of the documents concerning rights of people made by the UN have been made in this month. We as a nation have now been struggling to hold our democratic election. This is also the month when our freedom fighters and our great intellectual leaders made their supreme sacrifice for liberating our country from foreign domination a generation ago.

Let our nation be imbued with the great sense of patriotism and democratic spirits to join hands together and create an environment where we will be able to have our vision for a prosperous and peaceful Bangladesh for everyone. For we hope to see a parliament, which will reflect the will of the people and will ensure a government which will provide the best, and who will truly minister to the needs of the people and create newer visions for the future that will enhance our lives.