A democracy to speak, or not to speak

Recent developments in the country’s political scenario reminded me of the heading of a column by the late journalist Nirmal Sen. He had written, “There was a hartal and there wasn’t a hartal.” It had been during the time of military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad and every time the opposition called for a hartal, the government would take up all sorts of ploys to foil the general strike. The next day the ministers and ruling party leaders would say that the hartal hadn’t taken place. Nirmal Sen had written in that context. The government had been apprehensive about hartals. Now the government is apprehensive about meetings and rallies.

The constitution lays out how a democratic and modern state is to be run and what its fundamental principles will be. Our constitution does so too, particularly maintaining that the citizens’ fundamental rights can in no way be violated. Peaceful meetings and rallies and also expressing one’s views are fundamental rights. Article 39 of the constitution clearly states that freedom of the press is guaranteed.

A press release issued by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on 2 December, stated that it had been noticed in recent times that various social, political and religious organisations were announcing meetings, rallies and public gatherings in the Dhaka metropolitan area, without taking prior permission from the authorities. Their programmes create obstacles on the streets, disrupting the movement of people and vehicles. Even though under the prevailing laws, any legitimate party or organisation has the freedom to assemble, according to the constitution of Bangladesh, the citizens have the right to assemble in a peaceful and unarmed manner in keeping with the restrictions laid down in the law in the interests of public order and public health.

That is why, in order to protect public interests, peace and order and vehicular movement, it is compulsory to take permission from the DMP commissioner to carry out such programmes and use loudspeakers. If this is not followed, it is not possible to maintain order in the processions and rallies, and also certain parties or groups get the opportunity to organise unlawful gatherings, damaging public property and lives and disrupting law and order. In order to ensure the security of the life and property of the citizens of Dhaka city, all concerned have been requested to refrain from holding meetings and rallies and using loudspeakers without prior permission. Legal action will be taken against anyone involved in such activities without permission.

This notice from DMP seems to imply that before 2 December, anyone could freely hold meetings and rallies in Dhaka city. Yes, they could. The ruling party and its affiliated organisations could freely hold meetings and rallies wherever they wanted. As it is, there are very few public gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. Hapless people gather in front of the press club to voice their demands and grievances. Some people, even teachers, have sit-in demonstrations there, even hunger strikes. Sometimes the government is kind enough to acquiesce to their demands. Sometimes they go home empty-handed.

In recent times, leaders of BNP and other opposition parties also have been resorting to the footpath in front of the press club to speak out. After all, they are not allowed to hold meetings or rallies anywhere else. Recently police arrested several activists of BNP who were returning from a gathering in front of the press club. In 2018 BNP had several times sought permission for a public meeting at Suhrawardy Udyan, but were refused. They got permission a couple of times to gather in front of their office in Naya Paltan. DMP did not give BNP permission for any meeting at Suhrawardy Udyan, but it allowed Jatiya Party, the party of former autocratic leader HM Ershad, to hold its public meeting there. DMP may have thought that BNP would have done something drastic if they gathered at Suhrawardy Udyan. Yet Awami League leaders every day continuously say that BNP does not have the gumption for any movement. So how could the party carry out anything drastic?

The DMP press release said nothing new. They had similar press releases during the rule of BNP and of Jatiya Party too. That is part of their job. Article 37 of the constitution states, “Every citizen shall have the right to assemble and to participate in public meetings and processions peacefully and without arms, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of public order or public health.”

The question is, who is to impose these restrictions, the law enforcement agencies or the court? The law enforcement agencies cannot interpret the law. They can deploy members of the law enforcement at the site of the rallies in the interests of public security, but they cannot obstruct a peaceful assembly.

When BNP was in power, a security cordon would be formed around the Awami League office so no gathering could be held there. And then when Awami League came to power, similarly the BNP office would come under police patrol. In the eyes of the government and the law enforcement, the opposition is a disruption to law and order and a threat to public safety.

Democracy cannot be consolidated in a country where the state behaves in such an adverse manner towards the opposition. When the opposition goes to power, it will behave in the same manner that the they were treated by those who had been in power. We have seen this over the past 49 years. People in power change, but the characteristics do not.

We have seen many fundamental rights of the people being curtailed during military rule. Political parties could not hold meetings and processions. But why will the same happen during the rule of a democratic government? Why will the opposition be repressed and oppressed in the same manner?

At the same time, we do believe that in this day and age of information technology, the politicians do not need to hold public gatherings in the streets. The state-run media (Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar, BSS, DFP, etc) operating with taxpayers’ funds, must not be used as party tools, but become media of the people.

During the first government of Sheikh Hasina, a commission headed by Asafuddowla was formed to make the radio and television into autonomous institutions. It’s been two decades since then, but the commission’s recommendations have not been implemented. The government now regards the head of the commission as someone of a different ilk. But there were many members in the commission who have always been followers of Awami League. Were their recommendations incorrect?

Power politics invariably brings unimportant and trivial issues to the forefront in order to divert attention away from the actual problems of public life. There is a uproar over these issues for a few days and then all is forgotten once again. Those who make all sorts of promises to the public about their fundamental rights and human rights when they are in the opposition, simply follow their predecessors once they come to power. As a result, the common people are cheated and deprived.

During these coronavirus times, the people are struggling economically. The politicians hardly raise these issues. They are not used to deviating from their party interests and party slogans. In the past, if the people lost their trust in the government, they would turn to the opposition. But now they are unable to have confidence in anyone.

Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet. He can be contacted at [email protected]. This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir