The number of people who protest against wrongdoings in Bangladesh has dropped. And even more so if the wrongdoing is against the poor. No one wants to raise their voice in protest. It is because those who carry out the misdeeds are powerful, in money or in muscle. Who wants to get involved in all that mess? Recently in Uttara, when Mehebul Hasan and Nasrin Akhter saw two young men on a motorbike loudly ram into the back of a rickshaw, they protested. A couple, along with a small child had been riding in the rickshaw and there could have been a serious accident.
Mehebul and Nasrin actually put their life on the line when they went to protest. First of all, three young men coming up on two motorbikes got into an altercation with them. Then they attacked the couple. One of them called his associates over the mobile and they arrived, one carrying a knife.
The 13 second video of the incident which went viral showed two men attacking a woman and a man with a large machete and the victims were crying out for help. The man under attack took shelter behind a rickshaw on one side of the road. One of the young men went around the rickshaw to attack him. The man attacking the women also ran around to the other side of the rickshaw. The woman rushed forward and tried to save the man under attack.
On Wednesday Prothom Alo published six pictures of the incident. It showed the woman at times crying for help while being attacked by a man wielding a knife, sometimes she came in front to shield the man with whom she was, while the attackers were lunging forward and inflicting wounds, one after the other. The victims were covered in blood, their hands and legs slashed. But they didn't give up. Their shouts drew in crowds from around and the police who were on patrol nearby also rushed to the scene.
One of the police officers said, when they heard that a few armed miscreants were attacking a couple on Road 9 of Uttara Sector 7, they rushed to the spot and with the help of the people who had come forward, caught and arrested the miscreants Md Mobarak Hossain and Robi Roy.
The victim Nasrin Akhter has filed a case in this regard under the anti-terrorism act at the Uttara West police station. Accused Alfaz Miah who had been attacking the victims with a machete, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon at Abdullahpur's Paschim Para. Following his deposition, at around 2am Wednesday (late Tuesday night), Sajib was arrested from Konabari in Gazipur. And accused Mehedi Hasan Sayeef was arrested from the Tongi Mazar slum area early Wednesday morning. The motorcycle he had used and the shirt he wore during the incident were confiscated.
It is because that gutsy woman and man in Uttara stood up against the criminals that the miscreants were caught. We salute them. Come, let us emulate them in standing up against the criminals in our localities
Who are these young men? The police say they are all members of a local criminal gang and floaters. They had long been carrying out all sorts of crimes on motorbikes. Why weren't they caught before? The teen gangs and "old" gangs have long been wielding power in Dhaka city. "Old" means those who've crossed their teens.
We had thought that under Operation Devil Hunt, all these criminals would be nabbed, one after the other. But no one is caught until some incident occurs. So against whom is the government carrying out this operation?
Home advisor Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has said that the joint forces will continue with Operation Devil Hunt for as long as the "devils" are out there. The operation has been on since 8 February. Most of those who have been caught are leaders and activists of the toppled political party.
Such misdeeds, attacks and incidents or terror are not happening just in Uttara but in each and every locality. Added to this are political clashes in various places as well as incidents of mob justice. People are too scared to speak out. There was one sort of fear when Awami League was in power, now there is a different sort of fear.
Quoting the DCs, the home advisor said that the law and order situation around the country is more or less under control. These words do not match the reality around us. A few days ago Prothom Alo published a report of frequent robberies along the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. Killings, mugging and attacks have hardly lessened since Operation Devil Hunt was launched. Only recently five persons including four members of the police came under attack while arresting miscreants in Rayerbazar of Mohammedpur in the capital. Again on Wednesday two criminals were killed in a gunfight in Mohammedpur, according to police.
From media reports it is apparent that 90 per cent of those being detained under Operation Devil Hunt are leaders and activists of the toppled Awami League. That means they have been caught for past crimes. It is certainly a good initiative to bring to book those who misused state power in the past. But will those who are presently carrying out criminal activities, be able to slip free?
During the rule of political government we would see such operations being used to nab members of the opposition. The ruling party would gain politically in this manner. The present government has no political ambitions. In its drive to deal with crimes of the past, if the government closes its eyes to the present, then the operation is bound to fail.
A former home minister had said, criminals will be caught whether they are under the ground or in the sky. But criminals are neither under the ground nor in the sky. They are around us and combing operations are needed to catch them. It must make no different to which party they belong.
The latest incident in Uttara has given a message to society as well. The message is to stand courageously against criminals. It is because that gutsy woman and man in Uttara stood up against the criminals that the miscreants were caught. We salute them. Come, let us emulate them in standing up against the criminals in our localities.
* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir