Wikileaks baring extralegal methods
Muhammad Nurul Huda
The anti-secrecy Wikileaks revelations insofar as it relates to our
socio-political scenario do not really come as great surprise to the
informed and also the conscious section of the community. The
noticeable difference is that the not-so-unknown facets of our public
life and dealings have come to the fore through the courtesy of leaked
diplomatic cables sent by the embassy of the lone superpower and thus
acquires heightened credibility.
The leaked cables are quite clearly assessments and analytical and
consequently evaluatory. A good part of such assessments, frankly
speaking, make dismal reading and highlight our medieval mindset. To
be specific, when the LGRD Minister is quoted as telling the US
ambassador that some of his colleagues "did not want to stop
extra-judicial killings by law enforcement agencies," we feel
belittled and sorry.
Similarly, one notices a detestable myopia when one learns that the
then state minister of home affairs justified extra-judicial killings
by saying, "Let us not discuss it. The people are happy and even the
Judges are happy about it." Even the western educated suave former law
minister has been quoted as saying "that the victims are all
terrorists and criminals" and that Bangladeshis welcome such actions.
One tends to lose faith in our democratic identity when one reads
conclusion like "There seems little doubt that crossfire killings are
sanctioned and directed by the government."
Conscientious and honourable citizens cannot help but feel disgraced
to read assessment like "At this point, however, it appears that a BNP
or AL affiliation of a crossfire victim is largely coincidental and
reflects only the pervasive criminality of Bangladeshi politics."
Efforts to study the malady of extra-judicial killing would reveal
that the otherwise sensible public leaders have often appreciated the
usefulness of such killings by decrying the failure of the criminal
justice system to punish the inveterate criminals and bring relief to
the public suffering.
The dilemma of our socio-political existence is brought home by the
reality that while those wishing to see the effective writ of the rule
of law are continuously pointing to the un-tenability of
extra-judicial deaths as an acceptable socio-legal response, there is
no dearth of supporters or admirers of such apparently abominable
method. Random eliciting of opinions by newspapers has shown that a
large majority of people entertain the view that the deplorable slide
in crime and order situation can gradually be stalled by resorting to
extra-judicial killings.
It is time, therefore, to do some serious introspection and find out
as to how have we arrived at such a lugubrious scenario? The
seriousness of the matter is warranted by the fact that if
extra-judicial killings succeed in even implicitly acquiring the seal
of approval then there remains no justification for maintaining and
supporting a justice system at public expense. The question is how low
shall we stoop and offend the democratic sensibilities?
The question is, do we want sustained laborious action under the law
to strengthen our democratic foundation or do we need rash desperate
action without the cover of law? The extra-judicial killings,
undoubtedly, do not fit in with the first proposition. We need to be
absolutely clear about that.
The ultimate punishment in the alleged "extra-judicial" deaths about
whose credibility many are not convinced, appear as summary response
from desperate executive of law enforcement. The legality of actions
leading to such extreme action apart, any responsible citizen might
like to know if in our often over-zealous anti-crime operations, we
are just treating the symptoms without venturing to study and assess
the objective conditions promoting criminality. We do not need
sociologists and criminologists to tell us that present-day crime is a
complex social phenomenon caused by a multiplicity of factors and
determining culpability is an extremely mind-exacting task.
What we need is adequate provision of witness protection and victim
support in the criminal justice administration. To make those
effective we need large injection of governmental funds. Any further
delay will only swell the ranks of summary-justice seekers and the
admirers of vigilante action. The decapitating adversity of the
victims of crime demand mainstream support of the system.
The fact of the matter is that when investigative skills entailing
unbiased efforts emerge consequent upon a strong political direction,
there would not be any need to resort to extra-legal measures. In such
an atmosphere, information and intelligence would come voluntarily to
the benefit of victims of crime. We must, therefore, strive to create
an environment where the blight of extra-judicial killings would be
blissfully absent.
The rule of law and criminal jurisprudence may appear to be
unequivocally in favour of the offenders, the criminals, the
law-breakers, and the accused persons. That does not automatically
give a license to resort to illegal measures because a civilised
government must earnestly strive to demonstrate that law-enforcement
effectiveness and civil liberties can co-exist in a society governed
by the rule of law.
The writer is a columnist for The Daily Star.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=202737
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