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Violence vitiates democracy

Habibur Rahman
AT least five people lost their lives and properties worth crores of taka damaged in the recent three days of hartal and pre-hartal violence, just because the opposition suspects the party in power has abducted one of its leaders. Only on suspicion they embark on such actions that harm the unsuspecting public more than the targeted power that be. Hartal is a democratic right, no doubt, but is the way it is enforced democratic? Rather, it vitiates the democratic environment.
Wanton agitation, violence, causing damage to property, blocking thoroughfares, and wasting time are becoming our national characteristics. Should such tendencies keep on growing by the day? Should we keep on indulging in passing popular excitement without judging something with logic and wisdom, and only be the cause of harm to self and many? These questions come to mind whenever an agitation turns violent.
Students of Dhaka College got agitated recently and indulged in violence on the streets following the death of a fellow student, and days before that Jagannath University students clashed with Patuatuli shop owners because of a few pairs of spectacles -- damaging
property, injuring many and leaving one innocent person dead.
Such clashes have become a norm. Dhaka College students often clashed with nearby shop owners on trivial matters. Even now, we often witness such untoward happenings there. And what can one say about political violence, surely it is not for the cause of democracy. Whenever something happened some people indulged in breaking car windshields and setting buses on fire. This is not democratic behaviour.
A new dimension was added when, a few weeks ago, thousands of job seekers thronged ASA Tower at Shyamoli and at one stage got violent, damaging that building and some others around it and quite a number of vehicles on the adjacent roads. It is reported that ASA advertised for appointment of 300 persons as loan officers/loan assistants under its micro- credit programme. It asked the probable candidates for a walk-in-interview on
March 2. Some sixteen thousand persons gathered for the purpose. The number simply perturbed the authorities, who had expected only one-fourth of that. So they assured all those remaining that they would be interviewed by turn later on and the list would be finalised only after the interviews of all the candidates were completed. But it did not work.
Many candidates came from far flung areas, spent money on passage and for stay in Dhaka. Those not interviewed could of course get frustrated and even enraged. But should they then indulge in mindless violence and destruction? That was no answer, nor did it assuage their grievance anyway. Rather, it might have made the employers doubtful whether they would be right candidates for the jobs. However, this also raises question about the prudence of the employers. In a country where unemployment is still a big problem, they shouldn't have called for walk-in interview for 300 jobs at a time. Don't they know that at least a hundred candidates queue for a single job here?
This new addition in the trend of violent agitation is ominous. It may infect such mass appointments elsewhere too, following any small mismanagement. It could also happen during admissions to schools and colleges because thousands of people
throng the institutions with their wards, and most of them remain unsatisfied.
In reporting such incidents the media should also be a bit more cautious and investigative, with follow-ups where necessary, so that the public is made aware of the real cause and situation. The public should not be confused by different narrations of the same incident in different newspapers, as happened with the ASA incident for instance. Such presentation of facts may gradually build up public opinion against anything untoward and motivate them towards stopping such a destructive trend -- they would not ultimately remain as indifferent as they appear today.
Last but not the least, hartal may remain as a democratic right to express protest but must not be implemented in the way it is done now, which is in no way democratic.
The writer is a communication professional.