Of late, people all over the world decry, bewilder for peace, security, freedom and democratic justice. Oppression, suppression, corruption and injustice are common in almost all countries of the world with a very few exceptions. People of Bangladesh are being deprived of their voting rights. Therefore, they demand their democratic right, right to vote for the person of their choice. This is as simple as anything, as true as religion. None deny this truth. The people’s demand is to conduct the National Election by a true neutral government who can discern justice and fair play. But the autocratic government differed and opposed the idea on the plea of the constitution of Bangladesh. According to them the constitution does not provide any opportunity of setting
such ‘neutral’ government. They did not care to consider the people’s voice. They tend to forget the latin maxim ‘voxpopuli, voxdei’.They forgot the spirit of the constitution; they didn’t like to consider what for the constitution is made, for whom it is made.
We remember that the constitution of Bangladesh is the outcome of a historic war of independence. In the constitution, the people feature as dominant actors, and it is a manifestation of what is called “people’s power” and, therefore, the constitution guarantees people’s life, liberty, body, reputation and property. Life includes the right to live consistently with honour, dignity and decency, and right to the necessities of life and expressing oneself in diverse form are freely moving. But when people feel that they are not free to move or express themselves in whatever manner they wish and thereby they must conceive that there is a dearth of good governance and lack of Rule of law in the country. The Rule of Law what the political philosopher say, are (i) absence of arbitrary power, (ii) equality before law (iii) individual liberties. And again we must keep in mind that lack of good governance and absence of Rule of law leads chaos and confusion, oppression and anarchy in the society. Consequently, people suffer and cannot exercise their voting rights or refrain themselves from voting out of fear. This is really a sorry and dismal state of affairs. In this context, I remember, Victor Hugo’s address to the parliament in 1849 (in connection with E.U and Community Formation). He said, “A day will come when there will be no other battle fields than those of the minds-open market places for ideas. A day will come when bullets and bombs will be replaced by votes”. Let us optimistic as Victor Hugo dreamt and in the same idea the famous American poet Langston Hughes wrote in his poem -‘Oppression’.
“Now dreams
Are not available
To the dreamers,
Nor songs
To the singers.
In some lands
Dark night
And cold steel
Prevail
But the dream
Will come back,
And the song
Break
Its jail.”
Above dreams of Victor Hugo and Langston Hughes are the dreams of millions of the world and people of Bangladesh too who cherish in their mind the same dreams, hopes and aspirations. So, the government and the law makers should consider the people’s will,it is the people who will decide what shall happen and what shan’t. From the prevailing political scenario, we suppose that people’s demand is to set up a government fully neutral in character to conduct the upcoming National Election. Once this decision is taken, the major stake holders (mainly the political parties) may sit together to find out ways and means to form the new caretaker government. In that case, minor amendment to the constitution may be required. Article 142 of the constitution gives power to the parliament to any provision of constitution by way of addition, alteration, substitution or repeal. It’s true that a constitution is meant to be permanent, but all changing situations cannot be envisaged and amendment of the constitution may be necessary to adopt to the future developments, thus provision is made in the constitution itself to effect changes required by the changing situations. The power of amendment, however, is a power given not to subvert the constitution, but to make it suitable to the changing situation (according to the needs and demand of the people). So changing or amending constitution is also within the framework of the constitution, not beyond. Now it is the law maker sturn to follow a blissful course of action. Edmund Burk’s great saying is pertinent and worth mentioning here. “A government is the contrivance of human welfare to provide welfare to the people”. So it is the government who should come forward to overcome the crisis and for resolving any problem keeping in view the wellbeing of the people and to establish justice in the country.
As of now what people need is justice and fair play for their peace, security and freedom of speech and liberty to move freely. For that matter independence of judges is highly required. By independence what I mean, not only in theory, but it should be in practice, it should be in judge’s oath, head, heart and mind. Sir Winston Churchill, while he was Prime Minister in 1954, he was strongly in favour of independence of judges. He urged upon and emphasised on a very vital aspect of dispensation of justice, saying, “the judge has not only to do justice between man and man. He also has to do justice between the citizen and the state and this is one of his most important function considered in comprehensible in some large parts of the world”. In this context, Lord Denning remarked, ” ….a judge is a judge for pleasant as well as for the palace, because every man’s happiness is safeguarded by fixed rules from tyranny or caprice”. In the ancient time say about thirteen hundred years ago, the notion of the independence of judiciary was evident also to a ruler of Arabia. It was Hazrat Ali (R) the ruler of Arabia. He wrote a letter to his governor in Egypt, Malik Ashtar. It is an epistle written by Ali (R) himself to one of his governor in Egypt. This was a great historic document. A small part of it is being quoted here- “Select your Chief Judge one from the people who is by far the best among them, one who is not obsessed with domestic worries, one who cannot be intimidated, one who does not err too often, one who does not turn back from the right path once he finds it, one who is not self-centered or avaricious, one who will not decide before knowing full facts……..and who will examine with patience every new disclosures of facts and one who will be strictly impartial in his decision, one whom flattery cannot mislead or one who does not exult over his position. But it is not easy to find such man”.
This shows how hard it is to render justice and without justice peace cannot prevail. On the contrary, people want peace in his heart and mind; they want to sleep without having anxieties in their mind. Peace does not only remain in food and shelter, it is hidden in freedom and justice. Peace is not only necessarily for personal life, but also necessary for national life. To maintain peace, therefore freedom and justice are sine qua non. The concept of freedom and justice has also been described by the then Honourable Chief Justice Mr. Hedayetullah on one occasion. He said, “Freedom is to be understood in a large sense. It means freedom to live and shape one’s own life without danger to others. Justice means equality before law when rival freedom clash. Both concepts are true in the national and international spheres. Thus, freedom and justice are the twin pillars of the civilised society equals, and also of international understanding. The object in each case is to establish and maintain peace”.
But to our utter dismay, it is noticed both in the national and in the international arena, peace is being threatened everywhere, it is being jeopardised in Africa, in Russia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Mynmar and so on. And so forth including Bangladesh. Now serious thoughts to be given on the present deplorable scenario about peace in national and international affairs. In any way, justice should prevail and must prevail and thereby people’s dream will comeback. So we should not wait for the future. We must act now, from this moment. However, I am tempted to conclude with a few lines from the famous poem composed by Longfellow ‘A Psalm of life’-
“Trust no Future, however pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act- act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God overhead!”