Sudden violent situation: All parties must be patient

We have long been noted the lack of the rule of law and political tolerance that are essential for the country’s democratic transformation.

The sudden escalation of the political situation after the Election Commission recently announced the roadmap for the upcoming 13th parliamentary elections is not only unusual, but also worrying.

According to media reports, on Friday’s incident, several leaders and activists, including party president Nurul Haque Nur of Gono Odhikar Parishad were injured in an attack by law enforcement officers on a programme organized by the party in the capital. Some political parties have condemned this attack and demanded proper treatment for the injured.

The interim government has also condemned the incident of lathi-charge on Nur. Why such a clash at a time when political parties are supposed to be heading towards elections after the announcement of the roadmap?

The JatiyaParty and the Gono Odhikar Parishad have blamed each other for the incident. On the other hand, regarding the clash between the leaders and activists of the Jatiya Party and the Gona Odhikar Parishad, the Deputy Commissioner of the Ramna Division of the DMP said that the army and police went to stop the clash between the two parties and brought the situation under control.

In another incident on Sunday, a fresh clash broke out between Chattogram University (CU) students and local residents around noon, as a sequel to tensions stemming from an earlier confrontation.

The conflict broke out following the alleged assault of a female student by a security guard near the university’s Gate No. 2. As a result, to calm down the situation, the local administration imposed Section 144 with effect from 3:00pm yesterday until 3:00pm Monday in Hathazari municipality and within a 10km area of the university.

The mob violence that took place at a roundtable at the Dhaka Reporters Unity Auditorium the on Thursday is also highly condemnable. During the programme, some youths went there and harassed and beat up the organizers and guests.

Not only these three incidents, a group of people under the banner of ‘Tawhidi Janata’ attacked, vandalized, looted, and set fire to an amusement park called JibonMahal in BirolUpazila of Dinajpur.

If there were any illegal activities taking place there, they could have complained to the law enforcement authorities.

We believe that the issue is not just about law and order. There are also political calculations behind this. The government must deal with any kind of violence, whether political or non-political, with a strong hand.