Former
chief justice and chief adviser
to the caretaker government Justice
Habibur Rahman has observed that
the constitution is not being followed
in running the country. "The
Supreme Court's judgement is not
being followed and that is unexpected.
This is a serious and dangerous
situation," he noted while
speaking as chief guest at a discussion
on "Human Security in Bangladesh:
Recent Trends and Responses"
at the CIRDAP auditorium.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD),
an independent think-tank, organised
the discussion. He said the problem
of human security is critical now,
as the country has become sharply
divided. He called for working together
to overcome the present situation.
Dr Shahdeen Malik, advocate of the
Supreme Court, presented the keynote
paper based on the UNDP's publication
on "Human Security in Bangladesh:
In Search of Justice and Dignity".Malik
in his paper said ensuring security
means preventing crime. The view
was echoed by all other participants
and many of whom observed that corruption
stands at the heart of the problems
threatening human security.
Eminent lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain
said 80 per cent illiterate people
of Bangladesh are not the problem.
"We, the educated and white-collar
people, are the protectors of godfathers,
possessors of black money... and
are responsible for the present
state of human security."
He said none should blame the constitution
for the present state of human security
"because personal responsibility
goes with the constitution. We have
failed to go by the constitution".
"In such a situation, we need
conscious people who are brave and
don't care for their personal damage,"
Dr Kamal said, adding that a healthy
politics would require a regeneration.
"We are the victims... we are
powerless, because we are not holding
hands together," he said and
called for getting united to root
out all evils from society. Awami
League (AL) lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta
shared other speakers' allegations
that the politicians are to be blamed
for the present state of security.
But he said there are different
types of politicians.
"[There are] politicians with
ideology and politicians with opportunity.
Some come to power by abrogating
the constitution and some to uphold
the constitution," he said.Jaitya
Party MP GM Kader, AL leader Abdul
Matin Khasru, Prof. Muntasir Mamun
of Dhaka University and eminent
lawyer Barrister Amir-Ul Islam were
among others who took part in the
discussion.
