Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Examining the inexistence of the rule of law in Bangladesh, Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) said Friday that Bangladeshi people will have to act to establish rule of law in the immediate and distant future.
"Bangladeshi sympathisers in the international community cannot do anything to assist common Bangladeshis in establishing a rule of law state if citizens do not act. It is the people of Bangladesh who will determine the fate of the rule of law in Bangladesh in the immediate and distant future," wrote the Editorial Board of the Hong Kong-based rights body.
People’s rights cannot be conceived without the existence of the rule of law, in any given territory, said a new edition of ALRC’ quarterly journal, “article2”, examining the inexistence of the rule of law in Bangladesh.
The rights body substantiate the patterns of violation of people's rights and the inability or refusal of criminal justice institutions to provide remedies to victims, the report said.
It reveal the real state of Bangladesh, a country unable to uphold the rule of law.
The publication titled "Special Report” focuses on the criminal justice and law-enforcement institutions and their relationships with existing political practices in Bangladesh.
The report contains information on 47 cases of torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, fabrication of criminal charges, acid attacks, sexual violence, non-investigation, and refusal to provide of justice from all parts of Bangladesh.
These cases have been documented by the ALRC's sister organisation the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) since 2009, when Bangladesh reportedly began its journey from a military-controlled emergency rule to an elected democracy.
An article analysing four cases of the state's repressions illustrates the true character of the state machineries of Bangladesh.
The remaining sections of the report complement the cases, and include two articles by academic scholars Maimul Ahsan Khan and Saira Rahman Khan.
The articles discuss the constitutional stature and legal standing of Bangladesh following the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution, and protecting vested interests at the cost of fundamental rights.
The ALRC's Programme Coordinator Md. Ashrafuzzaman analyses the condition of Bangladesh in light of the normative standards of the rule of law.
He exposes how the state apparatus acts towards citizens while undermining the rule of law.
This special report is enriched by the invaluable opinions of a number of reputed professionals of Bangladesh.
The ALRC has interviewed: Nurul Kabir, editor of New Age; Anu Muhammad, Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University; Akmal Hossain, Professor of International Relations, University of Dhaka; M. Shahiduzzaman, Professor of International Relations, University of Dhaka; Nur Khan and Shahed Kayes, human rights defenders; and Saiful Haque, General Secretary, Revolutionary Workers' Party of Bangladesh.
BBN/ANS-12Sept14-7:55pm (BST)