Editorial
Student-police clash
Why can't such incidents be prevented?
THE sight of police chasing students and students setting upon innocent passersby and on private and public vehicles as a result, and the consequent closing down of shops and businesses of the locality is a common spectacle that we watch with disgust and abomination. And the location is also a very common place of occurrence, Dhaka College and the surrounding area, which witnesses and indeed suffers from such violence off and on.
This time, reportedly, the protesting students were prevented from bringing out a procession from within the premises of Dhaka College to ventilate their grievance against the government order fixing the equivalence of GPA grade, that is determined in terms of points attained, and the public exams that are graded in terms of division gained.
The result was that there was a long traffic holdup on a very busy street apart from a large number of vehicles being damaged and many students injured. As for the students, they were prevented from bringing out, according to them, a peaceful procession in support of their demand for cancellation of the gazette notification of the ministry of education. The notification, according to them, differentiates in terms of value the SSC and HSC exams taken in 2001 and 2003 respectively and those taken after 2004. Understandably, it was necessary to draw a parallel. But why was it not done at the very beginning when the system was introduced in 2001?
While there may be merit in the claim of the students regarding the inequality in the equivalence, the fact that the students went berserk on being told to disperse dilutes the merit of their case. Nothing can justify the violence that the students indulged in, and from what we saw in the electronic media, of students going after private and public vehicles, hardly conveys a peaceful attitude on their part. A just cause does not need numbers but rationale to convince the authorities.
Of equal importance is the role of the law enforcing agencies under the circumstances. Reportedly, the police had asked the students to disperse and had taken away their microphone anticipating a violent situation. Did the students turn violent ab initio? Is it not one's right to express one's views in a peaceful manner?
It is disconcerting to see unwarranted and uncalled for violence, whatever the pretext and provocation that might be behind it. It is also absolutely unacceptable that innocent passersby should be made objects of wrath of the protestors.
We feel that the situation could have been tackled more tactfully and the sufferings of the motorists and pedestrians and businessmen alike in the locality could have been avoided with both parties exercising restraint.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments