Editorial
Is This Law Needed?
AGAIN the apparition of a harsh law is back. Towards the fag-end of its tenure the AL government has felt the need for a draconian law just as the predecessor BNP government had fallen for, close to the half-way point of its term in 1992. With the Cabinet deciding to place the controversial public Safety Bill (Special Provision) in the Jatiya Sangsad envisaging summary trial for certain specified criminal offences through special tribunals the spectre of a strong-arm tactic has been raised by the government, needlessly we think. Inexorably, when in the government the AL is showing that it cannot do without a 'tough' law but when in the opposition the same party had torn asunder with some incisive logic the Suppression of Terrorist Offences Act passed during the BNP rule. The AL had argued then that it was an unconstitutional measure and an onslaught on human rights which was also likely to be abused by the police, if not by the then incumbent PM or the home ministry etc. etc. The supreme irony is that the same logic can now be turned around and used against the AL government, perhaps with a greater vehemence because of the fact that the AL has refused to learn any lesson from the abandonment of the law by the BNP government earlier on. Initially enacted for two years, it was subsequently allowed to fall in disuse without any renewal, albeit as a result of public outcry. But in the present case, the AL government does not even seem keen on a time-bound duration legislate, which makes it look even worse.
When there is a long-pending clamour for the removal of the diabolic Special Powers Act itself from the statute book what is so compelling now about a special act of parliament to deal with crimes when laws do exist to tackle them anyhow? Couldn't those, with certain modifications, prove effective?
If only we had the will to enforce the existing legal provisions against crimes, if we had taken due care in preparing the prosecution and if we had landed with a rate of conviction that was next to nothing before the number of arrests made and publicised, then surely we wouldn't have any need for such a draconian law.
The timing of the bill can be suspect with the opposition agitation mounting and the elections approaching, to say nothing of its overall thrust. If the government presses on with it, then our suggestion will be that before its adoption let the draft bill be circulated to elicit public opinion on it.
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