Are we all homicides?

Dhaka 2020

Abusing police is the trend of this time in Bangladesh. Maybe it's an expression of people's long-held resentment. Surely there is a lot to criticize the police force. They have been strongly condemned on social media for the past few days. Meanwhile, several police officers are giving counter explanations. Many such responses are increasing negative attitude of people. 

In doing so, we may be forgetting how humanely this force appeared during the COVID epidemic. As of August 14, a total of 67 policemen have died from the virus. Yet they are being bullied on social media. Cause now it's very easy to just blame them. But they are not the only culprits. 

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has started a full investigation into the alleged murder of former army officer (retd) Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan, who was killed by the police. But in the case of extrajudicial killings, the police and the RAB are rivals. It is even more ridiculous to see who is writing about the police than what is being written. Why were they silent for so long? Even after so many extrajudicial killings, would people have been aware, if the latest victim was not a former army officer? 

Why do we forget that these policemen are our relatives? None of them came from another planet. How many of us are questioning that social system or political situation, which forces a law enforcer to be a murderer? 

A total of 287 people have been killed in alleged gunfights with members of various government law enforcement agencies in Cox's Bazar since the start of the country's anti-drug campaign on May 4, 2018, and until July 31 this year. Of these, 174 were killed in clashes with police, 62 with BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) and 51 with RAB. Between 2001 and June 2020, some 4,002 people were killed in extrajudicial killings by law enforcement. More than half of them, 2,173 were killed by police and 1,224 by RAB. 

Extrajudicial killings are an extreme violation of human rights. Domestic and foreign human rights organizations have repeatedly raised questions about such killings. However, such unconstitutional activities of the law enforcement agencies are not near to stop. There are also allegations against them for making countless people disappear. 

But the question is, are only the law enforcement agencies responsible for these? Can other organs of the state avoid their liability? Aren't people equally responsible for this situation?