Hartal: An Extreme Form of Democratic Expression
Hartal: An Extreme Form of Democratic Expression
Mohammad Habibur Rahman
Hartal in Bangladesh has become a vital feature of the everyday life of the citizens of Bangladesh. Indeed the history of hartals in Bangladesh is quite extensive and is associated with numerous important movements including language movement 1952, liberation war and movement against autocratic ruler in 1991. Hence there are many people in our country who believe that hartal is quite justifiable and they are called for appropriate causes. However, with the increasing violence and indiscipline that we can associate with hartals nowadays, a question arises from various groups that how such hartal can be legal, and how the destruction in the name of hartal can be a matter of right?
Recently the question of legality and illegality of hartal enters into a public discourse due to the 'anxiety', 'insecurity', 'uncertainty', 'threat' associated with hartals. Top political and business leaders are proposing to enact a law banning hartal to put on end to its detrimental effects. An UNDP report on hartal showed that, the majority of the public agreed that the hartal should be banned (UNDP Bangladesh; Beyond Hartals, 2005). Thus this issue needs to be resolved as the common people of Bangladesh hold a confused perception about the legality of hartal.
Generally most of the people of our country regard hartal as lawful and identify it as a democratic right. Even they feel that banning hartal means imposing limitation on every fundamental democratic right, and in the end it will not bring any positive result for the nation. There is a high amount of possibility exist that it will assist to revolve a democratically elected government to an autocratic one. They strongly believe that without establishing a trustworthy and sustainable democratic culture which definitely based on the mutual tolerance, accountability and independent judiciary; such decision will be desperately detrimental for the whole nation
Mohammad Habibur Rahman
Hartal in Bangladesh has become a vital feature of the everyday life of the citizens of Bangladesh. Indeed the history of hartals in Bangladesh is quite extensive and is associated with numerous important movements including language movement 1952, liberation war and movement against autocratic ruler in 1991. Hence there are many people in our country who believe that hartal is quite justifiable and they are called for appropriate causes. However, with the increasing violence and indiscipline that we can associate with hartals nowadays, a question arises from various groups that how such hartal can be legal, and how the destruction in the name of hartal can be a matter of right?
Recently the question of legality and illegality of hartal enters into a public discourse due to the 'anxiety', 'insecurity', 'uncertainty', 'threat' associated with hartals. Top political and business leaders are proposing to enact a law banning hartal to put on end to its detrimental effects. An UNDP report on hartal showed that, the majority of the public agreed that the hartal should be banned (UNDP Bangladesh; Beyond Hartals, 2005). Thus this issue needs to be resolved as the common people of Bangladesh hold a confused perception about the legality of hartal.
Generally most of the people of our country regard hartal as lawful and identify it as a democratic right. Even they feel that banning hartal means imposing limitation on every fundamental democratic right, and in the end it will not bring any positive result for the nation. There is a high amount of possibility exist that it will assist to revolve a democratically elected government to an autocratic one. They strongly believe that without establishing a trustworthy and sustainable democratic culture which definitely based on the mutual tolerance, accountability and independent judiciary; such decision will be desperately detrimental for the whole nation