Inactivity on this Blog, due to the ‘blogspot’ application being unavailable in Bangladesh, was a little frustrating because I was remiss in keeping a journal of my experiences.
Arriving back in Canada, I felt it necessary to quickly post a warning about the corrupt and unscrupulous management of the school that hired me (See Education 4). That being done and, hopefully, forgotten, I may continue with another topic ... resisting the urge to use the title ‘A Day in the Life’.
In a previous Post (See Travel 5) I wrote,“... another aspect of Bangladeshi life that will never be forgotten, is the low value of human life. Every time I picked up a daily newspaper, I was astonished by the number of murders that were taking place every day (every day). There are two categories; firstly the group attacks on males resulting from some petty street argument and, secondly, the 'honor' killings of females, more often than not, housemaids. Then, only if reported, do the police become involved, but only to document the incident (Rarely is there a report of a conviction). It is difficult not to mention religion in this context.” I should, now, try to present a more detailed picture of that terrible situation which is rarely described in the Western media.
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| Dhaka (Bashundhara) |
To do this, I randomly grabbed a local newspaper, the Daily Star (May 23rd, 2013), and spent some time analyzing the contents for evidence of the low value of human life. Here is the result:
- “Man dies in cop custody - Family alleges torture as it gave half the money demanded in bribe for his release.”
- “BNP to call another hartal* next week - The BNP last night decided to enforce a nationwide daylong hartal next week protesting the ‘ban’ on rallies in the capital for a month.”
- “Rapist gets life term in Ctg - A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced a man to life and fined him Tk 1 lakh for raping a five-year-old girl.”
- “Road crash kill four - A man was killed and three others were injured as a truck rammed a Nasimon at Maligasa intersection in Pabna yesterday.” (Yes, I did notice the title error, Ed.)“MC College student stabbed to death - A student of MC College was stabbed to death by miscreants in the city’s Pathantola area yesterday.”
- “Injured CU student dies - A Chittagong University student, who was injured after falling off the railing in the corridor of his hall on Tuesday night, died in Chittagong Medical College Hospital early yesterday.”
- “Vandalism marks BNP’s hartal - At least 15 CNG auto-rickshaws were vandalized and another torched by pickets in Keraniganj upazila during yesterday’s daylong hartal in Dhaka district called by BNP.”
- “Sylhet court frames charges against six - A Sylhet court framed charges against six people in a case filed against them on a charge of killing journalist Foteh Osmani in Sylhet city on April 18.”
- “Accused in Rekkat murder case held - Detective Branch (DB) of police has arrested a youth in connection with local Swechsebok League leader Rekkat murder case.”
- “Two ‘smugglers’ killed in ‘shootout’ with BGB - Two alleged smugglers were killed in a ‘shootout’ between members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and a gang of smugglers ....”
- “18-party men sued - Around 200 leaders and activists of 18-party Alliance were sued yesterday on charge of vandalizing vehicles and blasting cocktails on Tuesday.”
- “Youth ‘commits suicide’ - A youth allegedly took his own life by taking poison over a family feud in Pakpara village in Kalidashpur ....”
- “Man kills daughter - A two-year-old girl was killed allegedly by her father at Bhatpara village ....”
- “Youth electrocuted - A dish line worker was electrocuted in Kawkhali upazila on Tuesday night.”
- “Housewife killed for dowry - A housewife has been killed allegedly by her husband for dowry at Asadpur village under KHaliajuri upazila.”
- “30 extrajudicial killings so far this year - Bangladesh security forces perpetrated at least 30 extrajudicial killings and 10 forced disappearances and carried out wide-spread torture in 2012, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International.”
- “2 killed in ‘shootout’ - They were suspected of murder, abduction, says RAB.”
- “Rajshahi Jubo League leader shot dead - A Rajshahi leader was gunned down in a factional clash at Chandipur in Rajshahi city yesterday afternoon.”
Please note that this is an average daily record, and I have other newspapers that describe similar statistics. It is surprisingly noticeable that deaths and injuries on the railways are not mentioned in this instance. Incidentally, this newspaper, ironically, had a photo of Mahatma Gandhi on the front page.
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| Dhaka (Bashundhara) |
Please comment using the 'comment' button below.
Why do you think life in Bangladesh is so cheap? We know it is extremely poor and over populated situated in a wet, flood plain with few resources. We know it is largely Muslim and presumably Sharia law rules normal human transactions. We believe, I suppose, illiteracy is the predominant education level and as such a small minority of wealthy families rule the country.
ReplyDeleteWhich of these is the main problem, are there other conditions or are they all part of the problem.
Yes, it all contributes to the problem, but the obviously huge unaccounted for, and unemployed population, trying to eke out a living in such a terrible environment is a problem that I would lay heavily at the feet of the government.
DeleteLiteracy levels are low, but only in the distant rural areas. In the cities, parents will go to great lengths to pay for their children's education. There are, literally, thousands of schools in Dhaka. Perhaps, about 50 so-called universities and 100 technical colleges and, seemingly, a small private school on every corner. Thus, there are, in fact, too many educated graduates, and I have commented before about the quality of some local teachers and the value of some degrees.
As, an example, my colleague and I shared an administrative assistant who made tea for us every morning, and photo-copies during the rest of the day - he had an MBA degree.
Actually, there are wealthy families, and the nouveau riche are the worst, and this is where cronyism evolves, especially amongst corrupt ex-military officers.
The main problem is the total lack of government. There are about 50 political parties at each election, but just two main parties. Thus, all governments are are created from a coalition and no government sits for longer than one term.
It is a situation were there is an elected government trying to govern while the opposition entices their youth wing thugs to rampage on a weekly basis causing mayhem and destruction everywhere and, thus, economic ruin. By the way, it is well-worth noting that during the terrible hartal moments, the army is never seen.
I can't think of another word, other than 'anarchy'.