Job offer for Siddiqur
Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim has promised to give Siddiqur Rahman a job in his ministry. This is the latest in a series of ministerial pronouncements made since Siddiqur, a third-year student at the Government Titumir College, was injured during a demonstration last month. While we think that the minister's gesture is well-meaning, and thank him for it, it is clearly not enough for the grievous bodily harm that Siddiqur has suffered. The minister's offer skirts the real issue, that of giving justice to Siddiqur by bringing those that are responsible for his condition to account for their action.
Siddiqur deserves justice for what happened to him. He risks losing both his eyes because of one careless act by an ill-trained policeman. Justice at this stage will mean, first of all, bringing those responsible to book and made examples of to his colleagues. And the police leadership, on the other hand, should also take steps to improve the crowd control capacity of its officers.
In the event that a permanent vision loss cannot be avoided, Siddiqur is going to need proper training and education to help him through a lifetime of blindness, without being made an object of pity. His family, who had all their hopes pinned on the prospects of the youngest of the five siblings, will need to readjust to the new situation. And they are going to need support for that. Thus, last but not the least, the government must adequately compensate him and his family monetarily.
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