The cancer of disobedience
The cancer of disobedience
CYNICAL observers of Bangladeshi socio-political scene cannot perhaps be blamed for sarcastically pronouncing that disobedience of law has almost become a way of life. While one may take issue with such an extreme judgment one cannot take comfort from the fact that the ranks of law-breakers are swelling. It is indeed sad to see that disobedience of law and resultant delinquency are becoming pervasive.
When deviation is suspected to be all-pervasive it is difficult to pinpoint the priority areas of concern. However, the painful reality is that the individual and the society as a whole tend to suffer and, worse still, the moral foundation of an orderly and civilised society gets shaken in such an ominous slide. In such a scenario the concerned citizens cannot remain frozen with mere disgust.
While the common folks may not be able to correctly gauge the volume and depth of the not-so-visible, and as such inconspicuous, disobedience, the manifest violation of traffic laws on the streets cannot escape notice. It is downright humiliating to note that the Dhaka traffic policemen hardly ever dare to stop cars for violating traffic rules as most of the vehicles that disregard the rules are owned by influential people who can have the policemen reprimanded or even transferred.
The above untenable situation, though unfortunate, is borne out by facts on ground. Serving policemen have complained that their colleagues were reprimanded or transferred for taking actions against offending lawmakers, top government officials, businesspeople and media persons. The scenario can be appreciated from the media report that riders of flag-bearing vehicles often bully traffic sergeants into stopping traffic flow on major thoroughfares and allowing them to pass.
The worrying report is that the frequently law breaking vehicles in the VIP areas belong to the law enforcement machinery. Such areas also witness the wrong side plying of the vehicles of honourable law makers. So, when one sees the deadly combination of law enforcers and lawmakers flouting the law one cannot expect the public to act lawfully. Maintaining order in such madness becomes a nightmare.
Deliberate disobedience of law, quite clearly, needs to attract public attention in the media because such distraction prejudices public interest. However, the irony is that media transports, particularly those belonging to the TV channels, also figure prominently in the list of frequent violators of traffic rules in key areas of the city. Unauthorised and unabashed parking of electronic media vehicles in front of their offices would make one believe that they have proprietary rights over such public places.
Under circumstances as above, when public functionaries and corrective institutions do not realise the imperative of obeying the law, the pontifications of building an orderly society sound hollow. We need to set our respective houses in order and only thereafter lecture others on the virtues of a lawful society and the compulsions of the rule of law. It is time to put an end to the spectacle of public nuisance.
Another manifest debilitating specter of disobedience of law is the report of nearly 20,000 households consuming gas illegally in four upazilas of Narayanganj district where public leaders and contractors joined hands to provide illegal gas connections over an area stretching over 100 kilometers. These illegal connections have not only deprived the government of huge revenue income and the legal users of adequate gas, they also pose a threat to households and the locals as the quality and laying of the distribution lines fall short of the standard.
Reports indicate that the government in the recent past legalised one hundred thousand illegal gas lines. Such indiscretions have only emboldened the potential law violators who most blatantly resorted to obtaining illegal gas lines by colluding with corrupt officials and public leaders. Legality and safety of the public were on nobody's minds and actions. Disobedience of law in full public view was at its extreme.
Some people, especially those in authority and representative capacity, have become violators and plunderers of public property and are giving a damn to propriety and probity. They need to be held culpable and made responsible in public interest.
The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.