Lawyers, politicians call for culture of abiding laws
Lawyers and political leaders at a discussion yesterday stressed the need for building a culture of obeying laws in every sector to establish the rule of law in the country and suggested that the culture should start from within family.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam said both the people and the government were habituated with breaking laws and violating human rights.
"There is no-one in Bangladesh who did not violate human rights of others and did not break laws. The situation of human rights and the rule of law will not improve unless we confess it," he told the discussion, "The rule of law and improvement of human rights" at the capital's Jatiya Press Club, organised Amader Ain.
Amirul, also a constitution expert, said many thought the rule of law was a subject of the constitution and law, but it was a matter of culture.
The rule of law means the public welfare oriented laws and laws that can protect the rights of people, said Prof Asif Nazrul, who teaches law at Dhaka University.
Criticising the country's rulers, he said most of Bangladeshi laws were good, but the rulers used those as a weapon to hurt the opposition. The rulers are taking advantage of some constitutional loopholes to violate human rights, he observed.
Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikya, blamed rights violation on the country's sheer political polarisation.
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