Even children not spared

Children have not been spared of the ongoing political unrest as they fall victims to the acts done by the pro-blockade and hartal activists or the administrative actions to tame the violence.

In the last two months, children have been shot, burnt, slaughtered, maimed, arrested and beaten.

At least five of them died in crossfire, 15 in petrol bombs and another two in crude bomb blasts, according to findings of a children’s rights body. Many more have been crippled, maimed and injured.

The sorry state comes to the forefront as Bangladesh observes National Children’s Day today, with a prime ministerial promise to make the country a safe abode for them.

Just the other day, a police constable admitted to slaughtering a fourth grader who was abducted on his way back from school for ransom. The little boy had recognised the policeman. He was found dead in a sack at the constable’s house.

Children continue to fall victims, become tools of crime or accessories to criminal gangs even as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the call yesterday. Children will be begging for alms on the streets even as rights activists make lofty pronouncements.

Children will be trying to make a living and earn livelihoods for their families when they should be at school, even as the country observes the children’s day with due solemnity.

Not that Bangladesh has ever been the safest place for children, but it would be an understatement if one said the children’s day is marked today amid gravely unusual circumstances.

Even before the January 2014 national elections when the BNP-led opposition was staging bloody street protests, children were among the worst sufferers.

According to Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), a total of 105 children have become victims of political unrest from January to March this year. Of them, 22 were killed and the rest were either injured in political violence or arrested as accessories to criminals.

The BSAF statistics also include that two students and eight children were used in political programmes during this time while law enforcers arrested nine more on charges of hurling firebombs.

Moreover, three children got hurt in police firing while three faced mob beating, says the statistics prepared on the basis of media reports from the last two months.

On January 18, doctor couple Saiful and Sharmin and their two-and-a-half-year-old son Shafir came under an arson on their vehicle in Chashara of Narayanganj. Compared to the burns that Safir suffered, the parents’ injuries were less severe.

Saiful and Sharmin have recently taken their son home who had to undergo extensive treatment at the City Hospital in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur.

Sharmin said: “Although he has recovered from the burns, but there is still a big mark on Safir’s body. But the mental trauma is even more serious. I do not know how my son will recover from this or not.”

Not just Safir, Rupa, 6, Rakib Mia, 12, Nazimuddin, 14, and Jui, 2, have all been taking treatment at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital over the last couple of months.

All these children got burnt in arson on vehicles at different times since the BNP and its allies started enforcing non-stop blockade and hartals on January 6.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon at the burn institute, said: “At least 167 people have taken treatment here since the blockade began. At least two dozens of them are children. The children and the elderly are the ones in the worst of conditions and curing them have been difficult.”

Salma Begum, associate professor of sociology at Dhaka University, said: “When the world is trying to ensure safety for children, in our country they are falling victims to political unrest every day.”

She also said: “The mental trauma they carry throughout the rest of their lives are much graver than the physical injuries.”

AS Mahmud, director of BSAF, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “Things were not as bad for children even just a couple of years ago. But when political unrest erupted at the end of 2013 and now in 2015 again, children are having to bear the brunt.”

He suggested that the authorities should strictly implement the Child Act and child policy to stop such violence against children.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said: “Using children in any criminal activities is a punishable offence. People who are exploding crude bombs or hurling petrol bombs on children are also doing crime. We will bring all of them to book.”