A GROWING erosion of civil liberties and the repression of civic space are what define today’s Bangladesh. Global rights group Civicus has classified civic space in Bangladesh as ‘repressed’. Civil liberties of people have seriously been curtailed in the recent past, with assemblies and protests by political opposition, students and workers having met with restrictions and police high-handedness, as the report published on March 16 says. The report has rated civic space in 38 countries as open, 42 as narrowed, 40 as obstructed, and 50, including Bangladesh, as repressed. It also puts Bangladesh, along with Cambodia, on the list of ‘countries of concern’. It expresses concern about the growing highhandedness and violence by law enforcers, often joined by ruling party activists, to muzzle dissent and protest and says that civil and political organisations as well as rights defenders and journalists are increasingly targeted. The report has also noted the abuse and misuse of the Digital Security Act to silence online dissent. It specifically mentions the government crackdown on nationwide protests by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest in the opposition camp, in August–September 2022.

The partisan role of the law enforcement agencies and their high-handed treatment of the opposition and dissent have, in fact, for long been criticised by political parties in opposition, civil society and rights groups, who see such a partisan role of the agencies as the wellspring of a partisan application of the law and a major contributor to the declining rights situation. Besides the sustained attack on the opposition, there has, as the report says, been a worrying escalation in harassment, torture and ill treatment of journalists and rights defenders. In some instances, the authorities have targeted not only journalists and rights defenders, whether they were working locally or from abroad, but also their family, sometimes by detaining members of the families of the targeted journalists. Unabated custodial torture, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearances, which have already tarnished Bangladesh’s image, have also contributed to the shrinking space for civil liberties. The report also says that civil society organisations have been targeted, citing the example of the government having arbitrarily revoked the registration of rights group Odhikar and intensified its smear campaign against the organisation. All that the report says to show how civic space has shrunken has been reported by other local and international rights organisations. But, the government appears unmoved by the reports and has continued to grind down civil liberties.

The government in a democratic dispensation is responsible for upholding civic space and ensuring civil liberties. The government and the ruling party must, therefore, heed the Civicus report and understand that the people are the source of power and legitimacy and the erosion of the civic space is highly detrimental to democracy.