Leaders of different political parties on Monday criticised the abuse of the Digital Security Act and said that the law was enacted to create a climate of fear and monopolise the power of the ruling Awami League.
They were of the opinion that a law was necessary to prevent a growing number of cybercrimes but not the kind of DSA, which was being used against politicians, students, and journalists to suppress dissenting, critical and logical voices.
They made the observation speaking at a webinar titled ‘Digital Security Act 2018: In the Eyes of the Politicians’, organised by a local research group, Center for Governance Studies.
Abdul Awal Mintoo, a vice-chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said there should be a cyber-security law to protect people against hacking and cyber-attacks but the DSA was not serving this purpose.
It was enacted to monopolise the power of the ruling party.
He said that the DSA was being used to censor criticism of the government and suppress political opponents.
Some sections of DSA were also helping the police to harass innocent public, he said.
Everything people hoped to achieve by joining the liberation war is, unfortunately, being spoiled by DSA, he said.
The opposition leader argued that a significant modification to the DSA was required if not outright scrapping it if people were to be handed back their fundamental rights.
Former minister and Jatiya Party lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid said the DSA is being mainly used against politicians, journalists, and students and the law is against the spirit of the liberation war.
He said Bangladesh witnessed a lot of visible development, including infrastructure, but it hardly could cater to the need for invisible progress by ensuring rule of law and good governance.
Andaleeve Rahman Partho, chairman of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party, said the DSA was being used to tighten the grip of the incumbent government on the power.
He said that the law was very poorly drafted and was made to control the people through fear.
Ruling Awami League central committee organising secretary Ahmed Hossain defended the law saying that it was essential to curb growing ‘militancy’, hate-speech, and communal violence.
The ruling party leader said security is a very big priority for the state, and DSA is an important tool in combating terrorism and preventing civil unrest, stopping the spread of fake news and false allegations.
Retired major general Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, chairman of Bangladesh Kallyan Party, said the DSA was enacted with a political motive and it created scope for police to abuse it.
Zonayed Saki, the chief coordinator of Ganasanghati Andolan, called for repealing the act saying that the law handed law enforcement agencies too much power to abuse it.
In the past, he said, Section 57 of the ICT Act was used similarly.
Saki said, currently, the government was using fear generated by the DSA to maintain its authoritative rule. He said it was now an offence to criticise the prime minister and her government.
CGS chairman Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury presided over the webinar while CGS executive director Zillur Rahman conducted the session.
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