The rally in Muktangon on 4th June 2003 followed a route including Puranan Paltan Crossing and Topkhana Road and ended at the press club followed by submission of a memorandum to the Honorable Prime Minister, People's Republic of Bangladesh.

Memorandum text

Placards and 250 IANSA t-shirts were distributed to people at the rally. The rally was led by disadvantaged street children, who are directly or indirectly the prime victims of small arms. The rally was also led among others by Prof Dalem Chandra Barman, Chairman of the Peace and Conflict Studies Department (University of Dhaka), Mr Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah,
President of the National Election Observation Council (local name JANIPOP), Professor of the Dept of Public Administration (University of Dhaka), Mr Syed Nurul Alam, the Executive Director of SAP-Bangladesh, and Mr. Rafiqul Alam, former Police Super.

At the end of the rally Mr. Syed Nurul Alam thanked everyone, particularly the children, for taking pains to attend the rally and making it so successful. He said, "Illicit and indiscriminate use of Small Arms has posed a serious threat to the security of mankind. Widespread proliferation and easy availability of small arms has emerged as a pressing concern to the safety and security of the state and people of South Asia and the rest of the globe. Bangladesh is no exception". He requested all irrespective of opinion to join hands to curb the illicit use of small arms.

Representatives from OXFAM-GB, Action Aid Bangladesh, PROSHIKA, PADAKHEP Manabik Unnayan Sangstha, Democracy Watch, VERC, Gono Unnayan Prochesta-GUP (Mass Development Initiative), Community Development Library, ARBAN and many NGOs and CSOs attended the rally among others while a good number of media people were also present to cover the event, including 7 national newspapers.

To
The Honorable Prime Minister,
People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Tejgaon, Dhaka

Through: Mr. Nurul Islam
Private Secretary (1) to Prime Minister

Subject: Urging for steps to be taken for curbing indiscriminate use of illicit small arms.

Honorable Prime Minister,

With due respect would like to inform you that, due to your sole intention and tireless initiatives for the betterment of our country, development in our country now-a-days has been taking place rapidly. Your strong leadership reduced the inconsistencies of our society and shows us the peaceful way. At the same time we would like to remember with grateful of the praiseworthy initiatives undertaken by your govt. to combat violence. You already proved, the terrorists are neither belongs to any party nor to any country. But it is a matter of grave concerns for all of us that, your successive efforts have been failed to sustain with the existence of invisible power. The indiscriminate use of small arms and the political patronization of the terrorists are one of the reasons behind this happening. Nobody in our society is now safe as the proliferation of small arms took place in a large scale. Until and
unless the collective effort is made the situation will not be improved.

Honorable Prime Minister,

The indiscriminate use of illicit small arms now a great threat of human being. The availability and proliferation of these kinds is now a great barrier of security reason of the people of whole world including South Asia, Bangladesh is also no exception. The uses of illegal arms are now nakedly open as usually found in case of any organized crime, social or
political violence or in student politics etc. Perceiving the problems regarding the same, over the last couple of years, South Asia Partnership (SAP)-Bangladesh has been carrying out some interventions including awareness raising on the same issue among the mass.

Honorable Prime Minister,

There are about 2 lakh small arms in Bangladesh out of which, 50 thousand belongs to the criminals and their Godfathers. Besides, Bangladesh has been considered as a transit point for trafficking the illegal arms. From a recent research report it has been found that,
there are about 80 crime syndicate around the country of which 28 is active in the Dhaka city. On an average the killer bullets taking 4 lives and making 10 wounded everyday in our country. The existing law related to combat the terrorism is age old which resulting in favour of the terrorist to be set free. The police department also lack of efficiency and training to combat the terrorism.

In a workshop captioned "Small Arms and Right to a safe Environment: Bangladesh Perspective" the participants from civil society set forth some suggestions and recommendations to reduce the use of and trade in illicit small arms, which are documented below:

Our Recommendations

1. The government of Bangladesh should invest more in the police department from which the people will directly get some benefit.

2. The government of Bangladesh should employ the meritorious persons in the Police Department so that they can utilize their intelligence in discovering ever-new techniques in curbing the use of small arms from the society.

3. The government should reform the existing law relating to small arms so that the criminals responsible for such crime can be punished very easily under this law.

4. The government should arrange intensive training for the police for effective investigation of the source, user, and suppliers of small arms by the Police department.

5. The government should also keep in mind that the easy availability and indiscriminate use of explosives is on rise and claiming more lives. Explosives can be carried out silently and can be detonated through remote control system. The government should figure out certain ways to prevent it.  

6. The government should incorporate the adverse consequences of small arms in the school curriculum. 

7. One of the root causes of the indiscriminate use of small arms is unemployment. The government should come forward to eradicate unemployment.

8. The government should take necessary action for wide dissemination of information about the trafficking of illegal small arms and its indiscriminate use. The state must give protection to the information provider, because by the end of the day it might take a bullet of these small arms to shut the informer off forever.

9. The root source of the arms supply should be detected. We do not have any proper investigation system. We need to make a pool of investigators, bringing in representatives from the Army, Police, BDR (Bangladesh Riffles), Ansar and find out the root causes and the
likely sources of small arms.

10. Interactions with and among the stakeholders i.e. retired army person, police and others concerned should be arranged and information regarding the adverse implication of small arms should be disseminated.

11. The government should encourage the civil society and help them establish more "Civil Watch Groups" for small arms in each and every locality in a very creative way.

Honorable Prime Minister,

Your effective leadership and democratic approach has been considering as a milestone in building a violence free society. To combat the terrorism, your uncompromising initiative is applauded. Due to the same reason, we are urging you to consider our recommendations and undertake due measures to reduce indiscriminate use of small arms in our country.

Thanking you,

On behalf of SAP-Bangladesh-

CC:

1. Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2. Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
3. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
4. Director General- UN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
5. Director General- South Asia Region, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
6. Army Chief of Staff, Bangladesh Army
7. Director General, DGFI, Dhaka Cantonment
8. Director, Military Intelligence, Bangladesh Army