Dhaka: The political involvement of children is an ‘open secret’ but people prefer to ‘look away’ from the problem considering it to be a ‘minor’ one that should ‘mellow’ with age.

But the confession of two street children in Chittagong who were arrested with fire bombs has shattered all those musings and brought into relief the depth of their criminal involvement.

Police arrested the two street children, Sohel and Kabir Hossain, with petrol bombs and a crude bomb from Ishakerpul area under Bakolia Police Station.

Quoting the arrestees, assistant commissioner of Kotwali zone of Chittagong police Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf said, ‘Street children were now engaged in hurling petrol and crude bombs on vehicles in exchange of paltry sum of Taka 500 during the BNP-led Alliance sponsored nationwide blockade and hartal in the name of movement.’

A leader of Bakolia ward BNP hired the street children to do the heinous act, the policeman said.

Additional Commissioner (crime and operation) Banoj Kumar Majumder said that street children were now being used in throwing petrol bombs in the capital city and a list of people, who use children, was being prepared.

The alarming reports surfaced in the backdrop of an absence about their precise numbers. A survey of 2005 counted the number of street children in six divisional cities at over seven lakhs. The survey forecasted that the number would be 12 lakh by 2014.

The activities of the deviant children were not restricted to throwing bombs or arson, children were being used for political showdowns like human chains, rallies and processions, too. Regardless of the organising party, some common young faces were always visible in different political programmes.

According to experts working in this field, most street children sleep in the streets, parks, trains, buses, launch stations and under government buildings. Taking advantage of their vulnerability security guards and members of the law enforcement agencies in many cases torture them.

Organisations working with street children say that 80% street children were addicted and engaged in criminal activities by the time they were seven.

A survey of such delinquent children reveal that 16% were involved in hurling bombs while 44 per cent were taking and selling drugs, 35% in picketing, 12% in hijacking, 11% in trafficking and 21% in other criminal activities. Five per cent of street children were being used as sources for illicit activities.

‘Children were mainly engaged in criminal activities for two reasons. Firstly, they were being used by criminal gangs and secondly they do not know the consequences of what they were doing. Broken family and poor family environment were also responsible for it,’ said an UNICEF expert.

He stressed the need for coordinated efforts of all concerned to ensure equal opportunity for every child so that they have access to education, health and medi-care and other facilities for developing their potential in becoming worthy citizens to lead the nation in future, the expert said.

Advocate Elina Khan, a leading human rights' activists stressed the enhanced and coordinated efforts of government and non-government organizations and civil society in stopping use of children in violence for political gains.

‘Everybody should consider every child as their own son or daughter only then could they be restrained from terrorist and violent activities,’ she said while talking to BSS.

Political leaders, at least should be more conscientious as they should understand that these children are the future of the country and if their lives were destroyed so would the country, she said, adding that the apex court had also given a directive to this end.