A wave of terror is sweeping across the country. Ordinary citizens are looking over their shoulders or mumbling in whispers when discussing sensitive matters in public.  Government critics live in constant fear, unsure when masked men in unregistered vehicles will pounce on them. Clerics, too, are fearful when they shepherd their flock from the pulpit. 

Among journalists, cartoonists, Opposition leaders, judges, magistrates, and human rights defenders, fear and anxiety have become the new norm following the takeover of what had previously been safe streets and modes of protest by goons who do not fear the police and operate with impunity.