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Who is the Boss? ABM Nasir Published on April 20, 2007
Military backed government of Bangladesh declared
Sheikh Hasina Wazed persona non grata and, as reported in the news media,
has been trying to force Begum Zia to leave the country. What all these
portend is not clear yet. But, all these are strikingly similar to the
tactics used by many authoritarian regimes in the past. The British Raj in
India used to exile political prisoners to Andaman. Pakistani dictator,
omnipotent Musharaf exiled two ex-prime ministers of Benazir Bhutto and
Nawaz Sharrif to abroad. No doubt, Begum Zia�s ruling coalition ruled the
country like a mafia organization. But, country has laws to deal with such
abuse of power. Was it necessary to blackmail a mother to force her to leave
the country, simply by a staging a mock arrest of her son, Arafat Rahman
Coco? What are the specific charges against Sheikh Hasina?
Why won�t she be allowed to defend herself in the court of laws? Does an
arbitrary decision by a group of unelected supposed to be caretaker advisors
make it right? What is the limit of their power? Some of my well-wishers may already have started to
wonder, scratching their heads, what the hell is going in my mind? Why am I
shading tears for a family which allegedly led to the worst plunders in the
history of the country? As I mentioned above and I repeat here: like many of
you, I, too, perceive that BNP-led government broke all previous records of
kleptocracy in the history of Bangladesh. But, what my perception or some else�s has to do
with sending two elected former prime-ministers to exile? I believe rules of
law must apply equally to all accept those who perpetrate genocide. I also
believe a person is innocent until proven guilty. I worry that such overzealous law enforcement will
create sympathy for the corrupt individuals and portray them as the victims
of a political witch hunt. I worry that such instance of abortion of justice
may lead to the freedom of Tareq-Mamun-Falu-Harris-Abbas-Salahuddin-Pintoo
gang and more sufferings for the people. And I worry that such primordial
justice can be used as a pretext to prohibit my entry into my motherland
because I am protesting such tyrannical behavior of government. The way the CG and the army is manipulating the laws
looks like they have been trying to get ride of political oppositions, not
corruption. The way government is trying to get ride of the two former Prime
Ministers is not only unconstitutional, but, eventually, will create
backlash, instability and more sufferings to the people. I was under the impression that current CG with
military backing was trying to promote rules of law and good governance.
Indeed, when I saw Dr. Fakhruddin took over as the chief of CG, despite some
reservation about his past affiliation, I gave his government the full
benefits of my doubt that this government had the good intention to do
something for the country. But, when the men in green have slowly started to
dominate the stage, I just held my joy. It became evident who really hold the magic wand of
nation�s power when Army chief, who holds a rank equivalent to that of a
secretary, got away with making political speeches. As morning shows the
day, the Army chief�s tendency to show finger to service rules shows who is
ruling the country. I must wonder, had it been O.K. had a secretary of
Bangladesh government made similar speeches in the public forums? True that current military backed government has
provided respite to the people from wide occurrence of violence. So did the
two previous military rules, but only temporarily. Rules of law are not tantamount to maintaining law
and order. Clearly defined and well enforced laws must ensure equality of
justice for all citizens, irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds, religion
affiliations, and social, economic and political hierarchies. If people welcome military intervention then my request to the caretaker government, why don�t let the military rule the country. And let people decide if they would like to go along with the military way of providing justice.
________ ABM Nasir, Ph.D, Assistant Professor and Lead Faculty of Economics School of Business, North Carolina Central Univeristy , USA.
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