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If this government fails
Thanks are due to law adviser Mainul Hosein who has at last candidly expressed an apprehension that the current CTG might fail and warned all concerned to think about the consequences should the government fail. However, instead of soul searching, the adviser, in his usual style, has relocated the blames onto others. The adviser went on to say, �it is the responsibility of the people in every sector to help the government�But I find a lack of consciousness among the intellectuals and the media people. They are not playing the role we expect of them.�
I am not sure how much time the adviser devotes to read what are being ceaselessly written in country�s news media by the columnists and editors of most of the credible news dailies. On January 11, this government took over the rein of the country not only with the backing of the Armed Forces but enjoying an overwhelming support of the masses who did not want the scheduled one-sided election of January 22 go through. It enjoyed the whole hearted support of the columnists, news media and the members of the civil society who were fighting tooth and nail against holding a farcical election as nefariously planned by the then four party alliance. Never before since the first government right after the victory of our liberation war, any government enjoyed such good will of the masses and the media. Regrettably, only after only 200 or so days it is no one but the self-assumed chief spokesperson of this government himself had to issue the warning of failure. The realization no matter however late is commendable but the responsibility is misplaced. Ironically, the handful of columnists who were blindly in favour of holding the January 22 election in the pretext of constitutional continuity have metamorphosed themselves, over the last few months, into sycophantic supporters of the government, in addition to some members of the so-called 16th division who kept themselves on the sideline during the atrocious rule and the diabolical plans of electoral rigging of the last government, while the erstwhile propitiators for creating a level playing field before holding an election have become sceptics. The reasons are multi-folds.
Firstly, the government actions in many cases are mired in lack of transparency and accountability. These actions of the government have even impelled the US charge d� affairs suggesting ensuring that the corruption cases were prosecuted fairly, transparently and without �selectivity or political motivation.� Following the arrest of Sheikh Hasina on July 16 on charge of so-called extortion which the law adviser himself had earlier termed �peculiar� and posed the question "why such a case will be filed against a former prime minister?�, the Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam in his splendid commentary noting in point blank (�for we think by arresting Sheikh Hasina �, the government has put at risk all its achievements of the last six months�) the misguided agenda of the government with the clear warning that �the fundamental mistake committed by past proponents of "command politics" was to underestimate the wisdom of our masses.� Notwithstanding such a bold warning from the country�s most prestigious English Daily, how the honourable adviser can blame the media and the intellectuals of their lack of consciousness? The adviser must have also come across with the grim concerns his friend Rashid Suhrawrdy has expressed in his article in DS. In any governance where an iota of accountability and respect for the media exist, Mahfuz Anam�s commentary (many of our compatriots foresee it to be considered a milestone in our political history when the dusts settle) would certainly generate a response from the government. Just like any other government in the past, it did not happen. Yet, the law adviser lectured on �to establish a justice-based nation� and asked the media and the intellectuals to point out their mistakes in order for them to come out of any of their impending failures.
Secondly, the law adviser �wants to run the government honestly abiding by laws so that an example could be created.� Would it be worth emulating example of �abiding by laws� the honourable adviser, to deploy more than a thousand members of the law enforcing agencies, some of them wearing bullet proof vest, with dog squads to arrest a unarmed near-60-year-old woman isolated in her home and a democratically elected former PM at wee hours of night without any warrant of arrest from the court of law? It was the mighty reflection of the law of forces, not the force of law that the CTG is oath-bound to uphold. However, if this is the law of the land, then it must be abrogated in haste if we are aspiring to promote ourselves in the community of civilized nations.
Thirdly, the law adviser accused the media for keeping themselves busy with the politicians and lectured on upholding some values, a precondition for establishing a �just-based nation.� If one goes through the media briefings of the law adviser, quite a contrary situation would emerge. It is the honourable adviser who availed every opportunity to lecture the nation on the quality of a �good politician� and which leaders should be discarded for what reasons, not only a clear overstepping of his boundary, but a blatant violation of the oath of office which he solemnly made by affirming, �I will do right to all manner of people according to law, without fear of favour, affection or ill-will." The soft corner of the government as a whole has been revealed in clear term for a party which, notwithstanding, did not possess the records of quite an honourable past. Moreover, it behaved more of a catholic than the Pope in the fiery determination of its leader to go ahead with the de-railed January 22 election. Nevertheless the general secretary of that party was allowed to leave the country while a former PM was not allowed to go out of the country although cases of similar nature were lodged against both of them. Still two advisers of the CTG merely shrugged it off as not a �double standard�. This list could go on.
Fourthly, �selectivity and political motivation� of the government actions have been so much self-evident as it seems that Sheikh Hasina was the immediate past PM and her government was responsible for the most despicable governance this country has ever experienced, her party colleagues are the ones responsible for reckless looting and plundering national wealth in the last five years and her political alliance�s �irresponsible acts� led to the declaration of emergency. This sort of selectivity in particular has created rooms for speculations that led the political analysts to put forward hypotheses, regrettably, not very much in conformity with the well meaning intention of the January eleven takeover.
It is an open fact that it is the credibility of the (the use of adjective �patriotic� is not only redundant but the worst form of sycophantism) Armed Forces of the country that is at stake in the success and failure of this government. God forbid, if its mission plunges in disarray, as has been apprehended by the law adviser, it is the leaders of the Armed Forces who have to bear the burnt. The advisers neither have any election mandate nor do have any constituency to lean onto. They might share the credit, if any, but do not have to partake the burden of failures since they are virtually no one so far the people of the country are concerned. It may not be too late for the power behind the throne to re-inscribe the obvious.
Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is the Convenor of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh. He writes from Toronto, Canada.
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