F R Chowdhury
As the tenure of the present Government is coming to an end, the Government seem to be taking certain action out of desperation rather than logical and rational thinking. They are now so adamant in their attitude that they do not think of any national interest. Their only goal seems to be to make as much as possible before it finishes. They also know that having done all that they will have to face the music no sooner they lose the power. So, the other desperate attempt is to cling to the power.
Knowing very well that they cannot win a free and fair election under a non-party care-taker government, they abolished the system through their very obedient judiciary. They are now determined to hold it under their own government so that they can take full advantage of being in power to manipulate the election results in their favour. The judiciary has seen a number of new judges sworn in recent days. They have already set up the unique record of trying an appeal under a law that was amended after the original verdict of the case was given. Then there are cases of skype-gate and release of verdict before the judge read it in the court.
The civil administration has been re-arranged with their own loyal and trusted persons in all key positions so that they can manipulate everything in their own way. There have been large scale promotions for them – much more than the existing posts. On top of that one of the party leaders Mr. Nasim warned the civil servants with serious consequences if they fail to abide by instructions. Mr. Nasim is not a part of the government but only a party official. He must have referred to party instructions when he gave the threat to the civil servants.
SH/Police deserved promotion
Within the last week a number of police officers have been promoted. They definitely deserved it because they failed to resolve the murder of Sagar-Runi, disappearance of Ilyas Ali and the murder of innocent young boy Toki of Narayanganj. Their police have raped a poor girl in their custody and three of them have been caught by public when trying to extort money from businessmen. The police are also now a top heavy corrupt organization.
In recent days the prime minister has virtually replaced the president as the commander in chief of the armed forces. She has been visiting them every now and then. The prime minister wants to make sure that the armed forces remain passive on the face of one-party election so that she can continue with her BAKSAL-style government.
The cabinet is now busy approving projects and giving work orders as per the wishes of the prime minister. The air force is to get another 24 new helicopters. Millions of takas to be spent on capital dredging projects –some of it for navigability of inland water-ways and rest of it for so-called flood control. The prime minister is busy laying foundation stone for dozens of projects and as usual naming them after her family and party-men.
The opposition party is not attending the parliament. This has given blank cheque to the government since they do not have to answer any question relating to government expenditure. In this country there seems to be nothing known as budgetary allocation or even any audit. The prime minister can go for a picnic to New York with plane full of cronies because she wants it that way. She can on the spot declare 20% dearness allowance for all employees of the state both civil and military. She can even extend their tenure of service according to her wishes. All these have been done before the election – nothing other than state sponsored bribe.
All major opposition parties have threatened to boycott election under the present government. The prime minister has very wisely thought of a clever plan. She wants a total chaos and confusion during which she can conduct the snap election and declare herself the winner. She has already created “astik” and “nastik”. She has created pro-jaamat and anti-jaamat groups. She has created pro-yunus and anti-yunus groups. The prime minister has also kept Ershad in suspense by threatening to revive the cases against him. The country is almost on the verge of a civil war. The nation as a whole is frightened. They have seen enough of strike, violence and destruction. They want an end to all that. They want a peaceful free and fair election participated by all parties.
The only person who can do all that is the prime minister. If she has really done so much good for the country as she claims then she should have no problem even if the election is conducted under a non-party care-taker government. Her popularity will bring her back to power. Once the prime minister agrees to this, everything is solved. National interest is higher than that of any person or party. I am sure she will show her patriotic spirit and resolve the crisis.