Institutions are being bulldozed to the ground

Over the past few months, corrugated tin structures along the banks of the rivers Buriganga, Shitalakhsya, Turag and Balu, have been bulldozed flat to the ground. These structures had been raised on illegally occupied land. Most of the people who had constructed these illegal houses were extremely devious and politically well-connected. They even include a few members of parliament.

Anyway, the public was full of praise when these structures were razed to the ground. These bulldozers were later used outside of Dhaka too and the media covered these operations well. That’s all well and done.

However, it is unfortunate when institutions are bulldozed and destroyed, though not literally by bulldozers per se. This destruction of institutions has been going on for some time now. It will hardly be a matter of debate if we say that at the top of the list of such institutions is the election commission. Elections began in this country with the local government, during the British rule. There is a succinct account of local government elections in the judgement by justice Shahabuddin Ahmed in the case between Kudrat-E-Elahi Panir vs Bangladesh (44 DLR). The history of our elections is more or less a hundred years. I don’t think any country of the Middle East, Africa or Southeast Asia has such a history.

But that is history. The present is another matter. Now there is no contest even in the union parishad elections. Many candidates will have a walkover in the coming union parishad elections. And the election commission will repeat, if no one wants to contest and if the voters don’t want to come forward to vote, what can we do? It is not the boatman’s fault if people don’t want to board a broken boat. But the boat is broken. But our election commission will remain intact, so that the commissioners and the officials can draw their salaries and benefits.

Then there are the human rights commission, the information commission and other commissions of this ilk. These have certainly been eroded and engulfed by the river – without any bulldozer.

The public universities have vast tracts of land. Some even have over 1000 bighas of land, hardly likely to be washed away by any river. Possibly dredgers won’t be able to do the job even. And it will take too long to destruct these with bulldozers, excavators and such. The best way to do so is to appoint vice chancellors suitable for the task. The government has been successfully carrying this out over the past few years.

A vice chancellor of Rajshahi University, by the name of Abdus Sobhan, has left behind a perfect precedent of destructive skills and inefficiency. On the last day of his term in office, he recruited 140 persons to the university. Before that he had appointed his daughter and son-in-law. This time it was a Chhatra League heyday.

The same persons cannot be the vice chancellor of a university for more than two terms. Abdus Sobhan’s two terms at Rajshahi University are over, but there are dozens more public universities out there. My suggestion to the government is to appoint him as VC to any one of these other universities.

There have recently been allegations, investigations, inquiries and recommendations against VCs of around 10 public universities. But who cares? There will be inquiries, recommendations and that’s it. It must be seen whether the universities are being destroyed. Of course, this task is proceeding well. We will not be able to find place in the world’s top 100 universities even in the next 25 years. In the Middle Ages, Timur and Genghis Khan won the reputation of burning down educational institutions and libraries. We are doing the same now, without any bulldozers, excavators or dredgers.

Emergency medical equipment costing millions of taka, imported to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, was lying idle in the airport for nearly a year. After Prothom Alo reported on the matter, the ministry or the directorate awoke from their daydream. But surely there will be an inquiry into this condition of the equipment that had been lying for almost a year in the airport, an investigation will be carried out and then, as always, a list of recommendations.

How many vaccines do we have? Will more come or not? Will we get the vaccines or not? Will we manufacture or import the vaccine? Where will these come from? China or Russia or the US, etc, etc? The bridges minister says one thing in the morning, the foreign minister another thing in the afternoon and the information minister may something in between and then the health minister, like the last horse in the race. Some big bosses of private companies have joined in too. They are telling the government to negotiate with India for the vaccine. With that sort of clout, we too could easily mete out such advice.

The situation is a total mess. But it is more or less clear that we are going to see a third wave of coronavirus at the beginning of June, much like India. And we, the people, must take as must credit as government in this regard. On the last Friday or Ramadan, Jamatul Wida, the mosques and the mosque grounds were overflowing in the so-called upper middle-class areas of Dhanmondi, Banani, Gulshan. I guess the so-called upper middle class educated males were determined to ensure their contribution to the third wave.

Just the tourism revolution of 19, 20 and 21 February cordially ushered in the second wave of coronavirus, now the Eid shopping spree and exodus to the villages had sealed the deal for a third wave.

Our government has proudly altered the lockdown concept as introduced by the conscious countries of the world. Factories are open, shops – open and closed. Open up till 5:00pm, then 8:00pm, then 9:00pm and very soon till midnight. Rickshaws, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, cars will run, not public transport – and then everything will run. I am not sure if offices are opened or closed, but courts are closed. In such a topsy-turvy world, there is no need for bulldozers to destroy healthcare.

Whatever is left of the healthcare system will certainly crumble by the start of June. At the last moment, however, we do hope that the third wave doesn’t arrive, that we are not swept away in a corona tsumani. However, perhaps it won’t be too much of a hassle to be prepared, to start digging our graves from now, to have our shrouds ready.

The coronavirus pandemic has certainly taken its toll on us. The corona tsunami in India, and the Indian and international media coverage of the patients, their weeping, wailing, distraught families, and the thousands of deaths caused by the foolhardiness of the government there, certain has raised our concerns.

In the near past the government of that country hadn’t been on a frenzied drive to destroy all their institutions. They have a whole lot of mistakes, but we are far more skilled in operating bulldozers, excavators and dredgers. We have accepted that the application of law in this country depends on a person’s political and economic position. We have accepted corruption, inefficiency and sycophancy. Many politicians have completely lost the ability to see the difference between the truth and lies, justice and injustice. If the institutions crumble, can the society remain standing?

* Shahdeen Malik is a Supreme Court lawyer and teacher of law at the University of Asia Pacific

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir