Caretaker government system needs some fine tuning

Is there any broad consensus among our citizens in attributing the caretaker administration under Justice Latifur Rahman with the similar connotation of impartiality and neutrality? The Latifur Rahman administration plugged itself with controversy since the day it took the oath of office. I myself wrote an article in the DS (CTG on Tight Rope) pointing out the flaws about transferring of the top bureaucrats and of selection of his advisers. His administration, obviously, categorised the civil servants into two categories: the Awami sympathisers and the neutral. Those, who either took part or still nourish the values of our great war of liberation, were classified as the Awami sympathisers.

Many other ways the CTG under Justice Latifur Rahman was different from two of his predecessors. Neither of the earlier chief advisers needed any SSF protection involving a huge drainage of resources from national exchequer, not they had to stay in the lavish state guest house for a year after the election, albeit in each of their tenures there was a defeated side. Neither of them had to write a book to defend their actions nor had they felt honoured to present that book to the Prime Minister. Neither of them had to endure the criticisms about 'heinous persecution' of supporters of the defeated party in the hands of the victors during their tenures and thereafter. Neither of them had to come to New York to testify that 'no persecution of minority took place under my administration' nor they had to say that 'my responsibility was only to hold a fair election, nothing more'. Neither of them attended any of the congregations or forums participated by the ministers of the winning side.

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In fact, so much have been written about the actions of the CTG under Justice Latifur Rahman during his tenure and thereafter in our news media, it was appalling to read his reactions vis-à

-vis some observations made by Mr. Shah A M S Kibria about the last CTG. So far the criticisms of the Latifur Rahman administration is concerned in our news media, Mr. Kibria's assertions were really a tip of the iceberg. His rejoinder to Mr. Kibria's observations has unveiled his mindset on the AL government's 'misdeeds (criminality, corruption and terrorism)' and naturally he took upon himself the responsibility of redressing the nation from the clutches of that 'misdeeds'! In fact, Justice Latifur Rahman already knew that the 'misdeeds' of AL 'were intolerable to the well meaning voters'! This mindset drove him to prioritise his agenda, the least of which was to run an impartial administration. .

It is probably the time to rejoice that those three 'misdeeds' have now been dispersed from the society and as such Justice Latifur Rahman is now glorifying the seminars and symposiums with his attendance in which the current government ministers are lauding their successes! On the other day he even graced the honouring ceremony of a minister's wife who (minister) donated a 300 million taka worth government property to his wife's NGO. A few months ago he was the chief guest in the forum of the government backed journalist union (Sheikh Hasina was the chief guest in the other faction) in which he castigated the news media for their lack of policies. Justice Latifur Rahman now abhors the (lack of) policy of those news media, whose support was vital for his administration, in unveiling the misdeeds of the government of the day, specially in reflecting the astronomical magnitude of those three 'misdeeds' that have engulfed the nation in the alliance ruled Bangladesh. As a former chief justice of the Supreme Court, he is no more disturbed by the extra judicial killing (in 'heart attack' during operation clean heart and in 'cross fire' during the current RAB operation) or by 'rule of Banglabhai', unheard of phenomenon in any '(un)failed state'. He found fault with Mr. Kibria: 'a bureaucrat suddenly turned into a politician can hardly get along with the essence of democracy', while he himself selected the bulk of his advisers from the same pool to teach the AL leaders the 'essence of democracy'. For the first time the pool of advisers of a CTG did not include a single academician.

The provision of caretaker government, though very hastily formulated, is by and large a very well documented piece of legislation. It stipulates a wide range of flexibilities in choosing the chief adviser, which includes clause 58 C (5) that empowers the President to choose the chief adviser in consultation with the major political parties. If our honourable judges on line to succession are prudent enough to realise that they do not carry the confidence of all sides to begin with, the said clause will automatically triggers on. The letter and spirit of the provision is the neutrality which was superbly demonstrated by both Justice Shahbuddin Ahmed (though he did not work under this framework) and Justice M Habibur Rahman. This was possible only because they listened to all the stakeholders of the system and did not have the prior mindset about the 'misdeeds' of any of the stakeholders.

No legislation is fool-proof and the possibility of its manipulation exists in all cases and that is where the fine tuning should come into play. The current government's enactment of a new law on age limit of the judges is a clear manifestation of that manipulation. The legislation has put an added liability on Justice K M Hasan (who has no part in it whatsoever), in addition to the fact that he used to be an office-bearer of the BNP and had been embarrassed to sit on the bench in the Bangabandhu murder case, because he is the relative of one of the self-confessed and convicted killers. I met Justice Hasan a number of times while he was the ambassador in a country where I was a university professor and found him to be a decent and lucid individual, albeit a staunch Zia loyalist. Amid all these liabilities he will do himself and the nation a great service if he once again feels 'embarrassed', exactly the way he did in the Bangabandhu murder case and voluntarily relinquishes himself from the future chief (adviser) of the next CTG and let the constitutional provision take the alternative course. Unfortunately, we have a highly partisan President in the Bangabhaban and it would be too much for Justice Hasan carrying the burden of his past to prove otherwise in the future. After all, no other position in the land carries enough stature to be even comparable with that of the chief justice of its highest court.

Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is a Professor and Head of Mechanical Engineering and Quality Engineering Departments and Director of Continuing Education of Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.