Looking back at 2005

But look back we must in order to be able to look ahead. For the wise at least it will afford a chance to remedy the follies of the past year. It is also imperative in order to determine why things turned out in the manner they did, and how are things likely to shape in future, although that is an entirely unwise undertaking, given the unpredictability of most things in Bangladesh.

Last year must surely merit as the 'annus horribilis' in so far as the domestic scene is concerned. The demonstrative actions of the Muslim radicals, through the 17th Aug bombings, the abrupt graduated scale in the suicide attacks, and the statements of the apprehended extremists, was shockingly poignant, causing the government to wake up from its slumber insofar as the issue of the extremists was concerned. The government's dynamics of denial reconfirmed in many minds the dynamics of dependency, which many think was only inevitable because of the queer political partnership of the coalition government. The government was proved horribly wrong about the presence of the extremists in the country, and not only did it not ban the two organisations about whose activities it was so woefully 'ignorant' initially, it has now accepted that the acts of bombings and the suicide missions had been the handiwork of the banned radical outfits.

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For the nation regrettably, politics continue to be in the sate of flux. Discord between the two main political parties has only worsened the conflictual relationship between the two. There is very little consensus on national issues. The parliament has virtually remained dysfunctional with the ruling coalition unwilling to meet the demands of the opposition to allow it more time to talk in the parliament, and the opposition abdicating its constitutional obligations by keeping away from the parliament for greater part of the four years since the current parliament came into existence.

The discord has impacted adversely on the country's stability, its economy and national security. The fissiparous elements have exploited this void and have managed to strengthen their base, the manifestation of which we saw in the recent spurt of extremist activities. Very few can contest the argument that one of the reasons the extremists have been able to sprout in our soil, apart from the socio-economic factor, is the rabid friction between the two major political parties. The extremists have made full use of the time and the political space provided by the conditions created as a result of this clash.

It was disappointing too to see the mutual blame game indulged in by the two parties that not only caused attention to be diverted from pursuing the perpetrators of the bombings, it must have infused them with renewed vigour to see these two at each other's throat and the nation at the mercy of the extremists.

The call for a dialogue was rejected outright, but then the political parties viewed the whole notion of dialogue differently. While the ruling coalition found itself out of its depth by the enormity of the problem, its underlying motivation was called to question when in the same breath the PM accused the opposition of being a part of the 'plot' against the country.

For the opposition accepting the offer of dialogue was like throwing a lifeline to the coalition, which it considered extremely injudicious politically. The narrow focus, compelling the stand of the respective parties was disappointing, since none seemed to be able to rise beyond its party interests, eventually accusing each other of treason.

But such lack of understanding in matters of larger national interest and security of the state is in stark contrast to the spontaneous concord of action of the members of the two parties when it comes to sharing government contracts and illegal largesse dished out as a part of the underhand dealings.

However, what has been proved beyond doubt is that our law enforcing and intelligence agencies are capable of delivering if released from the shackles of political control. The large number of arrests including some high ranking leaders of the JMB, and seizure of huge quantity of raw materials for incendiary and explosive devices, has contributed in stemming the spree that these extremists had gone into between Aug 17 and Nov 2005. We hope that not only will these radicals be netted, the government will also apply all its resources in unearthing all the incidents of bombings that have occurred in Bangladesh, particularly since 1999.

Regionally, holding of the 13th SAARC Summit after being twice postponed was a matter of satisfaction. The third decade of its existence we hope will be a decade of implementation of the programmes that SAARC has conceptualised so far. And the agreement to implement SAFTA from first Jan 2006 is a good beginning. There is a new dawn in the Indo-Pakistan relations and it is hoped that it does not turn out to be false.

Bangladesh relations with India continued on a sweet-sour note, more sour than sweet perhaps, although the former would have been more desirable. The causal factors for this state of relationship are the border issues and the Indian allegation of sheltering of anti-Indian elements in Bangladesh territory. This issue must be put to rest, once and for all. If there is a demand for joint examination of the alleged sites in our territory by India than Bangladesh has a point in asking for a third party presence in the exercise which I am given to understand is its position in the matter.

31st December is tomorrow and will be gone the day after, and with it will be gone our option to join the Asian Highway network. To accede or not to accede to the Asian Highway proposal have beleaguered the minds of our policy makers, and rightly so. It is our right to expect that the intercontinental road network would allow our entry and exit from and to third countries and not the same country, which the proposed highway would do. Our position on the issue should be compelled by this demand alone and not the often-expressed underlying motivation of denying transit to India. Transit is a different ball game and must be addressed separately. Let us not miss the opportunity of surface linkages across our borders like we did in the case of fibre optics submarine connection in the early 90's, which we are now establishing at many many times more the cost than what we would have had to.

Strategically too, the region was accorded an elevated status by the formalisation of special relationship between the US and India and Pakistan. What it will do of course, apart from serving greater US strategic interest in the South and Southeast Asia is provide huge market to its arms industry.

Iraq still remains the test case for the US "war on terror." Much of US efforts have been devoted to this issue. The US global war on terror continues but with a more besmirched reputation of its love for human rights because of it policy of rendition and slide in Mr. Bush's approval rating. No wonder he is imploring both his countrymen and the Iraqis to show more patience. While one hopes that the Iraqi election would bring some degree of normality in the country one is not certain whether that will provide enough stability to allow US withdrawal from Iraq. There are of course immense strategic benefits to US of its continued presence in Iraq.

While the war on terror continues the terrorists continue to deal in terror. Delhi, Bali Egypt, London show how little have the world succeeded in stemming the terrorists.

One wonders whether we have our strategies right?

The author is Editor, Defence & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.