Perspectives
Square pegs in round holes?
ONLY the flunkeys will deny the fact that the unusual caretaker dispensation of the day has failed to deliver. It's not for nothing that it has started drawing flak from the public who gave this government blanket support on its advent eighteen months ago amid great relief and rejoicing. There is no denying the fact that it made some waves with its anti-terror and anti-corruption drives. Now, with the motives of those popular steps put to question, the redeeming works visibly coming to a naught, and the country's political forces gaining primacy irrespective of their past records and background, the credibility of the caretakers couldn't but plummet drastically.
But then, the government cannot be entirely faulted for its failure because it had to carry the heavy baggage of the past. In the wake of 1/11, under extraordinary circumstances, it inadvertently pursued an agenda not meant for it and got unwittingly bogged down in a morass. Only lately has the government realised that it must get out it before it becomes totally inextricable. Moreover, the debris of the mess it tried to enthusiastically remove wasn't of its own making. The unwanted rubbish of the past was thrust upon it as the immediate past four party alliance government led by the BNP had left the country's socio-political fabric in tatters and a plundered economy in doldrums. To put them back in shape could be best done by an elected government. However, a series of experiments to try some alternative courses yielded nothing but an intensified muddle.
Against this gloomy backdrop there was some silver lining when events took a positive turn, stirring up a moribund political scene afresh with the vox populi lending support to it. With regard to denying the country's two top leaders a role, or giving them at the best a curtailed role, the government seemed to backtrack in favour of a status quo. As a result, one of them was sent on parole for treatment abroad and another given omnibus bail. By all appearance the country proceeded smoothly towards a democratic transition with the government spokepersons constantly assuring the nation of a "level playing ground" prior to election in December.
But, contrary to the spirit of positivism, there are, in tandem, also discordant developments suggesting some twist in the government's game plan with regard to its future intentions. Demolishing the concept of "level playing ground" -- for example Sheikh Hasina has been denied bail in at least one indictment while Madam Zia was given bail in all cases pending against her. It keeps the door open for taking Hasina into custody on her return, but Madam Zia is free of such possibility unless Barapukuria case matures in the meantime.
Before the election -- considered the mother of all elections, and awaited with bated breath both at home and abroad -- an opaque change of course does not bode well for the people already suffering under continuing sky rocketing prices of essentials, chronic power shortage, and proposed increase in utility charges hanging over the people like "Damocles' sword." Obviously, the people would favour a fresh beginning quickly under an elected government -- that presupposes the holding of a credible election -- for the redress of the agonising issues. The chief adviser's recent address to the nation declaring the firm date of the election sparked hope for a new dawn of fresh promises and possibilities.
When the election is only two months away, those hopes are disappearing in thin air, with the government and political forces crossing swords over myriads unresolved issues that include the registration of political parties with the EC, delineation of the constituencies, the lifting of emergency, and so on. In the ensuing differences of views, it is forgotten that both the government and the political parties have a common stake in their consensus on the issues.
No less ominous is the alacrity of the carpet-baggers from the US State Department, IMF or World Bank, as well as all donor countries, who are always uncomfortable with a genuinely democratic dispensation and are at ease doing business with conformist regimes, whatever may be their democratic credentials. No wonder that there is no taker of the merchandise of these merchants of democracy and human rights, even if they shove it down the throats of others across the world.
It's time that we bury our hatchets to draw a strategy for best serving our interests in this milieu. If the election becomes uncertain due to our internal squabbling it will be a tragedy of national proportion. It will also be quixotic on the part of the caretakers to continue to be the cuckoos in the nest on one pretext or other. It's time for them to call it a day and let the nation breathe freely. The choice is their's -- whether they will make history or be dumped by it.
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