Should we go back to pre one eleven days of politics?
By Brig Gen Shamsuddin Ahmed
Yes, this is the question I would like to ask all politically conscious people other than BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami and AL hard core sympathizers whose patience seems to be wearing thin these days with the care taker government over the issues of emergency rule and holding of general election.
Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has categorically declared more than once that parliamentary election will be held in the country by the end of this year and state of emergency would be lifted before election. A former bureaucrat and a man of integrity, Mr. Fakhruddin will not stay in office even a day longer than needed which means holding a credible election and laying a solid foundation for a meaningful and genuine democratic governance system in this country.
A lot of ground work has been done and is in the process of being done to facilitate holding a fair and credible election leading up to ushering of a truly genuine democratic dispensation which our people have been in search of since our independence in 1971. You cannot have a fair election without a genuine and authentic voter list with photographs which for the first time is now being prepared. You cannot expect to have a democratically functional parliament and an elected government accountable to the people, some thing we have not had so far unless suitable ground rules are in place to ensure that educated people with impeccable credentials for public service, integrity and commitment to serve the nation can participate in parliamentary election and other nation building activities unhindered and that those who have misgoverned this country in the past and have wrongfully accumulated vast wealth and property for themselves, their family members and their cronies by abusing their power and authority and in flagrant violation of their solemn oath of office are suitably punished for their wrong doings and debarred from taking part in future elections.
The process of accountability of our tainted leaders, recovery of state wealth and property stolen by these people and freeing politics from the stranglehold of black money, muscle power and manipulation is a gigantic task which this government has taken up in right earnest. Let us allow this government to finish this task. This is absolutely essential if we as a nation are to move forward and not to go back to witness a repeat of the sham democracy of the Jatiyatabadi-Jamaat and the Awami rule. It is not difficult to understand who are at odds with this government, who have suddenly become very vocal as protagonists of human rights and rule by an elected government and who want emergency to be lifted now and general election held without further delay.
Obviously these are the same tainted politicians and their cronies who had been in and out of the government during the last sixteen years of our experiment with parliamentary democracy and who are incidentally now in and out of jail with the stigma of massive corruption charges haunting them day in and day out. They know as even a moron does that it is the emergency power rules which give this government sustenance and power in so far as the concerned government agencies have succeeded in putting behind bars some political big wigs and high profile criminals who considered themselves above law till the other day and forcing many of them to confess their guilt and cough out a portion of their huge haul of ill gotten money and which alone can swiftly and justly try and punish them and consign them to the dust bin history as political garbage. They also know full well that it is the state of emergency which has given this government the whip hand not only to rein in the political thugs but also to democratize state institutions which were thoroughly politicized and rendered ineffective by the past political governments. Hence all the clamoring and shouting for lifting of emergency.
Imagine the situation that we have been through before this government came to power. The care taker government of President Iajuddin Ahmed with the BNP- Jamaat leadership breathing down its neck would not dare deviate from the election road map scripted by BNP and was bent on holding the scheduled 22 January election, while AL was flexing its muscle to thwart the election. Had the scheduled election been held with the army remaining docile and performing their duties as ordered by the government, there would have been a blood bath and wanton destruction of public and private property across the country. But our two major political parties were the least concerned about what would have happened to this country and its people. Their leaders were only focused on how to climb back to power so that they could continue amassing wealth and property by plundering the state exchequer and destroying the democratic institutions.
That the patriotic armed forces decided to stand by the people and put their foot down to nullify all political machinations to destroy peace and harmony by lending support to the President to restore peace and order through emergency and to reconstitute the care taker government headed by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is the measure of the strength, efficiency and patriotism of the leadership of our armed forces. Extra ordinary situation like the one we had been on the verge of in January 2007 did certainly call for extra ordinary measure like declaration of emergency to deal with the situation. Nothing short of it could save this country from spilling of blood of innocent people and from total anarchy. And nothing short of it can help us achieve what we want to –punish those who have plundered our state wealth and property in the name of democracy and development and build solid infrastructures for genuine democracy and welfare of the people through meaningful democratic reforms.
Without emergency this care taker government could not have achieved what it has so far. The separation of the Judiciary from the Executive, the reconstitution of the politicized democratic institutions, the revamping of the bureaucracy and the police, the proposed legislations for creation of Supreme Judicial Commission for appointment of Supreme Court judges free from political influence and freeing the Election Commission Secretariat from the Prime Minister's Office, proposal under consideration for creation of a National Constitutional Commission for appointment to all constitutional posts free from government control, recovery of over ten billion of ill gotten money in Bangladesh currency from corrupt politicians and their business associates, recovery of another four billion money in Bangladesh currency from corrupt Titas Gas staff now under process, hauling up of high profile political leaders including AL chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia on corruption and criminal charges and bringing them to justice, facing the onslaught of repeated floods followed by the Sidre cyclone and providing relief and rehabilitation to millions of affected people are no mean achievements of this government.
In vindication of emergency let me ask one simple question. Could our people ever know that a lady Prime Minister of this country presided over an administration laced with corruption so pervasive that our country was declared number one corrupt country in the world for consecutive four years while she pretended not to be knowing that her home minister, the person closest to her and her son was so corrupt that he even let off a murder in exchange for a hefty bribe running into an astronomical amount in Bangladesh currency which he has now returned to the government exchequer if there had been no emergency rule in the country?
We have been witnessing how powerful some of these political leaders are at least in terms of money as writ petitions one after another are filed for them and a long line of prominent lawyers including lawyer from distant United States of America appear for them challenging their detention, the venue of the trial, the law under which they have been prosecuted, the authority of the court trying them, the language of the notice by appropriate authority asking for submission of wealth statement, the authority of the official who signed the notice etc. I wonder if an ordinary citizen having committed a crime can have this luxury of writ petitions and delaying trial.
Let us bear with this care taker government and the emergency power which sustains the government in its anti corruption drive and its pro democracy reforms initiatives a few months more so that the government can finish the job on its hands. It will be a travesty of truth and justice if we allow those who pillaged and plundered our state wealth and property masquerading as our political leaders and social elites to go unpunished and give them a new lease of life to rule again this time with vengeance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brig Gen Shamsuddin Ahmed, the writer is a valiant freedom fighter and former Military Secretary to the President of Bangladesh E Mail : bgshamsuddin.ahmed@gmail.com
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=191012
Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has categorically declared more than once that parliamentary election will be held in the country by the end of this year and state of emergency would be lifted before election. A former bureaucrat and a man of integrity, Mr. Fakhruddin will not stay in office even a day longer than needed which means holding a credible election and laying a solid foundation for a meaningful and genuine democratic governance system in this country.
A lot of ground work has been done and is in the process of being done to facilitate holding a fair and credible election leading up to ushering of a truly genuine democratic dispensation which our people have been in search of since our independence in 1971. You cannot have a fair election without a genuine and authentic voter list with photographs which for the first time is now being prepared. You cannot expect to have a democratically functional parliament and an elected government accountable to the people, some thing we have not had so far unless suitable ground rules are in place to ensure that educated people with impeccable credentials for public service, integrity and commitment to serve the nation can participate in parliamentary election and other nation building activities unhindered and that those who have misgoverned this country in the past and have wrongfully accumulated vast wealth and property for themselves, their family members and their cronies by abusing their power and authority and in flagrant violation of their solemn oath of office are suitably punished for their wrong doings and debarred from taking part in future elections.
The process of accountability of our tainted leaders, recovery of state wealth and property stolen by these people and freeing politics from the stranglehold of black money, muscle power and manipulation is a gigantic task which this government has taken up in right earnest. Let us allow this government to finish this task. This is absolutely essential if we as a nation are to move forward and not to go back to witness a repeat of the sham democracy of the Jatiyatabadi-Jamaat and the Awami rule. It is not difficult to understand who are at odds with this government, who have suddenly become very vocal as protagonists of human rights and rule by an elected government and who want emergency to be lifted now and general election held without further delay.
Obviously these are the same tainted politicians and their cronies who had been in and out of the government during the last sixteen years of our experiment with parliamentary democracy and who are incidentally now in and out of jail with the stigma of massive corruption charges haunting them day in and day out. They know as even a moron does that it is the emergency power rules which give this government sustenance and power in so far as the concerned government agencies have succeeded in putting behind bars some political big wigs and high profile criminals who considered themselves above law till the other day and forcing many of them to confess their guilt and cough out a portion of their huge haul of ill gotten money and which alone can swiftly and justly try and punish them and consign them to the dust bin history as political garbage. They also know full well that it is the state of emergency which has given this government the whip hand not only to rein in the political thugs but also to democratize state institutions which were thoroughly politicized and rendered ineffective by the past political governments. Hence all the clamoring and shouting for lifting of emergency.
Imagine the situation that we have been through before this government came to power. The care taker government of President Iajuddin Ahmed with the BNP- Jamaat leadership breathing down its neck would not dare deviate from the election road map scripted by BNP and was bent on holding the scheduled 22 January election, while AL was flexing its muscle to thwart the election. Had the scheduled election been held with the army remaining docile and performing their duties as ordered by the government, there would have been a blood bath and wanton destruction of public and private property across the country. But our two major political parties were the least concerned about what would have happened to this country and its people. Their leaders were only focused on how to climb back to power so that they could continue amassing wealth and property by plundering the state exchequer and destroying the democratic institutions.
That the patriotic armed forces decided to stand by the people and put their foot down to nullify all political machinations to destroy peace and harmony by lending support to the President to restore peace and order through emergency and to reconstitute the care taker government headed by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is the measure of the strength, efficiency and patriotism of the leadership of our armed forces. Extra ordinary situation like the one we had been on the verge of in January 2007 did certainly call for extra ordinary measure like declaration of emergency to deal with the situation. Nothing short of it could save this country from spilling of blood of innocent people and from total anarchy. And nothing short of it can help us achieve what we want to –punish those who have plundered our state wealth and property in the name of democracy and development and build solid infrastructures for genuine democracy and welfare of the people through meaningful democratic reforms.
Without emergency this care taker government could not have achieved what it has so far. The separation of the Judiciary from the Executive, the reconstitution of the politicized democratic institutions, the revamping of the bureaucracy and the police, the proposed legislations for creation of Supreme Judicial Commission for appointment of Supreme Court judges free from political influence and freeing the Election Commission Secretariat from the Prime Minister's Office, proposal under consideration for creation of a National Constitutional Commission for appointment to all constitutional posts free from government control, recovery of over ten billion of ill gotten money in Bangladesh currency from corrupt politicians and their business associates, recovery of another four billion money in Bangladesh currency from corrupt Titas Gas staff now under process, hauling up of high profile political leaders including AL chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia on corruption and criminal charges and bringing them to justice, facing the onslaught of repeated floods followed by the Sidre cyclone and providing relief and rehabilitation to millions of affected people are no mean achievements of this government.
In vindication of emergency let me ask one simple question. Could our people ever know that a lady Prime Minister of this country presided over an administration laced with corruption so pervasive that our country was declared number one corrupt country in the world for consecutive four years while she pretended not to be knowing that her home minister, the person closest to her and her son was so corrupt that he even let off a murder in exchange for a hefty bribe running into an astronomical amount in Bangladesh currency which he has now returned to the government exchequer if there had been no emergency rule in the country?
We have been witnessing how powerful some of these political leaders are at least in terms of money as writ petitions one after another are filed for them and a long line of prominent lawyers including lawyer from distant United States of America appear for them challenging their detention, the venue of the trial, the law under which they have been prosecuted, the authority of the court trying them, the language of the notice by appropriate authority asking for submission of wealth statement, the authority of the official who signed the notice etc. I wonder if an ordinary citizen having committed a crime can have this luxury of writ petitions and delaying trial.
Let us bear with this care taker government and the emergency power which sustains the government in its anti corruption drive and its pro democracy reforms initiatives a few months more so that the government can finish the job on its hands. It will be a travesty of truth and justice if we allow those who pillaged and plundered our state wealth and property masquerading as our political leaders and social elites to go unpunished and give them a new lease of life to rule again this time with vengeance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brig Gen Shamsuddin Ahmed, the writer is a valiant freedom fighter and former Military Secretary to the President of Bangladesh E Mail : bgshamsuddin.ahmed@gmail.com
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=191012
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