The caretaker government has failed us The regime is now in a state of panic and utter confusion and is frantically looking for an exit strategy. However, the fear is that in its utmost state of frustration, it might consider handing over the reins of the government to yet another element of extra-constitutional authority. If that happens, we are in for a long hot summer,
writes Shamsher Chowdhury
 | The Awami League failed us, so did the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the flamboyant regime of General Hussein Mohammed Ershad. Every regime cried wolf in the name of democracy. I often wonder with so many proclaimed champions of democracy in this country, why democracy remains as elusive as ever.
Without exception, the hallmark of all these parties which once ruled this country has been the indulgence in lies and deception. All of them promised us the moon but failed to ensure even the very basics for the vast majority of this country's population. It has become nearly impossible to trust anyone in this country, particularly those who occupy the seat of power. Even the best get drunk with the elixir of power soon after assuming the seat of power and almost immediately embarks upon trying to figure out how to stay in the seat of power forever.
While such scenarios continue to repeat themselves, the simple villagers, the day labourers, the deprived and the distressed continue to suffer year after year. All that is left for them to do is to pray and repose their absolute trust and faith in the creator.
Look at the much professed and glorified caretaker government. The holy month of Ramadan is here. Everybody promised tight control over unbridled rise of prices. Even the apex body of trade and commerce and no less than its president promised that there would be no undue hiking of prices during this Ramadan. Well, morning shows the day. If anything, the prices have gone up. In a statement expressing his frustration over the matter, the president of the apex body is now proposing that members of law enforcing agencies be deployed to monitor and control retailers at the market places. As far as I remember, similar attempts were also undertaken on earlier occasions but they did not succeed. It will not succeed this time.
Also, I have always felt very uncomfortable about the Bangladesh Rifles' sale of essentials at subsidized prices from the very day it began. The BDR is neither a trading house nor meant to be one and hence this venture cannot be sustainable. Surely this additional task is bound to create undue pressures affecting its regular work. This, among other things, sets a bad precedence.
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based and internationally reputed human rights group, has reported that at least 50 people were killed by the Rapid Action Battalion and the police just in the last two months. Brad Adams, the Asia director of the group, went on to say that there was enough evidence to suggest that these were nothing but extra-judicial killings. And now, the regime has set up a so-called 'independent' Human Rights Commission only to work at the behest of the government, a commission that is perceivably designed to ultimately legitimise and cover up abuses committed rather than ensure that justice is meted out.
I knew from day one that the Anti-Corruption Commission's drive against corruption could not be sustained. As a matter of fact, on the very subject I wrote an article titles 'Tackling corruption the sustainable way' in this very daily published in early March of this year. Hence, I am not a least bit surprised about the high profiled corruption suspects now being released on bail one after the other. Frankly, in this regard the ACC alone is to blame.
This regime, since its inception, has promulgated as many as 79 ordinances (new and revised), apparently aimed at 'ensuring transparency and accountability and reduce public suffering'. The question is, has the public suffering been reduced? Unfortunately, there has only been further complication of problems and the people's suffering has been on the rise. On the other hand, of the 79 ordinances promulgated, many of them have given rise to further controversies. How can ordinances conceived by a handful of bureaucrats and people who have had no previous experience in governance be effective and have any impact whatsoever on the people at large?
The regime is now in a state of panic and utter confusion and is frantically looking for an exit strategy. However, the fear is that in its utmost state of frustration, it might consider handing over the reins of the government to yet another element of extra-constitutional authority. If that happens, we are in for a long hot summer. http://www.newagebd.com/2008/sep/07/oped.html
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