IMPLOSION IN HOME MINISTRY Ineptitude marks governance M. Shahidul Islam The lust for power absorbs a multitude of aberrations; ineptitude is certainly not one of them. Yet, since assuming power on January 6, the Awami League-led Government has shown signs of incompetence in almost every aspect of governance, resulting in casting the nation into what one might call a state of 'managed anarchy'. That ongoing anarchy is characterised not only by the sharp deterioration in the law and order situation and the seeming indecision in matters involving vital national interests, ardent Bangladesh observers think the AL-led regime has so far shown no principled stand on any major policy matter. They say the regime is deeply engrossed in chasing oppositions and in crisis management, instead of managing cohesively the governance as per priorities dictated by national, regional and global compulsions. The ongoing chaotic state remains manageable mainly due to the grace and magnanimity of the ordinary people who have become used to blaming the destiny instead of their Government for their miseries.. Stranded millions One of the latest evidence of such widespread incompetence emerged in the submerged coastal belts of the nation where over 2.5 million people are languishing for nearly two weeks without any relief or rescue mission reaching to evacuate them to safer destinations. Ironically, the magnitude of the devastation caused by cyclone Aila was first trivialised by the country's weather department and then deliberately overshadowed by the Government with the publication of a probe report of the BDR mutiny the same day (the Anisuzzaman report) that shed no additional insight into the carnage than what people already knew. Critics ask why the report's publication could not wait a day or two to allow the media to portray the true extent of the Aila devastation? Was it a ploy to divert public attention? May or may not be. But the economic miseries of the Aila victims having imposed an additional budgetary pressure of over Taka 1500 crore at the least, the upcoming budget is destined not to sprout the expected greeneries on the recession-struck economic lawn, unless both politics and political economy are blended together soon with the exigencies of geopolitical challenges that the nation faces in the regional and global fronts. Implosion in Home Ministry Observers say the disgraceful chaos witnessed inside the country's Ministry of Home Affairs concerning State Minister of that particular ministry, outspoken Tanjim Sohel Taj, owes much to the Government's cavalier outlook towards geopolitical matters, especially since the BDR rebellion of February 25-26, due to the border force being under legal jurisdiction of that Ministry. Despite there being reports of his tendering resignation to the PM, a sordid spectacle of 'we don't know' confused people further, and, it came from his immediate boss, Sahara Khatun, who choose to keep the nation in a state of suspense for over 30 hours. Even if that version is accepted, what is the explanation for Mr. Taj being absent without leave for nearly 30 hours, something never heard of in the history of governance in this land or elsewhere. National security concerns The debate over Taj's reported denouement does not end there, however. Reliable sources say Sohel Taj has been at loggerheads with his boss, Sahara Khatun, for nearly 6 weeks due to his dissent on a number of issues which he disliked. They say the latest row between the two Ministerial personalities surfaced with the decision at the PM level to expose the former bosses of the DGFI and the NSI by entangling them with the Chittagong arms recovery case, and in the manner it is being done. Sources say Sohel Taj did want the case to be investigated and tried, but not by exposing vital national security principles of the nation, especially since the arrest of the two Director Generals two weeks ago. He is learnt to have opposed the virtual trial in camera of the two former spy bosses and the deliberate exposure to the media of what they say -- or not say -- to police or the court; something unheard of anywhere in the world. The arrest and quizzing of the two former DGs of the NSI has astonished many political observers and nationalistic icons. They consider the ongoing melodrama as a foreign-instigated scandal to denigrate and humiliate Bangladesh's standing among nations and ask: "If the PMO office and the top bosses of the DGFI and the NSI were really involved in the Chittagong arms hauling incident, how the hell police managed to bust the cache?" One former military colleague of Brigadier General (retd) Rahim said angrily, and, on condition of anonymity: "Rahim stood first in the Higher Secondary Examination (HSC) of 1973 among all students of science group in his Education Board. He's not an ordinary fellow. Men like him choose to serve the nation not to be humiliated like this by leaders who perhaps failed even to secure an admission to any of the country's universities. Someone is taking this nation to a dangerous ride at the instigation of foreign master(s)." BDR probe Whether Mr Sohel Taj does empathise with such sentiments is a different matter. But sources say the other major bone of contention between the two bosses of the Home Ministry stemmed from the BDR rebellion probing. Meanwhile, people close to the State Minister say he is fervent, zealous, patriotic and highly sensible to untowardly interventions in his routine works. In recent days, he is learnt to have encountered pressures from senior colleagues in the cabinet who wanted to save certain political personalities from the ruling party and turn the direction of the BDR rebellion case towards implicating some leaders of the BNP by any means. This Mr. Taj found depraved, immoral and unbecoming to his status of office. Yet, as the scope seems wide open to move either way -- the army investigation having reportedly named some ruling party leaders while the Anisuzzaman commission, deliberately following the army report, having implicated former BNP-MP Nasiruddin Pinto for allegedly aiding and abetting the fleeing of the rebels -- Mr. Taj did not like the over-politicisation of an issue bearing enormous national security implications, hence his decision on June 1 to quit the job. Trial before CID probe? The ongoing debate over Taj's return to the assignment notwithstanding, the forthright State Minister is learnt to have become increasingly fearful of mishandling the BDR rebellion trial and has become worried about the methods and modes in which the reconstruction of the border guard forces is being crafted with foreign advice. Despite there being recommendations in the army-conducted report (as well as in the Anisuzzaman-led report) to undertake further investigation to ascertain external linkage to the rebellion, the PM is learnt not to have consented to complying with such recommendations. Not only that. Trial of 37 BDR members is slated to begin in a Sylhet court on June 7 while the trial proceedings of another 275 BDR men are in progress in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court in Bandarban. Sohel Taj is leant to have argued why all those trials are underway when the main probe report from the CID is yet to be finalised and, neither the Government, nor the Parliament, has taken any final decision with respect to whether the trial would take place in civil or military court. Close friends of Taj meanwhile have added much more to shed further light into the ongoing implosion within the Home Ministry. They say that he is highly intelligent and farsighted, and, the recent move by the Government to remove all weapons and ammunition from various BDR armories to the nearest army camps was a decision which he strongly opposed. The decision has left more than 37 spots of sensitive, vulnerable border outposts without any prospect of reinforcement of weapons, if needed. Taj also resented the mass arrest of over 3,400 BDR men from all around the country, which indicated that the entire BDR fo rce faces disintegration soon, without any viable replacement having been organized to guard the country's over 4,200 km borders with India, and another over 340 km with Myanmar. Smuggling spree? Despite the prevalence of such a fractured state of national security and the instances of smuggling at the Indo-Bangladesh borders assuming a new height in the wake of serious economic crisis in India, the Government seems least pushed by such compulsions and their implications vis-୶is the regional and global developments in the economic and geopolitical fields. Few facts might help the economic mandarins and the policy makers of the nation in grasping how badly the regional trends will impact Bangladesh in coming days. Indian ministry of commerce and industry said on June 2 that the country's exports in April fell by 33.2 per cent on an annual basis to $10.7 billion (Rs 50,290 crore), which is higher than the 33 per cent drop in March. This has resulted in further yawning of trade deficit from $4 billion in March to $5 billion in April. As exports contribute to 16 per cent of India's GDP, more influx of smuggled Indian goods into Bangladesh is feared in coming days due to Indian producers' desperate bid to survive in business amidst the ongoing recession which seems to further worsen. As well, the recent spike in oil price will balloon the cost of import in both countries while Indian exporters will love to divert - legally and illegally - towards Bangladesh whatever consumer goods can possibly be consumed by 140 million Bangladeshi consumers. Added to the huge fiscal deficit of the Indian central Government (data released on June 1) that rose by more than two-and-half times from a year earlier ( to Rs 330,114 crore, or 6.1 per cent of the GDP), Dhaka needs to quarantine its economic house to avoid the Indian contagion, not integrate with it further. And, that reason alone should suffice to justify why not to dismember the entire BDR at the risk of endangering the physical and the economic security of the nation. |
__._,_.___
