Good Governance in Bangladesh

ON GOOD GOVERNANCE

Abul Maal A. Muhith ABSTRACT Governance is now a central issue in the development dialogue. It is being increasingly recognized that good governance requires several core ingredients: the rule of law, strengthening of public sector management, transparency and accountability, and appropriate strategies to combat corruption. This paper begins by tracing, from a historical perspective, the events and circumstances leading to the current state of governance in Bangladesh. Next it addresses two major dimensions of governance—political and economic— highlighting the sources that contribute to the current and deteriorating state of governance in the country. Finally the paper delves into the possible remedies to alleviate the crisis-like conditions that have had deleterious effects on the lives of the citizenry. In formulating the remedies, the paper focuses on the devolution of state functions to the district level and restructuring the government and bureaucracy with a view to empowering the people. In particular, three issues are dealt with in great depth: suppressing terrorism and establishing the rule of law, making the parliament effective, and controlling corruption. Introduction I find the definition of governance provided by the Commission on Global Governance in 1995 as a very acceptable proposition: “Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs.

It is a continuing process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and cooperative action may be taken. It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce compliance as well as informal arrangements that people and institutions either have agreed to or perceive to be in their interest.”1 Academic consideration of governance issues may be a little different from the raging subject of governance in development dialogue at least since the end of the cold war. Academic discussion is about authority and power relations perhaps more in the political and social domain. In development dialogue the important point is strategic policies for the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority. In development dialogue of the past the subject of governance was avoided to skirt the touchy issue of state sovereignty and individual choice of the system of government. But interest in the subject was there and it was camouflaged under capacity building efforts in setting up institutions and manpower training and under programs for development administration. By the mid-1990s, international donor (notably UNDP and the OECD) conceptions of good governance had expanded to include the notions of transparency, accountability, and participation. For example, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Participatory Development and Good Governance set up in 1993 by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD stated as its first key conclusion, “Democratization and Good Governance are central to the achievement of the development goals for the 21st century” (Final Report, 1997).

The Research paper on THE IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN AN ORGANISATION, AND ITS IMPACT ON KEY STAKEHOLDERS

ABSTRACT This research is centered on the Importance of corporate governance in an organization and its impact on key stakeholders. Using, Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) as the case study. In the research, data was gathered from a cross-section of the stakeholders of the company on the presence of effectiveness, participation, transparency and equity in the corporate governance system of the ...

Major elements of good governance, as identified by DAC members, included: the rule of law; strengthening public sector management and transparency/accountability by improving accounting practices and budgeting and public expenditure management; and combating corruption. The framework proposed by the Ad Hoc Working Group was subsequently endorsed by the 1997 DAC High Level Meeting. By 2000, more elements were added to the conception of good governance. The statement issued by the 2000 DAC high level meeting took note that, “Good governance requires a broad approach to partnership extending beyond government and parliaments to include civil society and the private sector” (Para. 18).

The Essay on The Role Of Government In Economic Development

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT American government always has been preoccupied with economic activities. During the first century of Americas nationhood, the main concerns of the early administrations were preserving the property of citizens. Although property rights still hold a high place in American values, other economic concernssuch as economic growth, level of employment, ...

Moreover, in addition to the requirements of transparency and accountability, a new dimension was stipulated, namely, predictability. This last element was introduced in the light of the financial crises in the latter part of the 1990s, which led to a call for improvements in corporate governance and stable financial frameworks. Good governance consists of two major dimensions: political and economic. The political dimension can be broken down into four key components: government legitimacy; government accountability; government competence; and rule of law (human rights).

The economic dimension also has four components: public sector management; organizational accountability; rule of law (contracts,

property rights); and transparency (including freedom of information).

In the developing world we have been mostly concerned with improving output growth and its equitable distribution. We thought at one time that physical infrastructure needed dramatic improvement. Then we realized that without agricultural dynamism we cannot move towards industrialization. We relied on import substitution to accelerate effective demand for investment growth but soon found that export promotion is a better way for demand generation. Soon we found out that human development or social investment is crucial to moving into a higher economic growth path tempered with equity. At one time we considered public sector as the engine of growth. But that also changed with time and private sector turned out to be more dynamic in most production activities. Thus we had to think of giving up direct control and instead set up a good regulatory regime covering both public and private sectors on an equal footing. Under the prevailing development philosophy, however, we neglected political development and thought that democracy cannot tackle issues of economic development firmly. Cold war politics also encouraged strong man rule or military dictatorship in developing countries. Institutions for good governance were given an unfair deal and public participation was not considered a crucial issue.

In the aftermath of the end of cold war signaled by the fall of East Germany, democracy replaced totalitarian and autocratic governments in many countries. The internal fissures of the prevailing system then laid bare serious crises in governance. It is for this reason that issues of governance in both political and economic dimensions have surfaced as the most pressing issues in most developing countries today. Surely donor concerns highlighted them more vividly. The Build-up of the Crisis of Governance in Bangladesh Let us look at the overall situation in Bangladesh now to get an idea of the state of governance as defined above. On all four counts of political aspect of governance we have a very clear but dismal picture. The way the government has been failing since restoration of democracy does not do the country much credit. During the last four years governance has become so criminalized that serious questions about the legitimacy, accountability and competence of the government are being raised both domestically and internationally. In the economic domain as well, all the indicators of good governance, viz.

The Essay on Toward a Typology of Food Security in Developing Countries,Governance Division, and International Food Policy Research Institute.

Global Food Supplies Introduction Question 1             Globalization and technology enable food producers to access a wider market, increase opportunities, and competition with food supply and consumption. Countries and agricultural multinationals position their supply systems, according tothe global market. Food supply requires a systematic analysis of the food production processes and ...

transparency, accountability, good public sector management and enforcement of rights and duties, are missing. Various index games portray the governance of the country as worthless and even consider the country as a failed state. The Germanybased Transparency International also shows Bangladesh being perceived as a very corrupt state attaining the lowest score of 1.7 out of 10 in 2004. In the previous three years and in the present year also Bangladesh was at the same position. In the ‘Good Governance Index’ of the World Bank, Bangladesh has lost ground systematically since 2002. They have identified 30 countries as low-income countries under stress. DFID of UK frets about 46 “fragile” states and one of them is Bangladesh. Washington DC based Fund for Peace has studied the conditions of 60 countries with reference to some twelve criteria. They have suggested that 10 states are failed states and 10 are on the way to failing. Ivory Coast is at the top of the list with a score of 106 out of 120 and Bangladesh holds the 17th position with a score of 94.3. Paris based RSF (Reporters without Borders) in their ‘Press Freedom Index’ has placed Bangladesh at 151st position in a total of 167.

The Term Paper on Air Force Military Time Living

Nearly 60 Years of Change in the Military (1941 to 2000) I have been in the military for seventeen years and during my tenure there have been countless changes. When I meet a new troop with a fresh attitude I can t help but think of how it was when I first entered the service. More then once I have made the mistake of expressing my thoughts on the change of the military attitude to ex-military. ...

This state of misrule that we shall discuss in details later has escalated unusually in the last four years. But the problem of governance is not new at all; it has been bothering the polity since 1971. The destabilization that followed the bloody War of Liberation coupled with the scorched earth policy of the Pakistani occupation force was not really overcome when the democratic process was set at naught in three and a half years. Rule of law faced serious challenges because a large section of the enforcers, the civil servants and the police force, were collaborators of the occupation force, although mostly unwilling, and hence their moral authority was under question. It was not, however, possible to get rid of them because of serious inadequacy of trained manpower. The Awami League came to power virtually for the first time after fourteen years as a harassed opposition force and its leadership could not firmly control the ‘grab game’ that ensued in the state of flux in liberated Bangladesh. The defeated forces of 1971 went into hiding but intensified their activities with Pakistani patronage and Arab money.2 The young rebels who formed the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) as the first opposition party in Bangladesh unwittingly provided a platform also for the anti-Liberation forces. The defeated forces were not bothered about the scientific socialism plank of JSD and their main interest was in finding an opposition camp to become politically active. A lot of Jamat leaders of today were JSD stalwarts of 1973-75.3 The most unfortunate

2

development was the concentration of power in the hands of the charismatic leader, the Father of the Nation. Weighed down by the burden of state responsibilities Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became isolated from the grassroots and his physical absence from the Liberation War also acted as a disadvantage. The properties, especially industries abandoned by the Pakistanis, accelerated the ‘grab game’. The limited availability of goods in the market in the wake of a war and destroyed communication links led to profiteering, price hikes and other corrupt practices. Along with corruption, terrorism also continued. Voluntary giving up of arms was not so successful a drive and a lot of arms remained with the people, especially with the youth. Internecine squabbles became violent and security in the rural areas in particular was highly vulnerable. A lot of local leaders, including AL stalwarts, were eliminated by their rivals. Students also indulged in the game of revenge and retribution. Attempts to establish law and order and suppress pockets of resistance or prevent smuggling were rather ruthless, creating a fearful image of the Rakki Bahini, a military unit set up by a law in 1972 to help both domestic and external security.

The Research paper on Foreign Aid Countries Israel Military

Foreign Aid There are two words that many politicians like to shy away, and those two words are, 'foreign aid.' Taking a firm stand on either side of this topic is usually side stepped by decision makers. Their opinions are usually based on a case by case analysis. This extremely controversial topic involves whether or not to support the policy of foreign aid to needy or sometimes not so needy ...

It was considered an unaccountable and cruel semi-military outfit loyal only to Bangabandhu. In the armed forces, cohesion was seriously eroded by the division between freedom fighters and the repatriates from Pakistan who were three times larger than the former. The chain of command was also seriously disturbed partly because of the ambition of some freedom fighters and largely because of absorbing the repatriates and the freedom fighters under one unified command. The country also faced severe resource scarcity for nearly nine months in fiscal year 1974 as donors assisting the reconstruction and development of the country temporarily turned off the flow of aid.4 The Arab countries with control over oil supplies also created serious economic problems by denying direct access to oil imports.5 The strong international pressure not to try the Pakistani war criminals forced the country to unwanted and unpopular compromises. In the twentieth century Bangladesh was the only country that was not a successor state and it had its difficulties in monetary management, foreign trade and international relations.6 The government took salutary steps in many areas. The withdrawal of Indian troops on March 12, 1972, soon after the surrender of the Pakistan Army, was almost a miracle performed by Bangabandhu. The daunting task of setting up a national administration and a police force was tackled successfully within a few months even though senior civil servants were held hostage in Pakistan till 1974. But the swiftness

with which the old order was restored impeded political development and empowerment of the people. Devolution of powers did not take place and a diminished Deputy Commissioner still remained as the field presence of a centralized government. Red tape could not be cut as layers of bureaucracy remained between the political leaders and the people. The quality of administration could not be improved because of a colonial mentality of dependence on clerks and paper pushers. The revolutionary Zonal Councils set up during the War were discarded for the traditional bureaucracy.7 In foreign affairs Bangabandhu set out the guidelines that have withstood the test of time. At the first opportunity Bangabandhu secured the withdrawal of Indian troops on March 12, 1972 to demonstrate clearly that the country was not dependent on India. Bangabandhu was also keen on reducing economic and trade dependence on India or the Soviet block. Special trade agreements (STAs) were concluded to diversify trade relations. A system was introduced to secure essential supplies from UK and the West through exports to Bangladesh by wage earners of Bangladesh origin, who mostly resided in UK and USA at the time.

The Essay on Health Care Military Society Government

Austiulism "Walk softly and carry a big stick" was a quote taken from Theodore Roosevelt which would only be half truth in my society. My philosophy would be more like "Make noise and carry a big stick." In this paper I will attempt to create a society where I will be the leader and address all of the aspects of a new society that will combine a few leadership qualities of Joseph Stalin and some ...

There were some questions in the country as to whether aid from countries working against Bangladesh in 1971 should be welcomed or refused. Bangabandhu decided that external assistance from all sources should be welcome. Initially a neutral party, the UNROB, took up the coordination of aid from the donors’ side and later the World Bank led Aid Group was formed in 1974. Bangabandhu invited a host of countries to join this club, many of whom were from the eastern and Arab blocks.8 Trade agreements were concluded with Egypt and China well before diplomatic relations were established with these countries. During his trip to the Soviet Union in March 1972, agreements were concluded on trade and economic cooperation with the Soviet Union. Projects under implementation with Soviet assistance were revived and past debt liability was assumed. This principle was applied universally and was the basis of understanding with the World Bank in 1974. The revival of World Bank projects was undertaken even before Bangladesh became a member of the Bank. Sweden offered assistance to activate these projects and Bangladesh agreed to assume past debt liability as and when this bridge financing was taken over by the Bank.9 Bangladesh became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in April 1972. Bangabandhu attended the Summit of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) in September 1973 and the Summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in February 1974. The thrust of external relations was healthy relations with all blocks. Bangabandhu spoke of Bangladesh as the

3

Switzerland of the East and reiterated the principle of “with malice towards none and friendship with all”. The government rehabilitated 30 million refugees and displaced persons, restored communication and transport links, and rejuvenated the agriculture and power sectors. The border demarcation with India was nearly finalized during the honeymoon period with that country and an agreement, although interim, was concluded on Ganges water sharing. Recognizing the discontent and the grievances of the Chakmas of the Hill Tracts, Bangabandhu made a deal with their leader Manabendra Larma. The industrial policy was revised in July 1974 with a view to encouraging private investment and direct foreign investment. Bangladesh obtained diplomatic recognition from 121 countries by March 1974 and was admitted into the UN on September 17, 1974. Chances of restoration of law and order and the initiation of good governance were rudely thwarted by the illegal military adventure of August 15, 1975. The evil in the military forces could not wait any more because the country was picking up fast by the end of 1974. The famine of the fall of 1974 was a great tragedy and meant a failure of the democratic system.

It would have been better for the government to be more transparent and open about the extent of damage. There was a failure in anticipating the magnitude of the crisis and last-minute steps did not yield the desired result. Sufficient commercial credit was not available to Bangladesh at the time and dependence on aid did not leave much option to the country in procuring timely supplies of food grains. The import of food grains was disturbed by the machinations of international politics as the US refused to allow shipment at the right time. With a little sympathy they could be more flexible.10 The transport bottlenecks proved crucial and even the availability of food grains could not avert the famine. This unhealthy experience with transportation resulted in leasing some mini-bulkers later to be used for transportation in the inland waterways. These mini-bulkers also eased the storage problem as they served as temporary storage space for food grains.11 The aid squeeze of 1973 and the famine of 1974 created serious crisis of confidence in the ability of the government to handle economic difficulties. The remedial steps were very bold and good but the good results took time to mature. By June of 1975 there was the building of the largest stock of food grains, from a level of 300,000 to 760,000 tons. The Aid Group formed in 1974 made the largest commitment of assistance in October: $1271 million or nearly double of earlier annual commitments. The exchange rate was made realistic in April 1975 with a downward adjustment of over 50 percent of the taka

value against the pound sterling. Liberalization of the economy improved the availability of goods and held back corruption. The spiraling inflation rate came tumbling down and its dramatic effect was felt in 1975/76 when it was a negative 8.2 percent. A new system of devolution of powers to districts was in the offing under the District Administration Law of July 1975.12 The military coup of August 15, 1975 was very adventurous but its leaders seemed to time it very well as further delay would have taken the wind out of its sails. It was argued that the economy was in shambles, corruption was rampant, the Rakki Bahini was ruthlessly persecuting people and the government was incapable and hence trampled democracy with a one-party system. This was, however, the greatest disaster for the nation and much of the evils of today owe their origin to this misadventure. Some criminals in uniform assassinated Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then President of the country, and his entire family and relatives numbering eighteen. Luckily his two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, who were traveling abroad, escaped the carnage. Terrorism and lawlessness, corruption and economic mismanagement, destruction of institutions of civilized society, election rigging and the famine of right leadership are the legacies of the direct and indirect military rule of long sixteen years.

Military rule spawned two political parties that have been using state powers of coercion and state agencies of law enforcement and intelligence. General Zia as the Martial Law Administrator formed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in September 1978. General Ershad, following the same precedent, formed the Jatiya Party (JP) in January 1986. Military rule, whether direct or indirect, in the ultimate analysis established authoritarian rule and legitimized the law of the jungle. It moved away from a secular state system, promoted regressive state policies of communal discord and brought back religious parties into politics. General Zia issued a Martial law decree on December 8, 1978 and made fundamental changes in the Constitution. He changed the long freedom struggle into a mere liberation war (Preamble), introduced Allah at the beginning of the preamble and faith in Allah as a fundamental principle (Preamble & Article 8), abandoned the secular character of the state (Article 8 & 12), changed the Bangalee people into Bangladeshis (article 6), modified the socialist orientation (Article 8 & 10), withdrew the ban on religion-based politics (article 38) and made the collaborators eligible for elective offices (Article 66).

General Ershad’s constitutional

4

amendment in 1988 declaring Islam the state religion was a natural next step (Article 2A).

General Zia allowed the Jamat-e-Islami, the collaborators of Pakistani occupation army, to re-emerge in politics and permitted its leader Ghulam Azam, who had earlier fled the country and was involved in antiBangladesh propaganda abroad, to return to Bangladesh. Military rule denied human rights and press freedom. General Zia introduced nighttime curfew in Dhaka and this continued even after his death for quite a while. Making a travesty of the rule of law, military rule on September 6, 1975, indemnified the assassins of the Father of the Nation (who later fled the country on November 4, 1975) from the due process of law. General Zia rewarded his benefactors by giving them cushy jobs in the Foreign Ministry. Further, he voided the Collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order of 1972 to prevent criminal proceedings against collaborators and gave them civic rights. The worst effect of military rule was establishment of a system of arbitrary rule that still pervades in Bangladesh political culture. Induction of terrorism in politics and students’ circle leading to criminalization of politics is another legacy of military rule in the country. Military rule eroded moral values and obtained universalization of corruption.

General Zia also reflected interesting facts: personally he lived an austere life and did not care for creature comforts. But he institutionalized the culture of collection of donations (meaning extortion) by political leaders. He had no scruples in bribing even bureaucrats; he also institutionalized the purchase and sale of politicians. General Ershad excelled in this line of business, but in his case it is widely believed that he also amassed wealth for himself. He was not really immoral, he was completely amoral. Furthermore, military rule caused the destruction of the integrity of the electoral process and stunted political leadership. In the past electoral fraud was perpetrated by individual politicians and occasionally by local party units. Military rule, however, involved the civil administration systematically in rigging elections and getting people of their choice elected or defeated as they wished. General Zia held a referendum on May 30, 1977, and received an affirmative vote of 98.88 percent; he also showed a voter turnout of an absurd 88.5 percent. He held a Presidential election on June 12, 1978, followed by a parliamentary election on February 18, 1979. In all these elections the results were pre-determined and the civil administration was tutored to doctor the voting. The election on November 15 held by Zia’s successor, Justice Sattar, was similarly rigged. The

next military ruler General Ershad followed Zia and held a referendum on March 21, 1985, that was equally fraudulent. He held a number of national elections such as parliamentary election on May 7, 1986, Presidential election on October 15, 1986, and a further parliamentary election on March 3, 1988. Every election held under military rule created a new record and style of election engineering. Miracle of voter turn-out was enacted in the two referenda in 1977 and 1985. Presidential elections in 1978, 1981 and 1986 were so set up as to return the incumbent at any cost. The parliamentary election in 1979 was for a pre-fixed list of winners. The 1986 parliamentary election was known as the media coup fraud. And 1988 election was the voterless election. When at last military rule was brought to an end on December 6, 1990, by a united national uprising, new hopes for the nation inspired its people. Unfortunately the political parties failed to rise to the occasion to obliterate the scourge of pervasive debilitation engendered by the long and anti-people military rule. A coalition or a national unity government could cope with the situation but it did not happen in Bangladesh. Only the switch to parliamentary system was done through all party consensus.

But the switch did not bring about collective responsibility of the cabinet or the end of the arbitrary rule of the head of government. The Presidential Secretariat was just converted into Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and it retained the same absolute control over all Ministries. Electoral reforms, devolution of government, empowerment of people, reform of the bureaucracy, and educational reforms needed concerted efforts. The two biggest problems, terrorism and corruption, warranted all-out social mobilization and goodwill of the political parties. Very limited achievements in these areas can be credited to the account of the three successive democratic regimes. A new crisis has been added by the democratic regimes: the politicization of administration. The Secretariat, the offices of Deputy Commissioners, Upazila Nirbahi Officers, Inspector General of Police, Police Superintendents, Officersin-Charge of Thanas, and the offices of the Election Commission have been turned into partisan strongholds. Democracy has also failed in the culture and practices of the political parties. Parliamentary party meetings are rare for the BNP. Perpetuation of party leaders at the centre and the districts is a routine matter. Virtual dictatorship of the top leaders is the rule in all the political parties. District conferences of parties, where leadership emerges, are not regularly held and leaders are largely selected and promoted and do not emerge through any democratic process.

5

Of course, it does not mean that the country has not moved forward. For the first time investment picked up and the low level growth trap could be overcome. The basket case image does not haunt the nation any more. Social investment accelerated and achievements in human development did the nation proud although the declining trend of the last four years is unfortunate.13 Population problem is under control although environmental security is highly threatened. Foreign trade expanded to more than 35 percent of GDP and aid dependence went down substantially to a paltry 3 percent. The private sector has substantially expanded and large segments of the economy, even including infrastructure sector, is dominated by it. A side effect, however, of this development is corruption –evasion of rules and regulations, extortion by public functionaries, and underhand payments for various services. The NGO sector emerged as a bright light for the nation. In micro-credit and in non-formal education Bangladesh became a model for the world. Bangladesh also manages its external debt very ably and well and indirectly it is being penalized for good performance.14 Freedom of speech and press freedom have carved out a place for itself and it may not be feasible for any government to suppress it.

The Current State of Governance in Bangladesh: Political Dimensions The government now in office came to power four years ago through an election that was alleged by a large section of the population to be highly rigged, but it was accepted by all as the legitimate government, including the opposition bench in the parliament. But the way the government has been functioning during the last four years is catastrophic indeed. BNP was in power during 1991-1996 and despite its notoriety for corruption and incompetence the state of governance then was much better. Some semblance of law and order was there in the country and despite police high-handedness security of citizens was not a serious problem. BNP, however, started the process of forcible occupation of the educational campuses and politicization of police recruitment. It continued with the martial law tradition of forcible suppression of protest and dissent. But it did not earn the reputation of a terrorist friendly government nor did it suppress the opposition so brutally and ruthlessly. Economically the country crossed the low level growth trap of less than 4 percent and savings started improving from near zero levels to two digits. But this time it is a different story: The government is the nursemaid and patron of terrorists, criminals and extremist militants and there is the insane competition for plundering

national wealth and misuse of resources. Even daily shopping for the household is claimed from the treasury.15 This time the government is on a relentless mission of annihilating the opposition forces with partisan goons and coercive powers of the state. This time they are bent upon perpetuating their misrule by hook or by crook. We now truly have a government of the Alliance, for the Alliance and by the Alliance. The only plausible explanation for this despicable transformation of the BNP led Alliance government can be that one of its partners is Jamat, never a wellwisher of Bangladesh and its people.16 This party is by its mission and record an anti-people, antinational, anti-progress fascist party. The overwhelming influence of Jamat on the BNP-Jamat government has really turned the Alliance government into a Rajakar17 regime. With the Awami League losing the election in October 2001 as the BNP-Jamat Alliance took over power it was surprising to find that educational institutions were closed to perceived opposition groups – even a perceived supporter of Awami League was disallowed to complete his medical internship or to upset for a final examination. In the past, starting with Khaleda regime of 1991 and prevailing during AL regime of 1996, a tradition was established where with the change of government, conquest of students’ dormitories by students’ wing of the ruling party would take place.

Not all residents would be thrown out but the residence would be cleansed of opposition stalwarts and consequently students belonging to the opposition camp would take a low profile or cease to be active in politics. The new aggressiveness was frightening; it was an environment of total intolerance and imposition of total subservience on all students by the ruling junta. Then as soon as the election was over persecution of the minorities began all over the country. The persecution of the minorities in Bhola that was detailed by two newspapers – Prothom Alo and Daily Star – was initially considered untrue even by the editors of the two newspapers.18 Many stories of attacks on localities of minorities and the murder, arson, rape and loot perpetrated there were to follow. On November 16, Gopal Krishna Muhuri, a respected Principal of a College in Chittagong, was shot in his home by some Jamat goons. Persecution of minorities and the opposition forces and a regime of terrorism received government patronage through a denial syndrome that no violence was being committed. Also purges were carried out in semiStalinist fashion not only from government or semigovernment institutions but also from non-political or professional organizations. At the same time, of course, rewards were dished out to civil employees

6

who proved valuable for the staging of the electoral farud. The credit for the purging process in the government, however, has to be attributed to the Chief Advisor Justice Latifur Rahman, who singlehandedly began it immediately after his installation in office on July 16, 2001.19 This purging process went to the extent of making it impossible for a suspected ‘enemy’ (a non-party man) to even follow a vocation of his/her choice in rural areas where the Alliance partners had strong hold. There was, in addition, an upsurge of loot and plunder of properties belonging to members of the minority communities and diehard Awami League followers. This was also accompanied by illegal and forcible grabbing of public properties such as chairs of powerful people such as Vice Chancellors, Chairmen of public and semi-public corporations, Chairmen of sports and games bodies, Chairmen of boards of directors of all kinds of institutions where the government had any role. This climate of behaviour was well-expressed by the phrase “conquest of hats, bazars, khas lands, public buildings, bus stands, river ghats, shopping malls, and even public toilets”. It was thought at the time that this was a flash flood of revenge and retaliation and surely it was strengthened by the socalled landslide victory but it would die down soon enough.

But what has happened over the last four years is not mere post-election jingoism and revenge but a wellorchestrated destruction of the edifice of the state by the BNP-Jamat Alliance. Unfortunately the climate of intolerance and revenge has prevailed for all four years of their term of office. Politicization of all walks of life has continued vigorously and institutions of public administration and trust have been rendered highly partisan and inefficient. The most unfortunate development is the growth of extremist militant groups, who flourished with Jamat support and protection and as beneficiary of the denial syndrome followed by the government. Because of government neglect of terrorist attacks on opposition and secular elements, the criminals joined the political activists and played hell with law and order. The attack on a rally led by the leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina MP on August 21, 2004, was unthinkable but the inept government misdirected the investigation. The climate of impunity so emboldened the criminals and the terrorists that they went on assassinating top journalists, teachers, and political leaders including Labor leader Ahsanullah Master MP, Khulna lawyer and AL leader Manjurul Imam, Professor M. Yunus of Rajshahi, and internationally renowned personality and former Finance Minister S.A.M.S. Kibria (MP), who was killed with grenade attack on January 27,

2005. Here also, as the government tried to protect the big fishes and only charged the small fries, the anti-state elements planned their final attack. On August 17, 2005, extremists with experience in warfare outside Bangladesh generally with Pakistani patronage and with criminal records at home, launched a county-wide bomb attack on some 500 spots in all the 64 districts of the country except one. Getting away with murder turned out to be literally true in this horrendous case simply because the patrons of these terrorists and criminals viz. Jamat happened to be a partner of BNP in the government. The leading members of the banned military groups – Jamatul Mujahideen (JM), Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Harkatul Jehad (HUJI) all are former members of either Shibir, the student cadre of Jamat or Jamat itself. After 21 days of the incident the Prime Minister on 8 September for the first time expressed her concern and apologized for intelligence failure but made a statement defending the architects of the act of terrorism.20 She stated that those who were out to tarnish the international image of the government had used religious men to undertake this unprecedented attack.

Soon she was proved false and the government started the hunt for the perpetrators of the act of terrorism – Siddiqur Rahman called Bangla Bhai and Sheikh A Rahman, who had previously been sheltered by Jamat, BNP Ministers with reputation as godfathers and rogue policemen. Bangla Bhai rose into prominence in north Bangladesh around April-May of 2004 under the patronage of the government, politicians and the police. The PM called for his arrest after he had perpetrated terrorist havoc and orders for his arrest were issued on May 17, 2005. The moral authority of the government was so eroded that, on May 22, Bangla Bhai staged a demonstration in Rajshahi and the Police celebrated his show of power. He was reportedly assisted by police to escape arrest and cross the border. A while later, on July 22, Motiur Rahman Nizami, a Jamat Minister suggested that Bangla Bhai did not really exist and was a mythical figure manufactured by the press.21 On October 1, 2005, a convicted fugitive criminal, Mufti Hannan, was arrested and the cat was out of the bag. What came out after questioning him was as follows:22 He is a born criminal and a sworn enemy of independent Bangladesh. He was in Afghanistan and was close to Bin Laden and he harboured strong hatred for the freedom fighters of Bangladesh. He had planned to kill Sheikh Hasina and had a nephew planted in the Awami League family of organizations for that purpose. He had made the huge 76 kg. bomb

7

planted at Kotalipara to blow away Sheikh Hasina. He was hiding in the country as a fugitive from law with the support of ruling party leaders and promise of the former Home Minister for exoneration. He informed that Bangla Bhai was one of the architects of the bomb blasts of August 17, and they were all followers and activists of Jamat. Qaumi Madrassas are where they were indoctrinating and training their militants. The fanatic militants were showing that they really meant to destroy the so-called man-made or Tagut law as against Allah’s revealed law. They seemed to have specially targeted the courts of law. On October 2, they raided four courts in three districts – Chittagong, Laxmipur and Chandpur and the attackers, some of whom were arrested by people on the spot, were very determined and obstinate people. They demonstrated their strength and determination quite amply. It is interesting that when the government took up extreme measures to ensure security as the SAARC leaders assembled in Dhaka for the thirteenth summit between November 10-14, 2005, there were no incidents of terrorism in the country for about a week or more. In December the enemies of Bangladesh, usually Jamat militants, went on threatening attacks on victory day celebrations or martyrs’ day memorial functions.

The audacity of the partners of the regime was not taken lightly by the nation and Khaleda possibly felt the heat. Interestingly once again peace for the duration of the victory celebrations and again during the religious festival of Eed-ul-Fitr and the religious gathering of Tongi Ijtema in January 2006 was easily ensured. In the revered month of February of the language martyrs, as well as, the militants were under restraint. On November 29, 2005, the fanatic extremists attacked courts of law at Chittagong and Gazipur, killing 2 and injuring 17 in Chittagong and killing 7 and injuring 50 in Gazipur. Gazipur was attacked once again on December 1; this time it was the office of the Deputy Commissioner and it took a toll of one life. This was followed by a deadly attack in Netrokona on December 8, killing 8 people and injuring hundreds. This time the government in its blatant attempt at shielding the extremists of Jamat brand discovered a Hindu militant in the incident. Unfortunately for the regime, the State Minister for Home had to admit that the dead person was an innocent bystander. On November 27, a top militant and associate of Bangla Bhai, Mahtab Khemaru, was arrested at Bagmara, a central scene of Bangla Bhai’s horrendous action, but he was released at the intervention of some Jamat leader. Soon it was learnt that he was a wanted criminal and a combing

operation was carried out in three districts but he could not be traced.23 On December 14, Ataur Rahman Sani, commander-in-chief of JMB and the younger brother of its top leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman, was arrested and he disclosed close connection of the militants with Jamat and government leaders. He also admitted that he was wrong in his belief in militancy and invited other leaders and workers to shun the misguided path and surrender their arms and weapons. He did not even record a confessional statement but his statement during the interrogation was video taped and publicized in the media.24 It is reported that his interrogation stopped because he was pointing fingers at top government leaders and officials. On December 26, another arrestee was Lutfur Rahman, a Jamat leader, brother of Bangla Bhai and his main advisor. He virtually threatened the police as they started questioning him and demanded that Ministers and government people who activated Bangla Bhai should first be arrested and questioned.25 Mufti Hannan, a convicted criminal, and Ataur Rahman Sani, a confessed killer, were kept under interrogation for long. They were allowed to broadcast on the media. They were taken on remand for months in a mysterious way.26 Usually a suspect or accused person is taken on remand for a maximum period of two weeks. In order to avoid the legal restrictions these criminals are shown implicated in numerous cases and thus they are on remand for long periods. All these maneuvers in the investigation of militants’ operations prove the suspicion that behind all the militants and their activism is the government. The manner in which the cases of Mahtab Khemaru, Mufti Hannan, Lutfur Rahman and Ataur Sani have been and are being dealt with leave no doubt that the entire terrorism and militancy phenomena is an orchestra composed by Khaleda-Nizami. In Decemebr 2005 they planned a program for four months (the period of Sani’s remand).

Their game was that during this period either the cases would go out of people’s mind or some other more dramatic development would take place to divert attention from the arrested and suspected militants and their patrons. After releasing Mahtab Khemaru on November 27, 2005, police became a little cautious. On 14 December they arrested Ataur Rahman Sani, brother of Shaikh Abdur Rahman. This was followed by the arrest of Lutfur Rahman, brother of Bangla Bhai on December 26. They made raids at various places and seized large cachets of arms and also some militants. Their attempts to arrest Shaikh Rahman or Siddiq Rahman mostly ended in failure. On February 19, both Shaikh Rahman and Siddiq Rahamn were

8

sentenced to imprisonment for 40 years for the Jhalokati killing of judges. On February 28, there was a surprise success when Hafez Mahmud, one of the members of JMB Majlis e Shura, was arrested from Baitul Mokarram area. Events moved fast thereafter possibly to impress the US President who was on a sub-continental visit. On March 1, Shaikh Abdur Rahman was located in a housing colony at Shaplabagh in Sylhet.27 It was learnt that he was staying there for about two months with his family and his son was going to school there. Jamat leaders, who have virtually a colony in the locality, were in constant touch with him but he was not visible at all in the area. Police and RAB cordoned off an area of about 1 square kilometre and appealed to the criminal to surrender. At the end of the first day his wife and children and some others surrendered but he announced his intention of blowing himself up rather than surrender. The law enforcing agencies with the cooperation of a special TV station NTV, who overnight set up camp there, staged an interesting drama.28 While appeals were broadcast to the criminal, armed personnel took aim at the house, many of whom, however, were without helmets.

They sprayed water into the house and drilled holes from the rooftop to survey the inside of the house. The following morning Shaikh Rahman with an associate came out quietly on condition that he would be allowed to speak to the media. Not much of explosives were found, no money and hardly any items of furniture, cutlery, crockery or pots and pans were found in the place. It was publicized that Shaikh Rahman went to Sylhet about two months ago and he was driven part of the way in a flagged vehicle, meaning the vehicle with a Minister level leader.29 It certainly raises the question whether he actually lived there at all or he was just taken there for the show. Some books and papers were seized but excluded from the seizure list were books by Maudoodi, Nizami and Sayeedi. The criminal was escorted to Dhaka almost in a royal fashion and along the way crowds gathered. The Prime Minister promptly appeared on the electronic media and celebrated the successful operation and claimed greater success than any other country in the world in suppressing terrorism and arresting the top militant leaders. She also made a bid for extolling the performance of RAB keeping certainly in mind that this force is under cloud for extra-judicial killing that it carries out with impunity. It should be remembered that when the entire country was under attack on August 17, 2005, Khaleda Zia did cut short her visit to China but refused to make any statement for 21 days. But this time the speech was instantaneous. It is said that in custody Shaikh Rahman is well-treated and no

bottle, electric or Kohinoor therapy is applied on him as he is questioned. Let it be noted that Rahman is a convict under life sentence and he is treated royally. In quick succession on February 6, Siddiqur Rahman, the notorious Bangla Bhai, was hauled up in a village in Muktagacha in Mymensingh in a similar fashion. NTV also set up a camp there to cover the incident. Here also the wife and children surrendered and Siddiq Rahman declared that he would not be caught alive. A fire broke out in a cottage where he was hiding and he came out injured, mostly burned. Although initially it was given out as a bomb blast, it was not actually so and neither Siddiq Rahman nor RAB bombed the area. Possibly fire was lit on sprayed gunpowder. It is reported that this criminal was staying there for two years and he had also a place to stay in Mymensingh town. He was declared to be seriously injured and was flown by helicopter to Dhaka for treatment. It is now learnt that the injury was not so severe. He is also treated royally in custody and no third degree methods are applied in his interrogation. Let it also be noted that he is also a convicted criminal sentenced to life imprisonment. The arrest of these two architects of mayhem in the country is, no doubt, a feather to the cap of Khaleda Zia’s endeavour for suppression of terrorism in the country.

But the manner in which they were arrested with such fanfare raises some questions that are selfevident in the accounts furnished on their arrest and the suspension created in each occasion, which has been briefly narrated here but carried at length by all the daily newspapers for about a fortnight beginning March 2. A large section of the population has the perception that these militants were in government shelter and were taken to the selected spots for staging the drama of the arrests. The government always underplayed the danger from the militants and always encouraged the terrorists to attack the opposition and secular forces. They always termed the warnings on the rise of fanaticism and terrorism as propaganda to tarnish the image of the government and of the country as well. The State Minister for Home, however, has displayed some realism when he was gracious enough to concede at last that these criminals were not a creation of the media as suggested earlier by a host of Ministers. The criminals are in custody but their patrons, who openly protected and supported them such as, Minister Matiur Rahman Nizami of Pabna, Minister Aminul Huq of Rajshahi, State Minister Alamgir Kabir of Naogaon, State Minister Fazlur Rahman Potol of Natore, Deputy Minister Ruhul Quddus Dulu of Natore and Rajshahi Mayor Mizanur Rahman

9

Minu are all safe and sound and not even subjected to questioning. The members of civil and police administration and local BNP, Jamat and IOJ leaders, who inspired, protected and supported these militants, are also not under any interrogation. It is reported that in 228 cases of bomb blasts, explosives, murders, etc., relating to incidents following the series bombing of August 17, 2005, there are 900 militants in custody now. Only 122 of them have been charge-sheeted, 61 cases are under trial and only 4 having been disposed of.30 What about the other cases of over half a century of bomb blasts and grenade attacks? What about the case of the armed attack of August 21, 2004, that took a toll of 24 lives? The problem is the impression of complicity of the leaders of the government in these attacks and consequent lack of credibility of any investigation or trial of these criminal and anti-state acts. Many embarrassing questions are circulating in the country. Why are these criminals being protected by the government? Why are they in police custody and not in jail and why is the royal attention for so long? How and why are these criminals allowed to appeal to the public while under remand? What kind of tutoring is being done to them by rogue elements in law enforcement? Are they being held in custody so that amnesty is ultimately granted to them? Are they kept unhurt so that at the right time they may lead military attacks on the opposition forces? It is suspected that the investigations and trials would be prolonged so that no punishment is really awarded to the criminals in the near future. It is suspected that the real patrons of the militants – the Jamat and IOJ leaders and the rogue elements of BNP – would be left unscathed. It is further suspected that the militants, whose number may be 25,000, are kept under leash now to be released for killing and frightening the opposition forces at the time of election. It is, therefore, that the demand for involving the UN anti-Terrorism Unit in the investigation and prosecution of the terrorist activism in Bangladesh is so important and so crucial. The government has set up a horrible record of favour for terrorists and criminals. To seek and get relief criminals loyal to the party or its leaders have only to apply the levers of political power and grease the machine with bribes. A convicted fugitive criminal Muhiuddin Jintu, now a citizen of Sweden, with a death sentence hanging over his head for 22 years arranged to return home and obtained a Presidential pardon in 11 days in January 2005.31 Fleeing from court while officially in custody, getting bail while already convicted, being hijacked while being moved to a jail hospital or specialized clinic are almost routine in the country. All of it happens

because of political consideration by the government and the majesty of bribes. Another convicted murderer died as a fugitive and then was granted relief and his wife has been enabled to draw family pension and benefits.32 Discussing the moral authority of the government it would be highly instructive to look at the case of one top leader of the Police force. On January 28, 2004, Inspector General of Police Shahudul Huq was convicted by the High Court for contempt and given a sentence of a fine and imprisonment. He was retained in service as he appealed to the Appellate Division. On December 8, 2004, the conviction was confirmed. On December 15, the President gave him pardon. How can you expect support and loyalty of the common man to the state system that is so unethical? This state of affairs coupled with corruption of the highest order has really led to total anarchy. Corruption at all levels is a matter of public knowledge. The family of the Prime Minister is one of the richest families of the country although President Ziaur Rahman at his assassination left almost a destitute family who had to be provided accommodation and income by the state. The informal power centre Howa Bhavan, wherefrom the son of the Prime Minister operates, is alleged to be the main influence or broker in decision making and its service is highly priced. For five successive years the country is perceived as per Transparency International report as one of the most corrupt in the world. The extent of corruption can be judged from the following examples. First, there is a price for every government job in the market. Prof Yunus of Grameen fame has indicated that a primary school teacher has to pay Tk 50,000 to 200,000 to get a job even after successfully competing for the recruitment. For a peon this payment is Tk.100,000. For a transfer order or its cancellation a nurse or a ward boy of a health service institution has to pay Tk. 80,000 to 200,000.33 Second, some of the best examples of corruption are the deals and machinations in the energy sector. The predecessor Awami League government as it left office had started work on several power projects to generate 1200 MW of electricity. The Alliance government cancelled all these projects alleging that they were suspected to be corrupt deals. In their four years of office this government could commission only one unit of 80 MW and order four more capable of producing 330 MW plus 120 MW of peaking capacity. A number of other projects are under process, many of which are the revived projects of AL period. The main reason as to why this government cannot place any order for a plant is corruption and political consideration. A good project where the commissions have also been

10

agreed to is cancelled because the contractor may have links with the opposition. Contracts take years to be finalized mainly because all the commission agents, among whom are high functionaries, informal power centres and bureaucrats, are too greedy. They compete with each other or act in parallel and their demands for underhand payments are very high. In its previous term 1991-96 also BNP could not place any orders for this simple reason of excessive greed and incompetence in coordinated action. In the Gas subsector it is simply unbelievable that where small investments in well development or compressor installation by Petrobangla could meet the need, corrupt and fraudulent deals with NIKO and UNACOL have warranted gas rationing at least for two years more.34 Rural Electrification Board has been functioning for years as an efficient organization, very economical in its operation. It cannot be so anymore because of the greed of the Alliance leaders. The REB has been forced into a scandalous deal for reinforced concrete poles supplied by a politically powerful monopolist much against its will. This is costing the enterprise additional several hundred crores of takas a year. So with increased budget allocation REB cannot provide one third of facilities that they used to provide in the past. Third, wherever you look you will hear stories of greed and corruption involving Ministers, Alliance politicians, businessmen and their cronies. The World Bank has cancelled funds for projects in health and rural development sectors because the deals have been corrupt.35 Earlier they intervened to stop a corrupt scheme to set up small power plants of 10 to 50 MW capacity on an emergency basis; the project was meant to favour cronies and settle contracts through negotiations without calling for any bids.36 In the last budget high tax was imposed on SIM card allegedly to benefit a particular businessman-cumpolitician who had stocked them well. Not once but twice petroleum products of one specification were imported against orders for products of a different specification. Jet fuel that is costly was ordered but kerosene was imported and on both occasions BPC had to accept the supplies.37 It is not, however, a habit picked up recently; no sooner the BNP-Jamat Alliance had come to power than started the looting of public funds by its leaders.38 This was evident in the wheat scam of 2002. On July 31, 2002, the government decided to buy 100,000 tons of wheat from six districts that were not wheat surplus areas. Actual procurement operation was over on July 30, and very little of wheat was actually procured. BNP MPs and their cronies taking advantage of this decision on procurement imported poultry feed grade wheat from India and leaders of BNP and some crooked officers made Tk 300 million out of this

deal, titled ‘wheatgate” by the Daily Star. The Minister for Shipping made the headlines when the Danish grant funds were withdrawn from a project on direct allegations of corruption by the Mission. The investigation against the Minister of Transport for importing high priced CNG three-wheelers in early 2002 is still incomplete because the Minister refuses to cooperate with the Parliamentary Committee doing the investigation. On top of this greed is the incompetence of the regime. This can be gauged from some recent incidents. The gas crisis is an obvious problem of lack of planning. The dismal performance in the power sector is not only a matter of corruption but also one of lack of coordination and utter neglect of public welfare. It is unbelievable that a crisis brewed on the annual routine and sacred function of Hajj pilgrimage. The government made arrangements for only 18,000 pilgrims leaving the other 36,000 high and dry. It just showed the contempt with which this anti-people government treats the citizens.39 The monga situation (famine conditions) in north Bangladesh is a regular feature almost each year but how unprepared was the government to face it. Shortage of onions is a normal Ramadan event, but the government just would not anticipate it at all. In the first quarter of 2006, the record of incompetence is even worse. In quick succession we had air transport, diesel, fertilizer, sugar and power crisis in the country and notably in northern Bangladesh. Crisis still continues in the supply of fertilizer, sugar and electricity and air transport; diesel crisis may have been overcome by now. The responsible Ministers denied the existence of any crisis with straight faces. And as usual they attributed the existence of the crises to their favorite whipping horse, the media. In every case the crisis resulted from failure in planning and coordination, too much greed standing in the way of securing supplies, partisan and incompetent distribution system and wicked syndicates of importers, transporters and stockists. As for electricity the main problem is failure in placing work-orders for plants because of competing claims for excessive commission from the contractors by various powerful interlopers. The government has done another irreparable damage to the nation by completely politicizing the civil administration, the police force and the election bureaucracy. In the past, politicization essentially remained restricted to posting of some selected secretaries and heads of a few executive bodies. Ministers almost always took their pick of some field level officers such as DCs, UNOs, SPs and OCs of Thanas. But now the process of promotion has been

11

completely politicized. Favourite boys of the Rajakar government do not have to fulfill minimum requirements for promotion. Violating normal rules, 33 officers have become Secretaries from the level of DCs and Deputy Secretaries in just three years.40 In the past, such unusual promotions were a few cases of nepotism, such as the appointment of a High Court Judge during the previous Khaleda regime, who was made a Selection grade District Judge, a Joint Secretary, and a Secretary within one year so that he could be a High Court Judge before retirement. It has also come to notice recently as to how the recruitment process is vitiated to get the golden boys of Khaleda in government service. In the Election Commission nearly two-thirds of 327 new recruits as Upazila Election Officers are ruling party cadres so recruited through a very clever and devious process of so-called competition.41 The only criterion for recruitment into the police force now is considered to be certification on Chatra Dal or Jubo Dal affiliation. In a competitive examination for recruitment of Sub Inspectors of Police in 2004 some 14,000 candidates appeared and only 150 qualified. Thereafter relaxing the rules, arrangements have been completed to recruit 1,200 officers from the mastan cadres of BNP and Jamat and to shorten their period of training so that they can be used during the next parliamentary election.42 Such performance of the Khaleda-Nizami government raises questions about the legitimacy of the regime. The inevitable result of these three dangerous methods of the regime (spawning terrorism and extremism-friendly behaviour, corruption at all levels and complete politicization of civil administration) is destruction of the established institutions of government and unbelievable misrule, limitless plunder of national wealth, disgraceful incompetence of the government to do anything right and on time, and a total division of the polity. MPs belonging to the opposition are denied any allocation from public resources (money and food grains) that is routinely pumped into the constituencies of Alliance MPs. A Union whose Chairman happens to be an Awami League supporter, is denied the usual government grants and funding (largely wheat allocation) as well as relief supplies in case of a disaster like floods. Opposition activities are brutally suppressed and activists are killed, but a partisan police establishment will not even entertain a complaint and instead put the blame for the incident on the victims. A kind of fascist mindset pervades the society, spreading anarchy and a cycle of revenge and retaliation. Discriminatory and unjust treatment on political considerations was certainly there before but this was usually very selective. The all-pervasive

activities today are totally new and unprecedented. The destruction of institutions is most pronounced in respect of parliament, judiciary, secretariat, district administration, police, election office, educational institutions, and media freedom. The deep polarization of the polity is difficult to explain or to understand easily. Parties have differences – some, such as Awami League, are secular and others, such as BNP and Jamat, are communal or religious. Parties follow different ideas such as conservatism of BNP and Jamat or liberalism of Awami League. Awami League is identified for concern for the poor and the deprived and BNP and Jamat for a soft corner for the well-to-do and the middle class. But in Bangladesh the differences are much more deep and permanent. Awami League believes in a protracted process of the germination of nationhood and of the formation of the nation. It believes that a popular uprising and a peoples liberation war ultimately created the sovereign Republic of Bangladesh, while BNP considers that the military onslaught of 1971 overnight initiated a revolt by the armed elements that liberated the country. Jamat believes that an Indian conspiracy coupled with revolt of some misdirected Bengali Muslims and Hindu influence created the nation. BNP-Jamat does not consider that the minorities should enjoy equal rights while AL cannot accept discrimination among citizens of Bangladesh. Awami League stands for the syncretic Bengali nation as the reference state for all ethnic Bengalis scattered over many countries owing loyalty to their respective states. BNP-Jamat coalition stands for Bangladeshi nationalism to differentiate between Muslim Bengalis and Bengalis of other communities. It seems to me that we have practically divided the country into an Awami League Bangladesh and another “Muslim League”43 Bangladesh and even social contact between the two is few and far between. The Current State of Governance in Bangladesh: Economic Dimensions In economic management the claim of success by the regime is in respect of macroeconomic balance meaning low deficits, good accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, greater flow of remittances, promise of large flow of direct foreign investment and output growth rate of above 5 percent. They have at last finalized the three-year Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper projecting a growth rate of 7 percent and GDI of 26 percent in the terminal year FY 2008.44 Bangladesh has been carefully managing macro balance since 1974 except for FY 1982 and FY 1989. But inflation rate of two digits as expected

12

this fiscal year has not been there since FY 1987. Investment growth, one of the weakest element of our economy, is stagnant now. In the second half of 1990s it grew from 20 percent in 1995/96 to 23.1 percent in 2000/01. Thereafter, it has not reached 24 percent yet. Agriculture that absorbs 55 percent of the labor force is stagnating; from an average growth rate of 4.6 percent per year for the previous five years (1996-2001) the performance in the four years is less than 2 percent per year. Food grains production is stagnant at 26.9 million tons achieved in 2000/01. Output growth rate was brought down by sheer confidence shattering statements made by the new government from nearly 6 percent in 2000/01 to 4.4 percent in 2001/02.45 It is still to climb above 5.3 percent as against the average of 5.4 percent in the previous five years. The Finance and Planning Minister has suggested that this year it will cross 6 percent barrier but it is very difficult to accept the statement as the culture of the leaders of this government is lies and distortions.46 The reason for slowing the economy was the abandonment of the tested course of emphasis on rural and agricultural growth along with the strategy of export promotion. Employment suffered because of rural stagnation and slow-down in ICT growth. After two years the BNPJamat regime recognized the need to concentrate on the rural sector. But inefficiency introduced by corruption and politicization would not yield commensurate benefits from investment in rural infrastructure, rural electrification, rural sanitation, rural housing and rural water management. Subsidy provided to agriculture is mostly plundered by ruling party middlemen leaving the farmers high and dry. Social investment is not optimally productive because of BNP-Jamat reservation on devolution of powers to local government. There is no local level administration to do the investment and manage the program in the social sector. The rural and agricultural reorientation of investment has not yet been achieved. Is it due to the character of the regime and its lack of understanding of pro-poor and prorural bias of investment? Aid utilization has drastically declined due to inefficient administration, high level of corruption and politicization of the executing agencies. From an annual disbursement level of around $1.4 billion for several years, it declined to just $1.033 billion in 2003/04 and no better performance is expected this year.47 Some SOEs that were consistently losing have been closed but no arrangements for disposal of their assets have been made, thus providing for corrupt deals and waste of assets.48 A matter for anxiety is the decline in public investment program. ADP

outlay was Tk 162 billion in 2000/01 or 7.2 percent of GDP; in 2003/04 it is only Tk 168 billion or 6.2 percent of GDP.49 For poverty alleviation and rural growth, public investment program is very crucial. Perhaps because of a decline in public investment and rural growth, poverty reduction rate per year is now down to 0.52 percent from 1-1.5 percent in the previous five years. The PRSP has been drawn up for three years keeping in view the global MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) for 2015. A separate and comprehensive long term vision for Bangladesh is not there, nor is there any medium term indicative plan for the total economy. There is also no break-down of expenditure for actual poverty alleviation, nor have the indicators for poverty reduction been constructed yet. The projection for employment generation is just a wish based on doctored statistics (manufactured after December 2004) and no real estimates of how the growth would occur are provided. Although much value has been placed on decentralization of development investment, no institution for local government is envisaged at a level higher than the uneconomic unit of the Union. Thus the implementation of the PRSP is highly doubtful and many of the MDGs such as halving poverty look simply unattainable. FDI proposals of Tata, Dhabi and other investors are very heart-warming but chances of their materialization are questionable. The biggest problem, of course, is political instability characterized by the national malaise of lawlessness, insecurity, corruption, extortion and destruction of public institutions. Despite all the attempts over years no one-stop service has yet been possible and corruption cost for investment at various points becomes quite high. It is not so much the amount of actual underhand payments but the hassle and delay that are more troublesome. The next impediment is shortage of power supply and low investments in transport and communication. Another problem is archaic security perception that stands in the way of free movement of cross traffic, pipeline for energy resources, freedom of travel, efficient port facilities and rapid growth in ICT sector. Security considerations in this country, much against all security theory, are a virtual monopoly of the defense establishment and its public discussion is rare.50 Transit traffic, open port facilities, regional gas pipeline or power transmission system are ruled out by false and thoughless security considerations. For FY 2006 a very ambitious budget was passed but even before the lapse of six months it was revised

13

downward. A crisis of financing is leading to excessive loans from the domestic banking sector and dependence on suppliers’ credit, where the scope for corruption is the highest. The tax proposals were dramatically changed by the infamous SROs within just two months of approval of the budget by the parliament. The budget has a large allocation for political slush funds that may be around Tk 60 billion51 and that is likely to contribute to inflation and further deterioration in incremental capital output ratio. The Problems and the Remedies The state of governance is such that many citizens and foreign friends question if there is any governance at all. They also suggest that functional democracy that could remedy the situation does not really exist in the country. But that the country is moving forward economically means that its potential for growth and development is way beyond our imagination, possibly 10 percent a year. Misrule is the only factor holding back the country. Most people have turned cynical and do not think that things will improve with a change of government or leadership. But that cannot be true; if wise men do not find any solution, catastrophe will take its toll. So the moot issue is how do we overcome this awful predicament? I have listed twenty-two questions and all of them can be answered cogently for which remedial measures are also not too difficult to prescribe. In Liberia a failed state is being rebuilt with input from a Bangladesh contingent.52 Why should we not be able to do it at home? In this article I shall confine myself to answering only a few questions. I believe that good governance call for an action plan at least on eight fronts, if not more. There should be programs for establishing democracy, for effective parliamentary government, for empowering people at the grassroots, for decentralizing public administration, for suppression of terrorism and securing the rule of law, for eradication of corruption, for development of human resources and for social progress and poverty alleviation. I am attempting an action plan for all the issues in a book (or shall I say a manifesto) I intend to publish shortly as a contribution to the national debate on saving Bangladesh, restoring its character of a modern democratic secular state. Here I shall present very briefly a scheme for devolution of state functions to the district level and restructuring government and bureaucracy with a view to empowering the people. This is fundamental to effect change in the positive direction for this country. Thereafter I shall deal with governance issues of

three sectors only namely, (1) suppressing terrorism and establishing the rule of law, (2) making the parliament effective and (3) controlling corruption. 1. How do you protect our way of life and system of laws under the violent threat of the extremists against what they call Tagut ways? How do you discharge the fundamental state functions of ensuring the security of life and property of citizens? How do you ensure justice in a climate of impunity engendered by the Rajakar regime? How do you get out of the cycle of political retribution and revenge? How do you make the parliament effective and bring up national issues there? How do you establish the integrity of the electoral system? How do you empower people and take the government to their door? How do you provide for the most optimal social investment? How do you make the local government responsible for delivery of services and regulatory state functions?

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. How do you decentralize the development activities? 11. How do you reform a bureaucracy that is highly partisan? 12. What do you do with a police force dominated by rogue and political elements? 13. How do you arrest corruption when insatiable greed characterizes the family of the Prime Minister? 14. What systemic reforms may control corruption? 15. How do you give lessons in the true history of the country? 16. How do you produce school graduates worthy of entering the tough race for survival? 17. How can there be economic dynamism in an

14

environment of insecurity? 18. How can economic actors perform when extortion and hijacking are the rule rather than the exception? 19. How can you have development and progress if you cannot build it on an inherited edifice, however rickety it may be? 20. How can you have national prosperity if a large section of the population is prevented from undertaking worthwhile economic activities? 21. How can you have progress if you are bent on undoing all past measures? 22. Why is it so important that poverty be reduced and what should you do to eradicate poverty? Devolution of State Functions and Restructuring of Government I have deliberately chosen not to elaborate but simply state my pet topic and a fundamental point in good governance that is devolution of state powers and restructuring of government and public administration. Such a move will empower people, ease the enforcement of regulatory functions, provide public services better at the doorsteps of citizens and get the highest return from investment for development. I would like our national government to deal with only limited subjects and devolve all other state functions to the Zilas. In my study I find that seventeen subjects should be dealt with in the districts including land administration and revenue, law and order and police, relief, primary-secondaryvocational education, and public health, sanitation and population. For the national government the list of subjects also is seventeen including foreign affairs, defense and state security, telecommunication and posts, higher education and research, national highways-waterways-railway, and trade and investment. 64 districts and 3 metropolitan areas will have their elected governments headed by a Minister level Chairman to do all regulatory functions, provide public services or regulate such services provided by the private sector and undertake most development programs, especially all social investment. An average Bangladesh Zila district has a population of 2 million and 2250 sq. kilometres of area. In an average district there are 280,000 agricultural holdings and 30 Tahsil offices, where land records are maintained and land revenue is collected. For education there are about 1160 primary schools, 190 secondary schools and a few institutions of higher learning. There are 15

hospitals and about 45 dispensaries, clinics and health or family welfare centres. About 250 kilometres of national highways, 170 kilometres of district or regional paved (pucca) roads and 2600 kilometres of unpaved (kutcha) rural roads are there in an average district. Besides the thana headquarters there are other growth centres and important habitation centres in a district; on an average there are also nearly 120 marketplaces called hats or bazars. It is evident that the conglomeration of activities at the district level is quite significant. The size of a district by its population, geographical area as well as social and economic activities makes it a good candidate for an effective unit of local government. In order to set up a good and attractive local government service it is essential that civil servants be given career advancement opportunities. The size of the district and the range of activities that can be performed there make it possible to have worthwhile local government service in the country. An average district will have about 12,000 government employees including teachers, policemen, health and population workers and others. A legitimate question is: do we have the resources and manpower for setting up 67 governments in the country? The emphatic answer is yes. Then, overall the number of public servants will not increase substantially but they will have to be trained and equipped better. A massive redeployment and reorientation of government employees will have to take place and this can be done in just two years. It should be noted that in this scheme of devolution of state functions and powers the national government will become a government of limited functions but with wide responsibility for coordination. The national government in the event may be composed of 25/30 ministries and 100 executing agencies requiring about 100,000 employees. The vast majority of personnel for the Zila governments will be the transferred central employees, who now number over a million. The duplication of work will be drastically curtailed and decision making will be more on the spot and highly decentralized. Political appointees will substitute career bureaucrats, many of whom in senior positions are now more devoted to policy making rather than execution and that way politicization of bureaucracy will be averted substantially. It is likely that political appointees numbering about 2500 in the national government and over 100 in each Zila will not be difficult to find. With such devolution of functions and restructuring of government and public administration, seven national evils can be addressed

15

in one stroke: i) the deep political divide ii) the white elephant of a huge centralized bureaucracy iii) the inefficiency and irresponsibility of centralization of power iv) the thin coverage by a centralized revenue raising system v) the absence of accountability and close supervision of public servants vi) the curse of a removed and corrupt government and vii) the utter lack of people’s participation in decisions and actions of the government. For a proper presentation of the restructuring concept and methodology, however, a separate article is required and I recommend my book “Jelai Jelai Sarkar” (UPL 2002) for elucidation.

5.

The police personnel and civil administrators should be screened so that links of the police with the extremist groups are severed for good. All the recent cases of bomb blasts, grenade attacks and arms smuggling must be investigated under the supervision of a politically neutral institution such as the one set up by the Supreme Court Bar Association for investigating the grenade attack of August 21. Such a body should be tasked to guide and direct all investigations so that all the cases are brought to trial in the courts of law. This body should draw on the resources of the UN Counter-Terrorism Unit, the Interpol and other reputed criminal investigation agencies of friendly nations. Terrorism and extremism in Bangladesh is perpetrated by politically motivated goons, as well as, by pure criminals and fanatics who are taking advantage of the political cover that they can so easily access. The biggest problem with it is the involvement of important political leaders, including Ministers as godfathers of the mastans and protectors of the extremists. Extremism has only very limited following but they have the capacity to rouse sentiments against secular forces. Terrorism cannot be suppressed by force. It has to be demonstrated first that the rule of law is real and it prevails. Once this is set, right measures for its suppression or control will work. The control of terrorism would be possible only if its political patronage is given up. The criminals in that case having lost the protection will go into hiding and law enforcing agencies can then treat them as real criminals. Hence, to arrest terrorism and dismantle the extremists’ hold what is needed is an effort of strong political will. Party workers, golden boys, fanatic leaders and godfathers have to be motivated and asked to abandon the path of violence. Simultaneously measures have to be taken to rehabilitate those who want to follow the right path. Armed bands flourishing under political patronage have to be disbanded and rehabilitated in other walks of life. A social movement against mastanism must be earnestly started. Local resistance movement like that of Natore (Lathi Bash society) must be mobilized. A social revolution, indeed, must be launched because otherwise our very existence as a civilized member of the global community is threatened. This must begin with a clarion call for tackling

6.

Suppression of Terrorism and Establishing the Rule of Law Let us look at terrorism, spread of extremism, lawlessness and regime of vengeance. In a Convention on Unity against Terrorism held on 30-31 August 2005 at Dhaka some considered measures have been suggested. Some others can be added to have a comprehensive agenda in this respect. Such an agenda may have the following elements: 1. First, religion and affairs of state must be separated and kept apart. Religion is personal and religious freedom and non-discrimination, as enshrined in the constitution in Articles 27, 28, 29 and 41, should guide all state initiatives and activities. Preamble, Articles 8, 10, 38 and 66(1) must be restored in their 1972 version and Article 2 A must be deleted. Religion cannot be used in forming political parties or pressure groups and religious bigots such as the Pakistani collaborators cannot hold elective office. Secularism should be re-enshrined in the constitution as a fundamental state policy. The religious connotation carried by the term Bangladeshi in Article 6 should also be deleted; we should all be citizens of Bangladesh. Education programs and institutions preaching fanaticism and indulging in training of militant cadres must be totally uprooted. The militant extremist groups must be banned, broken up, suppressed with an iron hand and all sources of their financing must be forfeited and dried up. A concerted and sincere drive should be launched to recover arms and ammunitions from the country and destroy all illegal arms and equipment as they are discovered. 9. 7.

8.

2.

3.

4.

16

the problem by the ruling political party, whoever it may be. In order to prove the sincerity of the call and shame the opposition into action it should start with unconditional cleansing of one’s own house. All the godfathers have to be identified and forced to desist from violence. These godfathers should be excluded from elective offices, disarmed, rehabilitated if they seek it and punished if they prove to be difficult. The two major parties have to exchange lists of godfathers and political criminals first and then sit down to agree on a unified list. In fact, Awami League circulated sometime ago a list of about a hundred godfathers but BNP has yet to furnish any. The exchange of lists must be completed rapidly. Jamat must be very carefully handled as they are out to destroy the state; they will, however, be deprived of doing politics of religion. The law enforcing agencies have their own information on mastans and criminals. But because they have been criminalized and politicized so extensively they have lost all credibility. Even then they must be given a role in this identification exercise and their lists also should be scrutinized. 10. After an agreed short period during which the cleansing operation will be carried out, all acts of violence will be dealt with severely under the law of the land without fear or favor. 11. The specific points where mastanism flourish must be targeted for ruthless action under the law of the land. Transport stations (bus stand, inland water landing station, ferry ghat, railway station, port jetty, container station etc.), markets and shopping plazas, police stations, jail gates, lower court premises, land records offices, distribution points for private and public goods, offices undertaking civil works, procurement units selecting suppliers of services in particular as also vendors of goods are some such target points wherefrom extortionists and goons must be uprooted. Those who collect tolls from bazaars, shopping plazas, bus stands, railway stations, IWT landing stages and such other busy areas of monetary transactions; who monopolize submission of tenders for civil works, consultancy service or supplies; who seek sales agencies because of political connections; who terrorize investors, builders or shopkeepers into paying protection money; or who demand commission for permitting clearance of goods or its safe passage must be ruthlessly suppressed. These goons and anti-social elements do not belong to any political party; they take shelter

under whoever is in power at the time simply in order to perpetrate their wrongdoing and line their pockets. They should be left to the mercy of the law-enforcing authorities and denied protection of any kind. Men of influence should make no telephone call to the police on their behalf and they should simply be made to face unfettered justice. 12. In the institutions of higher learning, terrorism is a fact of life. Black money, arms and professional goons (mostly outsiders but sometimes perpetual students) have made the campuses their playground. This has happened entirely through political patronage and involvement of the law-enforcing and intelligence agencies of the government in students’ politics especially at the initiative of military rulers. As a matter of priority the youth must be enticed away from mastanism. Ending terrorism in the educational campuses must be the first step here but it will be extremely complex. First of all, the intervention by government agencies, especially the intelligence agencies, must just cease. Students should not be used as cannon fodders or standard-bearers in a democratic set-up. They should be left alone by the political parties to do their own politics in their own way, evolve their own leadership and rely on their own resources. There should not be any associated or branch units of political parties among students. This principle should also be followed in respect of professional associations. Students have their unions in their individual institutions for their corporate activities and literary, cultural and sports and games activities. The students’ unions are lifeless now and they are not reconstituted through election every year. What a shame that the DUCSU was last elected in the 1980s. The students’ unions in colleges and halls must be restored and rejuvenated. It may be remembered that student politics in the subcontinent began with the demand of the students to have representative unions of their own in institutions of higher education. Nonstudents should be expelled from the campuses and perpetual students should not be allowed to indulge in politics. The regular students should be enabled to seek higher studies purely on the basis of merit and complete their courses of study in due time so that they can begin the long march of life at an early date. Students who are keen on national politics should join the political parties since these days a young man of eighteen has full political rights.

17

13. The organization of front units of student, youth and labor will require a close scrutiny and a fundamental recasting. Youth, student, and labor organizations are particularly notorious for extortion and violence. They should virtually cease to be front units and the umbilical chord that binds them with political parties must be cut. Youth or labor or ladies should be organized under the secretariat of political parties and separate bodies for them should be disbanded. Student organizations should function on their own. They should learn lessons in democratic behaviour in the student unions of their institutions and they should concentrate more on issues of education, sports and culture that concern them the most. They should, however, be free to take up issues of national importance on their own. As far as working in the national political arena, youth can be directly active as soon as they attain the age of 18. They should be involved in the party apparatus of their area. And area party organization should be the only way for political activities. Parties may have central units, district units, thana units, union or municipal ward units and then subordinate units as the parties may define in terms of territorial areas. In professional circles the parties will have no units either, but professionals can join the parties in their area units as they wish. 14. The separation of judiciary from the executive should be speedily completed and all courts of law, both civil and criminal, should be placed under the control and supervision of the Supreme Court. This means the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment in the famous Masdar Husain case of 1999. Appointment to judicial service or magistracy should be freed from political interference. And appointment of High Court Judges should be subject to stricter and transparent criteria and, as before, the Chief Justice should have a say in their appointment and confirmation. 15. To ensure the supremacy of law it is essential to bring to a close the trial of the assassins of the Father of the Nation. Similarly the trial of jail killing case must be revived as it has not been handled cleanly. These have been acts of terrorists under the protection of the “illegal” government of the time. We need to clean our slate for the rule of law. 16. The next step is voiding all special powers of coercion, harassment, arrest and preventive detention. This not only covers Section 54 of Cr.

P.C. and the Special Powers Act of 1974 and similar laws but also concerns special and emergency provisions in many other ostensibly harmless laws. The Law Commission or a Task Force may be asked to identify such bad laws and suggest remedial measures. The High Court ruling of April 2003 on Section 54 should be acted upon promptly. 17. In view, however, of the rise of extremist groups and spread of terrorism under the patronage of BNP-Jamat regime, it will be necessary to pass a law on suppression of terrorism with powers for preventive detention. Such a specific law for a fixed duration may be separately considered. 18. Application of what is known as third degree methods by the law-enforcing agents must be made illegal as well as punishable. Remand under Section 167 of Cr.P.C. should be permitted only in serious cases where the available evidence is enough and the accused person is given full health examination immediately before and after the remand period. The power to grant remand should be exercised only by senior judges or magistrates. Death or serious illness of a person while in remand must entail instantaneous suspension of the officer in charge of the remand proceedings. The High Court ruling of April 2003 on remand authority should be implemented promptly. 19. Even small infractions of law by powerful and important people must be severely punished. In fact, they should be more careful than ordinary citizens in observing laws to the letters. Complaints against violations of laws by highly placed people by any person should be admissible. 20. The high powered Law Commission should be more proactive in reviewing outdated laws and especially the emergency laws. They should come up with recommendations for modernizing and humanizing the laws of the country. They should not only look at laws referred to them by others for review but should take initiatives themselves to meet the demand of the society. Compilation of all laws should also be in the agenda of the Commission. 21. Steps for setting up a Human Rights Commission should be completed rapidly. All violations and violators of HR including the members of the defense establishment should be subjected to scrutiny and justice. The neutrality

18

and independence of the Commission and its members should be ensured. All cases, reported in the press or alleged by individuals or learnt by the Commission by some other means should be taken into consideration and investigated as soon as a prima facie case is identified. The Commission should have its own offices at least in the districts and both investigators and lawyers should be working for it. The codification of human rights under various laws including those in the Constitution should be made for common use and an education program should be conducted to make people and lawenforcing agencies aware of these rights. Similarly punishment or remedial measures for violations of human rights should also be codified for public information. 22. The law of torts and public interest litigation should be accorded due importance in the judicial system. Probably composition of citizens’ charter in respect of all services and regulatory functions of the government will help the process of seeking redress under tort or public interest legal procedures. 23. For handling security, both domestic and external, a high level National Security Commission should be set up with public representatives and experts in security. A National Security Commission should be set up as a constitutional body charged with national security strategy and superintendence of external defense and internal law and order. Two of its major functions will be compilation of military developments and intelligence across the globe and consideration of security issues in all its aspects. It will be the security think-tank and the planning unit for national security in its broadest aspects. It may be clarified that the defense establishment or the police force will maintain their independent and autonomous entity and will not be administered by this Commission. a. For external security an appropriate policy based on the recognition of people power, post cold war security system, global interdependence and the reach of information technology should be adopted. A least-cost security establishment emphasizing national service and diplomatic mobilization should be designed and organized. Traditional enmity or perception of enmity with neighbours must be discarded in view of new global issues of conflicts and tactics of global computer

directed wars. The military intelligence unit should be concerned with global security issues and information on new technology. Their intrusion into domestic political matters should be strictly forbidden. b. All the intelligence agencies concerned with civil affairs and domestic politics as well as crimes should be unified and the tasks of the unified service should be strictly defined and it should be placed under the supervision of the head of the government. The Prime Minister in the discharge of this function will be accountable to a council composed of people’s representatives, acting as a subcommittee of the National Security Commission. For internal security the processes of watch over law and order, cognizance of complaints and infractions of law, investigative procedures and skills, and prosecution of cases must be entirely revamped. The centralized police force, its high-handed persecution tactics, its limitless corruption, its strong political proclivities and its part in the rise and patronage of terrorism and extremism demand that it should be demobilized altogether. The police force as it exists now must be abolished. Instead fresh regional or district police forces with new blood should be created. It should be borne in mind that for security and education services the compensation package must be carefully and liberally prepared. It is high time to attend to restructuring the police force by establishing 67 district/metropolitan police forces in the country under the control of local governments. We may start with 23 forces, the three metropolitan forces and one each for the 20 old districts. No present employee of the police force should be given any preference for his/her experience in the recruitment of the new forces. Raising 23 forces all at once will not be an easy task but it will certainly be better than forming new units out of the existing force, which has been converted into a partisan terrorist gang infested with criminals in it. Presently the metropolitan police forces provide some idea of the more ambitious scheme of local police forces. And community policing, which has proved sound in the experiments, should be practiced as far as possible. The appropriate measures will be:

c.

19

● There will be no special force like RAB to misuse coercive powers of the state. In order to meet special problems the police may form special units but not with unwarranted powers of life and death –of crossfire and heart failure. ● Death in custody is a matter of national disgrace and it must be strictly forbidden. Every case, if it takes place inadvertently, must be judicially handled. A system of supervision of police work and disposal of complaints against police excesses should be instituted. The appeal board should be led by public representatives and among others the social leaders should be in it. Centrally a strong and efficient criminal police unit will, however, be responsible for (a) a central registry of records, (b) forensic examination and laboratory services, (c) criminal investigation to deal with inter-district cases or assist the districts and (d) training the police forces of the country. This establishment may have regional units for ease of work. In addition, a lean but efficient striking force to render help to local police forces when needed should also be centrally set up. Police training should particularly focus on human rights, public service ethos, evils of torture and coercion and community undertaking. Police refresher courses should be given special importance.

of business and finance, pressure groups, mafia circles, psychological disequilibria, and real crimes. And specialized expertise should be built up to tackle all kinds of crime. Reforms for an Effective Parliament I should give attention to the electoral process as a matter of priority because without the integrity of the elections, democracy is a farce altogether and legitimacy of government is difficult to establish. But a lot of proposals are already available on this subject and public discussions have been going on.53 Let me propose another agenda for making the parliament effective. This is not too difficult a task. The goodwill of the major political parties and a rulebased practice can be introduced. The following will be the ingredients of such a reform package: 1. In the parliament more scope should be provided for articulation of different views. Parliamentary party meetings must be held with greater frequency. It should be obligatory on all the parties to hold at least two parliamentary party meetings in each session. The provisions of article 70 should be relaxed to facilitate free discussion of issues. MPs should be free to voice their feelings and vote as they want on most issues in parliament. Some issues may be declared at the outset as crucial on the basis of agreement between the treasury and the opposition benches and in such issues negative vote would mean loss of confidence in the government. Only a vote against the party whip, given on such crucial issue so declared, will trigger the use of Article 70. All MPs should be treated equally and there should be no discrimination in the allocation of resources to them from the treasury for service to their constituents. The practice of arresting parliamentarians for political reasons must be discontinued forthwith. They can certainly be arrested for committing crimes but it should be done after making due scrutiny and after consulting the leader of the party to which the parliamentarians belong. When the parliament is in session no MP should be arrested; if he is required to be arrested because of serious charges the arrest should be made at the conclusion of the session. A new convention may be followed under which the Speaker and his Deputy are elected from

●

●

●

2.

●

Criminal prosecution should be separated from criminal investigation. Criminal investigation will be the responsibility of the police while prosecution should be the responsibility of the office of Public prosecutor in the district administration. A prosecution establishment must be set up in each district under the guidance and supervision of the national Attorney General. In criminal investigation police may seek help from other national and international institutions dealing with crime investigation. Crimes should also be differentiated in the complex world

3.

4.

20

opposing camps and on their election to parliamentary leadership they resign from the parties they have been elected from. However, they cannot be removed from their offices during the term of the parliament except by a vote of three-fourth majority of the members of parliament. In the voting on removal of Speaker or his Deputy Article 70 of the constitution would be inoperative i.e. no party whipping will be permissible. 5. At least one national policy issue must be discussed in each session of parliament. The parliament may have four regular sessions a year and their dates may be standardized: there may be one winter session devoted to discussion of national issues, two budget sessions – one on annual statements and another on mid-year revisions, and one legislative session. The Parliament must work for at least thirty weeks including days devoted to Committee meetings. No legislation should be brought for parliamentary consideration without going through parliamentary committee scrutiny. Even if an ordinance is passed, it should go through the regular scrutiny of a parliamentary committee like a routine legislative proposal when it is put up for ratification by the parliament. As a matter of principle a piece of legislation opposed in its totality by all members of the opposition should not be passed at all. To develop healthy traditions, members of the opposition should preferably head half of the Parliamentary Committees. The Committees should continue to have proportional representation and members should be nominated by the respective parties at their discretion and not by the Speaker or the ruling party. Each Committee may have a Vice Chairman and he/she will be from the opposite party; i.e. if the Chairman is from the treasury bench the Vice Chairman shall be from the opposition bench and vice-versa. The Committees should not only process legislation, but also review the activities of the executive as they do now. All bilateral agreements or international conventions to be entered into as well as all public reports to be issued by the government should be subjected to the scrutiny of the Committees. Any matter of importance in a specific sector – political, social, diplomatic or economic – should be considered in the Committees at the request of parliamentarians. The sessions of the Committees should usually be open and the Committees should be provided

staff support. 7. The Speaker should be bound by rules to accept a certain number of motions and various other notices from the opposition bench during a session by lot. For example, for every week of parliamentary session at least one adjournment motion or call attention notice should be discussed. Whatever is the proportion of the opposition bench in parliament, in each session at least 50 percent of questions answered by the government should be those from opposition MPs. And the PM’s question hour, in fact, should be reserved only for questions from the opposition bench. The treasury bench members should be allowed to ask only supplementary questions at PM’s question time.

8.

Control of Corruption Let me now take up the important subject of tackling corruption; this is high on the national agenda and our reputation in this respect is a matter of national disgrace. It must be understood that this is the most difficult problem to handle and a national social movement is needed to tackle it. 1, There must simultaneously be a moral education program through institutions of learning and development of a pattern of social behaviour poised against corruption. Corruption of all kinds, and not simply bribe taking and extortion, should be socially condemned and the corrupt people ostracized from civil society. The law by which the Anti-Corruption Council has been established should be amended to list all the corrupt practices and the punishments prescribed for them. This should also clearly state as to which cases should be tried in which courts of law, including special tribunals. Salutary measures should be taken to check limitless greed and punish illegal and inexplicable acquisition of wealth. Holders of elective offices and senior bureaucrats holding policymaking or onerous responsibilities and top brasses of law enforcing and tax collecting agencies who wield enormous powers over life and death of people, must have an accounting system for their acquisition or enhancement of wealth. By law, they may be required to submit their wealth statement on assumption of office

6.

2.

3.

21

that may be inspected by interested parties on demand. They should also be required to submit periodic updates on such wealth statement while in office and certainly when they leave office. Severe punishment for unaccounted or unjustifiable acquisition or addition of wealth should be prescribed including its confiscation by the state. 4. The area of discretion of public officials should be as limited as possible. Customs duties should be well publicized so that the collectors cannot make extra collections and rules for various licensing systems should be clearly defined so that discretion of licensing authorities is eliminated altogether. The Income Tax department except for the policy making and investigative branches should be abolished altogether. Tax returns will be prepared by taxpayers and accepted without question except for the samples chosen randomly that would be submitted for scrutiny by authorized bodies. 5. Every public office should draw up and publicize citizens’ charter delineating what the office can do for citizens and what the duties of citizens are. Along with this there should be a law on the citizens’ right to information. This is the simplest instrument that conscious citizens can use to check the transparency and legality of public actions or omissions. The area of operation of the Government and public bodies should be as restricted as possible. In service delivery more should be passed on to the private sector and competition should be encouraged. Electricity supply, telephone connection, gas supply, construction work should all be taken out of the monopolistic control of public corporations or enterprises. Public T&T and Power organizations should cease to exist altogether; all their assets should be sold off in auction in smaller bundles. RAJUK, for example, should function as a planning and regulatory body and not as a development agency for satellite towns, residential colonies and roads and buildings. It should be divested of development and construction duties. Recognizing that most of the semi-public and public corporations are dens of corruption for the public functionaries of higher levels it is suggested that most of them should be closed down. For reasons of efficiency and economy 8.

Secretariat Divisions and Attached Offices e.g., Directorates, Agencies, Authorities, Boards and Corporations should all be merged and transformed into independent Agencies under the Ministers. Roughly a hundred agencies will thus substitute over 300 separate institutions under Government who are so very wasteful and also so very inefficient and so very corrupt. By restructuring government and reducing government functions and operations the bureaucracy should be substantially reduced and they should be paid living wages. Public service compensation should contain three elements viz. salary, transport grant and housing support and it should be differentiated according to regions or areas. One of the most important measures to hold corruption in check is to devolve public authority to grassroots levels. In the scheme of good governance the highest importance should be given to transferring government to the districts, where the span of operation for the government will be manageable, accountability will be enforceable, responsiveness will be unavoidable and transparency will be optimal. A bureaucracy of about twelve or fifteen thousand employees can be better supervised and held accountable much more easily. The police force accountable to a civilian board at the district level will have a hard time to avoid recording a complaint or persecuting a lad in custody.

9.

6.

10. Another measure and an extremely important one to check corruption is computerization of records and activities of various public offices. To name a few, computerization of police records, progress of cases in the courts of law, tenders and awards, land records and mutations, facts relating to educational institutions, facts relating to health and population services or information on motorized vehicles can largely reduce unfair practices. I shall only give one case of computerization to explain how technology can help mitigate corruption. Let us look at computerization of police records. As the records are computerized they should be open for inspection by anybody except where secrecy is maintained with proper reasons approved by the central records office. There will be records of all criminal cases in the computers. For each case the progress in its investigation or trial must be recorded. All FIRs and GD entries must be on record. How the

7.

22

police is handling an FIR must also be recorded in the computer and it should be transmitted to the central record office so that it is not tampered with later. Entries should, for example, report on site visit, lists of accused persons and their interrogation or arrest as the case may be. The reasons for undertaking investigation of the case or dropping it must be on record. Information on further listing of suspects and their interrogation or arrest should be recorded. When, how and why of presentation of the case and detainees to court and subsequent court proceedings should be on the computer. The stages of investigation leading to charge framing or final report should also be provided. Such information should be publicly available. The so-called black book entries54 should also be there. But access to this particular information, of course, will be restricted; it will not be for public consumption but only for scrutiny as needed or ordered. 11. A high-powered body vested with all the powers to look into corruption cases, hold investigations and prosecute the accused persons without dictation or influence of the government is undoubtedly essential. It must be equipped with not only competent investigating and prosecuting staff but also motivated and patriotic public servants. A law has been promulgated to set up a Commission but it is highly flawed in many ways and the Commission appointed under the law has failed to inspire confidence or even prove its effectiveness. This law, therefore, must be trashed at the first opportunity and a new law must be passed. The law by which the Commission should be established should, as mentioned earlier, list all the corrupt practices and prescribed punishment for these offences as laid down under various laws of the land and also indicate as to which case should be tried in which court of law. No case of corruption should be outside the jurisdiction of the investigative and prosecuting authority of the Commission. It should be constituted with members by consensus of the treasury and opposition benches of parliament. A nominating board set up by parliament with equal number of representatives from both the treasury and opposition benches will nominate these consensus candidates. The most desirable course will be to set up the Commission as a constitutional body. It will have autonomy in respect of its budget and staff. Its members will have constitutional protection for their tenure and independence.

Concluding Remarks Poor governance or virtual absence of governance is what describes the present situation of Bangladesh. It has not happened all of a sudden, although it has escalated very rapidly in the last four years. Rise of extremist groups is threatening the state system altogether besides endangering citizens’ life and property. Corruption has enveloped the country like a dark cloud without any silver lining. The extremist threat is a symptom of the failure of the state system in delivering some measure of equity and improved living. It is thriving on frustration of hopes inspired by the War of Liberation. The people of this nation are dissatisfied with the way the society is functioning. They are simply without hope as their dreams are frustrated time and again. They are shocked by the expanding sway of corruption. They cannot reconcile the prestige that black money has gained. They are baffled by the success of the use of muscle power and violence. They find that everything that is ethically reprehensible is succeeding with great flourish, be it denial of justice, travesty of truth, unabashed extortion, misuse of powers, or economic unfairness. The time, indeed, is out of alignment. What is disconcerting is that overcoming the crisis of governance seems next to impossible. Political development in Bangladesh has not taken place at all; rather, the nation has regressed into more divisiveness, greater chaos and utter frustration. Most citizens seem to have developed cynicism about the future of the country as if they have been overtaken by pyrrhonism. Hence, the way out is a comprehensive package of measures on several interrelated fronts that will restore hope and confidence among the citizens. Bold and imaginative political leadership is the crying need of the time. And this cannot be in place if bright young people shy away from politics because of its present low prestige and status. The political parties need to drastically reform their culture and practices. The major parties are very much dominated by the top leaders of the parties and democratic decision-making tradition is by and large lacking. Top leadership dominates parties in all countries and that is not unusual. What is lacking is a built-in mechanism for consultation and accountability. The parties must institute regular policy making and policy coordination cells or committees with plural representation (i.e. incorporating all factions) and top leaders must cultivate the habit of listening to them. Dissent within the party must be articulated more. It is said that ‘the iron lady’ of UK, Prime Minister

23

Margaret Thatcher, could not get her proposals through the cabinet time and again and she learnt the art of persuading her opponents and critics in the cabinet through informal engagement with them. It was her willingness to listen, relentless perseverance and strategic accommodation that would get her policies and strategies, perhaps modified to some extent, accepted by her government and party. Thus, as accommodation of the top leadership is desired, so is the direct ventilation of dissent and criticism from other levels. The parties must also emphasize attracting new generations to its fold. The practice of subordinate or associate organs such as for youth, students, labor or women has not proved to be a good mechanism for processing party following. Instead membership drive that now does not take place at all must be given priority. The lower level tiers must have regular elections to throw forward new leadership. Presently, district councils of parties do not meet at regular intervals and whenever they are held they do not elect the district leadership. Some limited posts are filled up and the rest of the Committee becomes a subject of bargaining and even unfair means. At lower levels the nursing of new leadership is even worse. Political education must be a matter of the highest importance. Financing of political parties is very secretive and unhealthy and it must be rectified. The practice of collecting contributions secretly for political parties is a source of corruption and it subjects the party and its leadership to undue pressure of black money. Financing of political parties must primarily be by the state and accounts of political parties must be open to the public. Donations from people and corporations are fine but they must be open and individual contribution must be bound by limitations.55 A partnership for reforms must be assiduously developed. Its basis should be faster spread of education and extension of the period of compulsoury education and creation of a literacy friendly environment in rural areas. Simultaneously political education must be given premium. It must ensure, however, that Rajakar elements and Rajakar mentality are ostracized from the society. It must fully accept principles not allowing for concessions such as strict secularism in the conduct of the affairs of the state or true democracy at every forum of society at all levels. The details of the reform program should be sufficiently and unambiguously articulated. In articulating such a program all elements – political parties, civil society organizations, professional groups – must be involved with the exception of Rajakar elements and religious fanatics. The culprits such as corrupt leaders

in any walk of life, the architects of persecution and misuse of power, the patrons of extremists and terrorists and the beneficiaries of plunder of national wealth must not be allowed to escape but their punishment may be humane. A mechanism like the Truth Commission of South Africa may be invoked to allow the culprits to earn forgiveness while misappropriated national wealth may be confiscated and they may be debarred from public life or public service for good. The state on its part must respond simultaneously on many fronts. Yes, the extremist camps must be demolished and the religious parties must be banned. But justice must be demonstrably done and the rule of law must prevail. Corruption must be curtailed and the corrupt at high levels must be given exemplary punishment. Modern technology must be fully exploited and computerization of government offices and operations should be rapidly secured. Decision making will surely be a political process but its implementation must be the responsibility of apolitical public servants accountable to people and also close to them. Education should inculcate national pride but must also focus on skills formation and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and above all it should be accessible to the poor and the deprived. People should be empowered by taking the government to the local level of districts and making it easy for them to participate in development enterprise or in ensuring law and order. A package of measures, both traditional and unorthodox, must be implemented (i) for a Secular Parliamentary Democracy (ii) for the Integrity of Electoral System (iii) for Restructuring the Government and Empowering the People – focusing on the Zila Parishad as the real effective government in 64 districts and 3 large metropolitan cities, a small national government for limited functions, and a drastic reorganization of public administration with separate bureaucracies in 67 districts and a national bureaucracy of some 100,000 government employees (iv) for an Effective Parliament and Cabinet System of Government (v) for the Establishment of the Rule of Law and the Suppression of Terrorism (vi) for the Control of Corruption (vii) for the Development of Human Resources and (viii) for Economic Growth, Poverty Alleviation and Social Progress. Many changes and allegations that will need to withstand the test of time. We publish this in the interest of making a controversial perspective available for rejoinder and another view.

24

ENDNOTES 1. The report of the Commission on Global Governance: Our Global Neighbourhood. Oxford University Press 1995. p. 2. Pakistan’s Prime Minister ZA Bhutto was financing dissidents in Bangladesh. (see Stanley Wolpert: Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan. OUP Karachi, 1993. p. 248.) Libya sheltered and bank-rolled all the killers of Bangabndhu. For example, the present district Amir of Jamat in Sylhet Dr. Shafiqur Rahman was a JSD activist. In March 1973, the World Bank at the prodding of USA and UK pressed the new nation hard to pick up a share of Pakistan’s debt burden. Bangladesh stated that it could not discuss Pakistan’s debt burden who not only did not recognize the existence of Bangladesh but also considered it one of their provinces. Bangladesh also pointed out that when a donor was providing new funds for completion of an ongoing project they were assuming liability not only for the fresh loan but also for previously incurred expenditure of the assistance provided by the same donor but during Pakistani rule. Bangladesh felt that ample indication of reasonableness was being demonstrated by the nation and the pressure on Bangladesh at that time to relieve Pakistan of its debt burden was wrong and inappropriate. (The author was party to these discussions).

This contention of Bangladesh was finally accepted by the World Bank and a solution to the problem was found in June 1974. But resource squeeze that began to be felt in early 1974 was not relieved till the end of the year. The author was personally aware of developments relating to two cases. Libya would not sell directly to Bangladesh and sold oil to India for Bangladesh, in other words Bangladesh made India sign a contract for it. Saudi Arabia would not allow shipment to Bangladesh even if the supplier was a western company such as BOC. IMF membership required a contribution in gold but Bangladesh had no stock of gold as Pakistan appropriated all the gold reserves of the country. Bangladesh could become a member of IMF in 1972 only with a gift of gold from Canada. Till September 1974, it was denied UN membership 9.

by Chinese veto exercised at the request of Pakistan. 7. The Zonal Councils had substituted political leadership for bureaucratic executive head of the field administration, done away with the generalist dominance of the administration and cut the secretariat-executive differentiation. Bangladesh suggested that World Bank members of the eastern block such as Czechoslovakia and Middle eastern countries such as Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, UAE, S Arabia should be invited to the club. Kuwait Fund and OPEC Fund actually became members. The author had a role in defining the policy as he was working in the Planning Commission from February to April in 1972 as Secretary designate.

2.

8.

3.

4.

10. In 1970, a similar situation was faced by Pakistan on account of shipment of some goods to North Vietnam. In that case on a representation from Pakistan a waiver was granted and rice shipment under PL 480 program was allowed. The author was in the Pakistan team that lobbied for the waiver in the Congress and State Department. 11. The government tried to minimize the extent of loss of life and this resulted in inflation of the figures by unofficial sources. Government accepted a death toll of about 30,000 only while others estimated it at 500,000. The estimate of 1 to 1.5 million made by M. Alamgir appears to be on the very high side based on small and limited samples. (M. Alamgir: Famines in South Asia. OG&H, Cambridge UK. 1980. Pp 118-145.) USA withheld food shipments till deliveries of jute goods to Cuba were completed and thus contributed to late import of food. (Jack Parkinson: “Food Aid” in Just Faaland edited Aid and Influence. St Martins, 1981. Pp. 96-100. Railway, roads and waterways were still to recover from the devastation of the War and there was an acute shortage of watercrafts that was the main means of transporting food. 12. The food stock at the end of 1974-75 was 760,000 tons, almost the highest till 1979-80. see Abul Maal Abdul Muhith: Bangladesh Punarghoton O Jatiyo Oikyomoth (in Bengali).

UPL Dhaka 1991. P. 59.

5.

6.

25

The aid commitment in 1974-75 was $ 1267 million, the highest level till 1978-79. The pipeline of external aid was $1136 million when AL government was forced out of office. see Ministry of Finance: Flow of External Resources. Dhaka, April 1984. P.28. Exchange rate adjustment in April 1974, coupled with demonetization of Tk 100 notes and liberalization in pricing and trade rapidly reduced inflation rate. Cost of living index registered an increase of 34 percent in the year 1973-74, it went up by 50.9 percent in January 1975, and then declined rapidly by 11.9 percent in June 1975. It came down further by 20 percent in June 1976. see Bangladesh Bank: Annual Report 1974-75. P. 8 and 1975-76 Report. P 18. By upgrading the subdivisions 61 districts were formed and a Governor with a Council was to take over administration there under the new law: Act 6 of 1975: The District Administration Law. 13. From 1996 to 2001, in 5 years the index improved by 56 points but in the subsequent 3 years the improvement has slowed down and it is only 14 points. See Zakaria Khondker: Human Development catastrophe since 2001 in The Daily Star November 1, 2005. 14. Because it has managed foreign debt well, it does not qualify for any debt relief and debt servicing takes away nearly 2 percent of GDP. 15. Newspapers on March 13, 2006 reported on marketing expenses of the Chief Whip charged to National Assembly secretariat; but there are other practices of similar nature in other offices. 16. Jamat e Islami was launched in 1941 by Abul Ala Maudoodi, an accountant who became a self-taught religious scholar and a powerful editor. This was suspected to have been foisted by the British as it staunchly supported British Raj and denounced freedom movement. It also violently opposed the concept of Pakistan. But clever Maudoodi, although he opposed the creation of the state, actually moved to Pakistan after partition and led the anti-Qadiani riots in Lahore in 1953. He was sentenced to death for the atrocities committed and inspired by him but he escaped punishment through political machinations. The Jamat collaborated with Pakistan occupation force in 1971 and formed the Rajakar militia and the killer squad Al Badr. They killed large number of Bengalis and looted

their properties during the Liberation War. Their leader Ghulam Azam along with some others fled the country and took shelter in Pakistan, UK and Saudi Arabia and carried out relentless propaganda against the new state of Bangladesh. Most of their other leaders were arrested as collaborators and war criminals and some of them were also convicted. The general amnesty granted by the Father of the nation in 1973 allowed them to be free and some of them joined JSD as it emerged as an opposition party. At that time religion-based parties being forbiddenthey could not form a Jamat. General Zia allowed them to set up their party in Bangladesh in 1977 and also permitted Ghulam Azam to return to the country. They have the most disciplined and armed cadre among all political parties whose name evokes militarism i.e. Shibir. .JI uses religion for political ends and follows fascist tactics. In their creed ends justify the means, however heinous or inconsistent they may be, and they extol Jehad for gaining their objective. And political power is their ultimate end and they believe that exploitation of religious fervour can get them their goal. 17. Rajakar was the force of about 40,000 Pakistani collaborators constituted in 1971 and most of the recruits were Jamat and Muslim League mastans. They acted as agents and spies and also as killers and thieves of the occupation force. So the term Rajakar in Bangladesh is applied to anti-people, anti-nationalistic, mercenary stooges and killers whose only mission is service to Pakistani fanatics. Ghulam Azam still is a Pakistani loyalist; he visited Pakistan recently after a long time and his first statement carried by the press was an expression of extra-ordinary pleasure on a visit to a country that ‘felt like my own’. BNP chose to have the Rajakar party Jamat as its partner. 18. Daily Star: November 9-11, 2001. Prothom Alo November 9-12, 2001. 19. This retired Chief Justice issued an order immediately after being sworn in shuffling 13 Secretary level officers of the government suspecting that they were on good terms with the predecessor Prime Minister and his government followed it up with transfer of fourteen hundred officers mainly at the field level covering DCs, UNOs and Election Officers of administrative cadres; and DIGs, SPs and OCs/Thanas of Police cadre.

26

20. PM’s statement in parliament was carried in all national dailies of September 9, 2005. 21. The Daily Star of April and May 2004, detail government complicity in the rise of Bangla Bhai and his disappearance as well. On May 4, 2004, the DIG of Rajshahi police stated that Bangla Bhai is helping the police administration in ensuring law and order. State Minister Alamgir Kabir, MP of Naogaon, State Minister Fazlur Rahman Patal, MP of Natore, Deputy Minister Ruhul Quddus Dulu, MP of Natore, are alleged to be the patrons of Bangla Bhai and A. Rahman. The Daily Star of January 25, 2005, gives elaborate information on the flight of Bangla Bhai from Bangladesh. 22. From October 2, 2005, for over a fortnight all the newspapers were full of stories about Hannan and many of his criminal associates. 23. Prothom Alo November 29, December2, 2005. 24. Newspapers from December 15-19, have been reporting the Sani story. His repentance and advice to others is carried in the dailies of December 29. Going soft on Sani is reported in Janakantha of December 29. 25. All the newspapers carried the story of Lutfur Rahman. See the Daily Star of December 28, on his spirited dialogue with the police. 26. The newspapers reported on December 30, 2005, that Sani was being taken on remand for 117 days. 27. The author happened to be in Sylhet from February 26 until March 3, 2006. 28. NTV is a private channel owned by Mosadeq H. Falu MP and a close associate of Khaleda Zia. 29. Janakantha March 8, 2006. 30. Sangbad February 8, 2006. 31. On January 25, 1982, a double murder was committed in Sutrapur of Dhaka and on July 20, three top terrorists were sentenced to death. Only one criminal was hanged while two others fled the country. Mohiuddin Jintu, a founder of Dhaka Jubo Dal, fled to Sweden and became President of the Sweden branch of BNP. Playing a fugitive from law for 22 years, he returned to the country on January 3, 2005, and surrendered

after obviously receiving Khaleda’s blessings. On January 13, he was pardoned by the President. Prothom Alo February 1, 2005. The case did not register much public notice until it was discussed in the parliamentary committee on Home Ministry in July 2005. It transpired that he fled the country with blessings from important people and while abroad met with prominent leaders including the PM, Law Minister and Finance Minister. 32. One of the killers of Bangabndhu Col. Aziz Pasha was sentenced to death and died as fugitive from law before the Alliance came to power. The killer refused to abide by an order of his recall to headquarters. He was later made an accused person in the assassination case and he played a fugitive from law. He was duly dismissed from service and tried in absentia and convicted. Never did he prefer an appeal against his dismissal that he could do under the rules. But Khaleda arranged for a retrospective appeal by his wife and his posthumous reinstatement to enable his family to claim the benefit of pension and other facilities. Daily Star May 7, 2003. 33. The speech of Prof. Yunus of Grameen fame was carried by all daily newspapers of Dhaka on May 30, 2005. 34. See Sangbad October 20 and 23, 2005, Prothom Alo October 23, 2005, and The Daily Star October 27, 2005. 35. See The Daily Star October 8, 2005. 36. See The Daily Star October 18, 2005. 37. See Bhorer Kagoj August 25-26, 2002, and The Daily Star August 3, 2004. 38. Jamat is very clever in its dishonest deals. They favour their cadre members in recruiting government employees. When Nizami was the Agriculture Minister there were reports about Jamatization of the Extension service. They get their people in businesses such as healthcare facilities, shopping plazas, real estate and housing development, financial services and the like and channel income from such businesses for party activities including financing the terrorists. Mujahidi as Social Welfare Minister has grown their kind of NGOs like mushrooms and they are in the business of influencing large

27

sections of population for their cause of capture of state powers. Personal monetary honesty, however, presents them to the public in favorable light. 39. At the last minute the State Minister, widely reputed to be corrupt, was relieved of his charge and some arrangements were made to meet the crisis. It resulted in untold miseries for a number of pilgrims, death of a waiting pilgrim, additional financial burden for the pilgrims. 40. Prothom Alo August 1, 2005. 41. Both Prothom Alo and Daily Star September 21, 2005, and Bhorer Kagoj September 22, 2005, give a very detailed account of the process and the devious means through which the party stalwarts have been inducted. They also identify the important members of the party cadres. 42. Bhorer Kagoj: June 22, 2005. 43. BNP-JI coalition represents to me the archaic conservative vested interests of the Convention Muslim League and Jamat of Pakistan time. 44. Government of Bangladesh: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction. Dhaka. October 2005. 45. By switching to new base year for prices the rate of 6.2 percent was lowered to 5.3 percent for 2000/01. 46. Look at some gleanings from newspapers in recent times. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia suggested in her address after the arrest of Sk Abdur Rahman on March 3, 2006, that militants are set up by AL. Local Government Minister A Mannan Bhuiya said on March 5, 2006, that power crisis is because of AL failure during their rule. Industry Minister M R Nizami stated that there is no fertilizer crisis in the country. M Rahman, Energy Advisor with the rank of State

Minister, suggested that he visited a large part of the country and found no evidence of any diesel crisis. 47. ERD: Flow of External published April 2005. p48. Resources 2004

48. Adamjee has been closed three years ago. Its valuable equipment pieces are rotting and use of the vast estate is yet to be finalized. Meanwhile powerful people are making money while the state is deprived. 49. Ministry of Finance: Bangladesh Orthonoitik Shomikka 2005.p 236. 50. For a fuller exposition see “Security Issues” by A M A Muhith in ‘Bangladesh Towards 21st Century’ edited by Mohiuddin Ahmad. CDL Dhaka 1999. Pp. 209-237. 51. LGRD Ministry alone will disburse about Tk 36 billion and Revenue budget provides for Tk 18 billion of slush funds. source: Budget documents 2005/06 52. See The Economist. March 3, 2005. 53. A set of proposals were issued on July 15, 2005, in a press conference by the Leader of the Opposition and President of Awami League, Sheikh Hasina MP, on behalf of the Fourteen Party Forum. The same proposals were presented in parliament on February 12, 2006. 54. Each police station maintains a black book on crimes and criminals in the area. It is handed down from one O/C to the other and entries are updated continuously. It is a very restricted document for limited eyes only. 55. For more details see A M A Muhith: Bangladesh in the Twenty-first Century. UPL, Dhaka 1999. Pp. 403-407.

Abul Maal A. Muhith Former Finance Minister and presently Member, Advisory Council Awami League

28