Caretaker government
I have been following with great interest all the letters and articles on this subject and cannot refrain from adding some comments. In the world political culture, Bangladesh with a short democratic tradition has contributed something unique! It is to give constitutional shape to the concept of election under Caretaker Government. We have had three free and fair general elections within the ambit of this system and it really works. All Bangladeshis should feel proud of this achievement. The major political parties have contributed greatly to this unique system. The Jamaat was the first party to raise this issue in the JS. The AL picked it up as their main demand for street agitation and had popular support. Finally BNP made it, in 1996 , a constitutional entity.
But the first beneficiary of this system was the AL which came to power in 1996 and at that time they had no complaint against it. All the catalogue of complaints from the AL cropped up after their disastrous defeat in 2001 election. They cannot face the hard truth that people did not vote for them. The time tested Caretaker Government system should remain as it is. Any move to change it will amount to inviting anarchy. It will be like opening a can of worms which one will not be able to close. But it will be worthwhile to debate whether we can bring some improvement in our Election Commission and Judiciary giving them more power.
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