Bracing the brunt of crises

First, it was the Tengratila gasfield blowout on June 24; then there was the serial bombing of 63 out of 64 district headquarter on August 17; followed by fuel oil crisis; power shortage crisis, and uncontrolled price spiral crisis. Apparently, this has been a crisis central, for which the government cannot fully absolve itself of its responsibility. Apart from the fuel oil crisis, the rest of them have been the result of its own lopsided short-sighted policies.

Tengratila blowout
To start with the first one, the huge Tengratila gasfield blowout came first. Although the government has unsuccessfully tried to shift all the blame on the previous Awami League regime for the patently uneven shady deal with Niko, it cannot really wash its hands off it. Since the blowout it has been revealed through incisive investigative reporting in the media that apart from the sacked State Minister for Energy Mosharaf Hussein, another influential minister played a major key role in giving excessively undue advantages to Niko. So this man-made crisis, which cost the country hundreds of crore of taka in burnt out gas and other enormous environmental damage, has undeniably been due to corruption of the concerned people.

Serious charges like protecting an expatriate convicted murderer like Jhintu and his involvement in the Niko deal should have brought about immediate resignation from the minister concerned, if he was a self-respecting man. But in a rotten society like ours, power is more important than self-respect. Otherwise, how can he survive with so many spectacular political somersaults to his credit. The irony is that having served a hated military autocrat like Ershad as vice president, he has the cheek to call martial law "jungle law."

August 17
Close on the heels of the Tengratila blowout came the unprecedented simultaneous serial bombing of 63 out of 64 district headquarters. Such a country-shaking event took place at a time when Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was away to China for a 5-day official visit. Consequently, she had to cut short her visit and rush back home. Initially, there had been panicky reaction from the administration. Through leaflets the Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) claimed direct responsibility for such a spectacular show of strength of their countrywide network. The police has since arrested hundreds of suspects, some of whom have confessed to their direct involvement in the bombing.

This has been a loud wake-up call for the slumbering party-in-power, the BNP. Having allied itself with the Jamaat-e-Islami and some other smaller Islamic-minded parties, the BNP has allowed itself to fall into a trap from which it can neither get out. It cannot say good-bye to a party which became a most hated symbol of collaboration with the 90,000 Pakistani occupation troops during the 9-month long blood-drenched War of Liberation in Bangladesh. Lest we forget, the war left millions dead, 10 million in Indian refugee camps and lakhs of rape victims, apart from numerous other horrifying tales and trails of devastation.

In hindsight, it is difficult to understand why BNP, being a moderate liberal party, having a comfortable majority even without Jamaat support in the Jatiyo Sangsad, had to go for entente with Jamaat which has become a liability for the party. With open indulgence from BNP, the Jamaat initially with two important cabinet portfolios like the agriculture (later industry) and the social welfare, has consolidated its already strong party base in all the nooks and corners of the country. It is now an open secret that many of the JMB activists who have been arrested had original Jamaati or Chatra Shibir (student wing) connections.

It is obvious that these bomb-toting JMB desperados and militants are posing a serious threat to our overall security. They have even allegedly infiltrated part of our bureaucratic hierarchy. Otherwise, why did Satkhira police, even after apprehending Bangla Bhai, one of the two masterminds of recent bombings, had to let him go scot-free a year back on instructions from high-ups?

Since then the administration has allowed, deliberately or otherwise, the Frankenstein's monster to grow, and it is now threatening to cause serious security embarrassment for the government. Perhaps they forgot the adage: a stitch in time saves nine. Perhaps there is still time for BNP to mend its ways by suppressing ruthlessly this hydra-headed monster in the guise of so-called Islamic militancy, which at best forms a fringe of our vast secular populace which firmly believes that religion is a personal matter. The obscurantist fanatics may think otherwise, but they must remember that after what they did in the name of religion in 1971, people in general do not trust these 'rog-kata' (artery-cutting) jihadis.

Oil crisis
In very recent months, we had to face another serious crisis affecting our fragile economy. This time, for a change, this is not of our own making. The latest international oil crisis, as we all know, has stemmed from an unlikely source. The shooting up of oil prices to nearly $70.00 a barrel has originated directly from the forced closure of scores of oil refineries on the Mexican Gulf Coast directly hit by Hurricane Katrina. Now because of sudden spurt in oil prices in the international market, our beleaguered government was faced with the painful decision of increasing the local prices proportionately. Needless to say that it has added to the misery of common men. The arbitrary unfair increase in fares of transport of all kinds, which in turn raises transport cost of all consumer goods and services, has made us helpless sufferers.

Price spiral crisis
The poor governance and failure of the present government is nowhere more apparent than in the run-away price spiral of foodgrains and consumer goods of all kinds. With the advent of Ramadan, the high profiteering motive of wholesalers and retailers reaches sky-high, flouting all religious edicts forbidding such evil tendency. But vast majority of our traders who hypocritically don topis and panjabis during Ramadan gleefully fleece the poor general customers at will. In addition, they cheat in weights and measures. They deliberately adulterate foodstuff with poisonous chemicals and dyes. The highly criminal nefarious activities of these people have been focused in recent months by the dedicated and systematic raids by honest and incorruptible magistrates like Rokon-ud-Dowla who has set a shining example of service for the general welfare of the public. We wish we could have more people like him in the cabinet. The government should be given full credit for backing up this campaign against adulterated food. The media's investigative reports must be lauded without any reserve for being fearless standard-bearers against endemic adulteration-related corruption.

Power shortage crisis
Last but not least is the crisis in the power sector. Despite all the tall talk of the government functionaries, the party-in-power has added only 80MWs of power by commissioning the Tongi plant last month. The proposed big power generating plants like Meghnaghat have failed to go beyond planning stage mainly because of blatant interference from the PM's office. The greed for more power and pelf has unfortunately resulted in unsolved gridlock in the power sector. No amount of high-sounding rhetoric can rescue the government for its ineptitude and inefficient handling of power generation. The shortage of nearly 1000 MWs of power is too big a gap to be filled by ministerial assurances. This reminds us of unpleasant memories of ex-Prime Minister Hasina's gross mismanagement of the power sector. This happens to be the life-blood of any modern society and economy. This will inevitably lead to widespread public discontent.

Conclusion
The BNP can ill-afford such extensive public discontent in the coming year with another general election due in early 2007. Already it has alienated public sympathy by openly patronising endemic corruption in all sectors, extensive politicisation of bureaucracy, shielding a BNP MP from charges of abduction and murder, protecting the criminal gangster elements, both in its student and youth wings, failure to control the powerful wholesale syndicates of food hoarders, and so on.

Nobody but itself can rescue the party from this dire predicament of poor governance due mainly to ill-advised and short-sighted policies. All these critical factors nullify many of its commendable achievements in different sectors.

Anwarul Haque is an academic.