An irreversible journey to catastrophe?

There is no single institution, which has remained untouched by the systematic deterioration. Legislative, Executive and Judiciary have all fallen prey to the lack of impartiality and down to earth politicization that has resulted in the sliding of the state into a land of jungle's rule.

The legislative assembly, which is the cornerstone of any Westminster democracy, has remained ineffective most of the time during the last 12 years of 'democratic' rule. The bulk of the responsibility for making the legislative branch of the state effective lies with the Speaker. Unfortunately, none of the Speakers was able to come out of the partisan string to run the parliament in the past. The incumbent is probably the worst of the lot, whose manner and style is no less than a ruling alliance loyalist. The Speaker may be elected from a political party, but after his election, he should be as impartial as the Chief Justice of the highest court of the land.

The whole administration has been politicised and semblance of impartiality has been eradicated. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of criminal cases have been withdrawn through executive orders, as admitted by the Home Minister himself, under the pretext that those were lodged with political motivation. Law was not given the opportunity to take its own course, as our government leaders very often preach. This abuse of authority has provided numerous accused criminals the clean bail of health that consequently rendered them a boost in terms of continuing their crimes unabated.

Persecution of political opponents and religious minorities took a new dimension since the election victory of the ruling alliance even when the caretaker administration was at the helm of the state. BNP leaders and workers completely forgot the benevolence of their political opponents who, in general, did not indulge themselves to settling the old political score when the BNP rule came to an end due to a mass upsurge on April 30, 1996. The similar tolerance was reflected following the BNP's electoral defeat in the general election of June 12, 1996. In my last visit to some rural areas of Bangladesh, where rules of the BNP cadres have replaced the rule of law, the type of resolve I have witnessed among the opposition workers terrified me and I am afraid, this time around, the BNP workers may not have a very easy ride when their rules end.

BNP has always been a fortunate political party. This good luck of BNP also prevailed when the Transparency International (TI), in its report, ranked Bangladesh as the most corrupt country in the world, three times in a row. It was during the fag end of the last AL administration when the laurel was bestowed on the country and it happened just prior to the last general election. The present ruling alliance, especially the BNP, used the report to its fullest advantage during the election campaign accusing the AL for tarnishing the image of the country. The author of this article wrote a piece in the Daily Star refuting the statistical validity of the data and the analysis, which prompted an equally invalid technical response (in DS) from the TI headquarter in Berlin. When the TI came up with its second report during the alliance administration, BNP promptly blamed it to the spill over effect of the past administration. However, when it happened for the third time (BNP was lucky since it could not get any worse any way), the honourable Finance Minister of the ruling alliance, who criticises almost every one but himself, came out heavily not only on the TI as an institution, but on the degree of corruption in the western society as a whole.

According to our honourable minister, the corruption in Bangladesh is peanut as compared to the extent the western society is engulfed in corruption. Many of us have lived in the western society more than half of our lives and are very much conversant with the accountability and transparency of the system. Let me assure our honourable minister that any semblance of an unethical act of such nature and dimension in a western democracy would not only seal the fate of the concerned minister but will also take the political party (he belongs to) to its eternal grave. Let me cite a recent example where a federal minister of Canada lost his job (he will not be allowed to run as an MP in the next election) only because he awarded a $50,000 contract to his personal friend without an open tender bid.

Unfortunately, the government leaders forget that the people are focused on the activities of the government rather than that of the opposition. The PM's credibility in this case plays an important role in bringing confidence of the people. Ironically the PM's statement in most cases relating to opposition invokes ridicules rather than trust. The PM's frequent assertion that "the opposition party is hindering the development of the country" is not substantiated by the mere fact they are not, in most cases, even allowed to exercise their minimum constitutional right to assemble and march through the street. This denial of democratic right has been extended to any groups, however apolitical they may be. The recent violent treatment of nurses and teachers processions testifies and reminds the brutality inflicted on the female students of the Shamsunnahar Hall only a year ago.

Every organ of the state has been made to contribute a part to the totality of darkness that has engulfed the nation. The judiciary, especially the higher one, has not remained unscathed by the executive organ, albeit some of the landmark judgments in recent times. Independence does not imply impartiality, albeit the former is the prerequisite to sustain the latter. Neutrality of the higher judiciary is the beacon of hope of citizens to uphold their constitutional rights and the honourable judges are accountable to their own conscience in dispensing justice whoever seeks it. In discharging justice in the gruesome Bangbandhu murder case, one after another, nine of our honourable judges have felt embarrassed to disburse the final judgment of a case that is considered a 'moral tune of our time'. Does the failure of this magnitude of our higher judiciary not create a stumbling block in our effort to join the global civil society?

The only ray of light at the end of the tunnel is emanating from our fourth estate. A number of this print media are diligently upholding the people's right to know the truth at a very tremendous price of their reporters and newsmen. Regrettably, this determined policy of the news media is not boding well for our elected government. The PM, at one of her recent public speeches, has come down heavily on them accusing them of bias and distortion in favour of the opposition. The finance minister has gone a step further singling out a few of the highly circulated news dailies. Unfortunate addition to this fray of critics is no other than Justice Latifur Rahman, the head of the last caretaker government (CTG), who, as the chief guest in a government supported journalist's union convention (should he be there?), blasted the news media for their lack of policies. Ironically, it was the same print media that provided the much-needed support for the last CTG vis-à -vis the criticisms of the main opposition casting aspersions on its neutrality. The only policy of the news media in a free society should be to uphold the people's right to know the truth and the wide circulation of these singled out news media is a solid testimony of their acceptance by the large section of our people.

Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is a Professor and the Head of Mechanical Engineering and Quality Engineering Departments of Sheridan Institute of Technology, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.