Ship without radar
One of the hallmarks of this regime is that it specialises in all kinds of lies and deceptions in their absolute raw form. The same minister once said that it was not incumbent on the part of the government to abide by all directives of the courts.
There is this other minister who said he could not see the existence of monga in the northern districts. He says angrily: "These were absolutely biased and propaganda. We probed many media reports about monga but did not find any authenticity of these."
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. When I look at some of our lawmakers in the present regime it makes me edgy, tense, and absolutely frustrated. Our venerable Minister for Tourism and Aviation has just been axed for his failure in dealing with the Hajj flights vis fixing airfares for the intending Hajjis.
In a remote way, I feel sorry for Mr. Nasiruddin since there are still many in the Cabinet of the present regime with much greater guilt and failure on their shoulders than him who continue with their jobs. Ministers in this country have to be removed since they do not voluntarily quit no matter what. Be a minister in any government here, and you can get away with almost anything under the sun.
The way this administration manages its affairs is not only shocking but also horrific. Remember a photograph published in one of the dailies just before the start of the Eid holidays showing how a vessel belonging to the son of the PM, overloaded with people on the roof, was proudly plying on the river carrying homebound passengers on their way to celebrate the Eid with their near and dear ones?
This was happening right under the nose of the Rab forces on duty at the ghat responsible for checking overloading of launches in order to avoid possible mishaps. I guess Rab in this instance felt unable to act. No one ever takes lessons from history. Surely the PM remembers as to how a son of the then Indian Prime Minster Indira Gandhi brought shame to his mother and to the country? Surely she also remembers the immense difficulties and problems the Father of the Nation faced by involving his sons in the functioning of the state administrative machinery?
The honourable Prime Minster arrives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to congratulate officials of the ministry for an excellent job done in making the recently concluded Saarc Summit a great success. Surely, at the same time the PM is also aware of the many critical issues facing the country of greater dimensions and importance than such celebrations -- at best she could send a letter to the Foreign Minister. The critical state in which our country is in, I cannot imagine as to how the PM can even conceive of any kind of celebrations whatsoever. There is a long way to go before we could even embark on evaluating the success of Saarc. More than two decades have passed for it to show any sign of worthwhile success.
Like a delinquent child, this administration thinks of performing only after pressures, castigation, and reprimands from people in "actual" authority -- international agencies that have a good deal of say in shaping our economy and are able to inflict real "injuries." No less an individual than the vice president of the World Bank had to tell us that we must shape up, curb corruption, or else: "World Bank funds will be hard to come by if Bangladesh does not institute one or two high profile corruption cases against concerned individuals within weeks." I cannot imagine as to how our lawmakers can ever come out with a smiling face from such meetings.
This government has adopted a unique way of dealing with religious terrorism. As evidenced by various reports in the media and the ongoing perceptions of the people, it is certainly working on both sides of the fence. On one hand it is creating a false image of its absolute sincerity in dealing with the terrorists through arrests and taking perpetrators into custody, on the other it is "allowing" some highly questionable suspects to slip out from its dragnet.
To date the coalition government is yet to come out with a clear policy statement on long- term strategies of intervention with the terror breeding grounds. There is no point any longer in hiding behind the make-believe world of "things will turn out OK by themselves." No, they will not. The scourge of religious extremism is here to stay. The wisdom lies in working at it relentlessly with utmost sincerity and truthfulness.
The coalition government is like a large sea-going vessel full of hazardous chemicals without its radar -- and God alone knows when and where it will anchor, with what levels of disastrous consequences, in both short and long-term. The way things are, we can only hope and pray.