Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 820 Sat. September 16, 2006  
   
Editorial


Of unholy alliance and lust for power


SO, this is the country we live in. Here, you cannot call a proven thief a thief. Here, politics of convenience is, today, the deciding factor to befriend one another. Here, the immortal saying "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" finds a blissful abode. This is the land, stained by the blood of so many martyrs who sacrificed their lives selflessly for freedom, but now has been rated as the most corrupt country of the world for five successive years. Here powerful individuals, accused of moral turpitude, money laundering, immoral trafficking and many other earthly vices, are sent to gaol when out of power, but are capable of shaking off the stinky debris and rising again from the abysmal labyrinth of unfathomable vices. These shameless hypocrites, hated and condemned yesterday by those in power, can easily enjoy warmer embrace today of the latter. The emerging, yet very intriguingly unholy, alliance based on immoral and unethical equation is wedded to certain preconditions.

The long pending issue of separation of the judiciary from the executive continues to be unresolved. It appears to have been a deliberate and purposeful strategy devoid of moral sanction, to take gainful advantage as long as it is possible. For example, a person (belonging to the main party in power) who was sentenced to death for murder secured presidential clemency. The minister(s) concerned initiating the process for mercy couldn't furnish convincing and acceptable grounds for appealing to the head of the state for mercy. On the contrary, the trying court had enough evidence to corroborate the death sentence without an iota of doubt. Compassion of this kind ridiculed the entire legal system of the country. The beneficiary fled the country immediately after the incident to evade arrest. He returned from abroad as a powerful office-bearer of the party having received, reportedly, prior assurance from the law minister and the state minister for home affairs. In such an immoral process the latest beneficiary is a person already gaoled/awaiting charge-sheet in several cases of corruption and malpractice. The 'graceful dispensation' of favour is apparently coming as a conditional gift from the chief executive of the government. The beneficiary, when cleared of all the remaining criminal cases against him, will be obliged to join the 4-party alliance as a partner in the 2007 election.

More recently and, in fact, in continuity of old practices favoured by the party (ies) in power, there has been tremendous furore over the appointment and confirmation of a number of judges in the High Court. Even someone who is alleged to have furnished a false certificate was included. Besides, some instances of suppression were reported to have created lot of dissension among the senior judges. On top of everything it was known that all these irregular things happened ignoring the specific recommendations of the chief justice. Such a malafide course was also reportedly pursued in the matter of changing the retirement age limit of the judges. The strategy of the present government, as is being publicly claimed by the opposition Awami League, was to ensure placement of a highly controversial person, who shall have been the last retiring chief justice, to take over as head of the next caretaker government. Incidentally it may be recalled that the reform proposal of the 14-party alliance takes into consideration this 'executive trick' as a deliberate and pre-emptive act towards influencing the result of the ensuing general election. In her public meeting in Chittagong (Aug 29/06) the prime minister emphatically said that it did not matter what the Awami League's demand was, the last retiring Chief Justice (KM Hasan) would be the head of the care-taker government. She rejected the reform proposal on this count specifically.

The prime minister appears to be very much in her pre-election campaign. Almost every day she moves from one place to another laying foundation stones of bridges, culverts, schools, colleges, hospitals etc in remote corners of the country. She appears to be cocksure that she will come back to power in the next election. Confidently she asserts that there is no question of changing the caretaker system, or of the Election Commission, and re-affirms that the reform proposal of the opposition is an unacceptable pretext to avoid ultimate defeat. So, she declares in her public meetings that no reform is needed and that the next election will be held within the existing framework of the caretaker government and of the Election Commission. She has even gone to the extent of reminding the armed forces of their 'glorious' role in the 2001 election. She has also exhorted them to play the same role during the next election in January 2007. All these words sound 'pre-emptive' and also highly 'provocative' to AL-led opposition. One might ask if we are moving towards a point of no return. God save us.

Away to Phulbari of Dinajpur a grim tragedy has befallen the people of the locality as a sequel to a long-drawn row on the issue of the newly found coal mine there. For quite sometime now they have been agitating against the open pit coal mining to protect ecological balance of the place. Besides, they fear serious impact on their agricultural land holdings and homesteads due to inevitable displacement. The rehabilitation programme of the government appears to have no attraction for them. As it appears now, the main bone of contention against the project has been the open pit mining system. The environmentalists across the country have raised their voices against such a potentially dangerous intervention that, according to them, would bring about a catastrophe in the environmental and ecological balance. Besides, economists consider the terms of contract with the Asian Energy Ltd of Australia as suicidal, with a number of clauses going against our national interest. Even the business leaders have called for an open discussion, on this and other future projects, with them prior to signing any contract with foreign investors. Only such a compulsory provision, they foresee, could provide adequate protection to national interest. Though belated the realisation on the part of the government towards scrapping the agreement with Asian Energy is laudable. Yet, the loss of human lives due to such dubious agreements is irreparable and the reason will have to be properly probed. Meantime, the energy adviser shall be better advised to practice restraint in his public utterances so as not to compound the controversies he is already in.

Kazi Alauddin Ahmed is a management consultant.