At the initial stage of its rule, the CTG failed to understand clearly the limit and limitation of its capability because of lack of adequate knowledge about the present condition of the Bangladesh administration, a highly politicized, corrupt, and inefficient one.

If the implementation is not of the required level excellent plans do not mean much. Whatever good name has been earned by the government so far has been possible because of the good work done by a few dedicated civilian officials, strong and sincere assistance of army, moral support of civil society, and positive role of media.

Barrister Mainul has rightly, and in time, admitted that nobody was infallible, and asked for more cooperation from intellectuals and the media because the present government did not have any effective mechanism to reach the common people. In the serious crisis situation created by the deluge, the people's cooperation has become essential.

Without the people's support, and because of the inexperience of a majority of the advisers, there is a strong possibility of creation of a messy situation, and the people's confidence in the government may decrease. The chief adviser and the chief of the army have both appealed to the people to come forward with whatever assistance they can extend.

Mere appeal is not enough. For obtaining the people's support, the existence of the two major parties who have profound influence on them cannot be ignored. It is to be seen how the CTG comes to some sort of understanding with the parties to enable them to assist the government in this hour of crisis.

It is inspiring to note that the chiefs of the two major parties have directed their activists to assist the government. This is a very positive attitude of the parties.

In a highly poverty ridden country like Bangladesh, money or wealth has tremendous power. The poor are disorganised and, as such, their big number is of little significance in the political arena. They are also politically divided.

Despite the best of intentions, the CTG is not finding it easy to make progress now. We must realize that there is no magic wand for changing the politicised and corrupt bureaucracy into a neutral and committed one overnight.

The politicians will cooperate only if they are assured that there will be no unnecessary harassment by the government. The businessmen may come forward if they are sure that there will be no unnecessary harassment by customs or tax officials. Moreover, there should be no military interference, because it will make things messy.

The CTG has failed to contain the price-hike of essential commodities. It is not very clear why BDR has been asked to assist in controlling prices of essentials instead of the TCB. It is time that our finance adviser stops copying the ex-finance minister Mr Saifur Rahman by repeatedly stating that the price spiral is due to increase in income of the people.

The chief of ACC is gradually waking up to reality. He knows that even if he is given the required number of personnel to dispose of the graft cases (more than 42000) he has no ready reply as to how much time may be needed to dispose of even the cases he has inherited from his predecessors. He may have to categorise the cases and concentrate only on those whose disposal may have tremendous impact on our corrupt politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats.

Once he is successful in giving fair treatment to the prominent personalities, he may be able to influence the people to go against corruption. Containing corruption is a continuous process, and he has to trudge a long uneven road.

Recently, we have seen that there is not much of unity among the advisers. Even on the questions of lifting of emergency, increase in number of advisers to cope with the growing pressure of work, and strategy for disaster management, there have been differences of opinions. The chief will have to work hard to reach consensus on such important issues.

We accept that a major disaster like a deluge cannot be successfully handled alone by government. The AL government (1996-2001) tackled the longest flood since independence, in 1998, due to the right approach taken by them to mobilise the people's support. We understand that the emergency cannot be lifted and political activity will have to be withheld for some time more. However, we are glad to know that some major parties have agreed to support the government effort without using banners.

Barrister Mainul, instead of soul searching, has again blamed the intellectuals and media people for their lack of consciousness. It is indeed regrettable that so many articles by columnists and editors of most of the credible dailies have escaped the notice of our CTG advisers.

In fact, the media not only remained positive right from the beginning, they also assisted the government in clarifying some sensitive issues. The intellectuals and the media have always tried to point out the actual position in the country during any crisis (even against pressure). We are certain that both the civil society and the media will continue to cooperate with the CTG in this hour of need.

A.B.M.S. Zahur is a former joint secretary.