Interim govt. should get enough time

A recent survey conducted by a research body under the Voice of America (VoA), a US-based international broadcasting agency, about the public's view concerning various issues including the time the incumbent interim government of Bangladesh should take to hold the next general election, a mixed response was received. According to survey findings, slightly above 61 per cent of the respondents were for holding the election within a year, while close to 66 per cent wanted the election to be held after completion of all necessary reforms. Considering that higher percentage of the interviewed are in favour of completing the electoral and other vital reforms, the priority of the interim government, obviously, should be to complete that task. But how can the interim government complete all necessary reforms within a year? In fact, the opinions of the sampled 1,000 individuals interviewed over telephone from all the eight administrative divisions do hardly represent what over 121 million voters of the country are really thinking about election and other issues covered by the survey. Even so, let us assume, for the time being, that they do. In that case, completing all the reforms of some six sectors, namely, the electoral system, police admin, judiciary, anti-corruption commission, public admin and the constitution is a time-consuming affair. At the same time, it (the government) has to do the routine work of governance as well as look after the emerging issues involving law and order and meeting demands of the pressure groups as well as different segments of the population, which have, of late, proliferated. So, if the political parties are sincere about the reforms, they must allow the government to finish the work unhindered. But it appears they are behaving like the various pressure groups who are too impatient to wait about realising their demands.

But the politicians should not behave like a pressure group. For they cannot be unaware of the fact that Dr Yunus's is not a caretaker government constituted with the particular mandate of holding a general election. Neither is it a normal constitutional government. On the contrary, it is the product of an extraordinary situation that happens only once in a century or centuries in the life of a nation. Thousands of students and members of the general public laid down their lives in a spontaneous mass uprising against the overwhelming odds to wrest the people's freedom, human and democratic rights from a ruthless autocrat.What defies imagination is that the violent and bloody struggle was not led by any existing traditional political parties. It was a revolution, though no revolutionary political party was in charge. And it is through the ultimate sacrifice of the youths from universities, colleges, even school children, members of the working classes and the general masses who braved the bullets of the oppressive regime's security outfits and armed goons. Who or what inspired them to make the supreme sacrifices? It is nothing but the call of their conscience and love of freedom. Leaders of the existing political parties often claim that they have also their contribution in that struggle in the form of the street protests, rallies, etc. they held in the past against the autocratic ruler. True, nothing happens in a vacuum. But the fact remains that the leadership of those public protests appeared not fully prepared to fight to the last, though the situation at hand demanded a different kind of leadership where the ruling clique was not playing in line with the accepted rules of the game. Small wonder that the forces of autocracy finally got the upper hand and the struggles failed in the long run. It is not that the rank and file and the supporters of the parties they (the existing leadership) led lacked the courage. Party workers and supporters are part of the masses and they never shy away from facing the forces of oppression however mighty and cruel those may be. It is exactly why the July-August's uprising under a new kind of leadership became necessary.

So, the main task before the interim government is to muck out the prevailing Augean stables of the old political system prone to breed monsters like the deposed immediate past government. Ironically, it is through elections and popular votes that many past dictators of this country as elsewhere in the world came to power. It is the traditional system of politics that enables all state powers to be concentrated in the hands of a single individual.The reforms are meant to set the stage for future government so they may not fall into the old political trap and end up as fascistic regimes.

Which is why while speaking to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera, a cable television network, the chief adviser (CA) to the interim government, Dr Muhammad Yunus, requested all concerned to be 'patient'. In the same breath he also promised that if given the scope, he would facilitate holding the desired elections after completing some necessary reforms.

Shouldn't Chief Adviser Dr Yunus be given the time to complete the tasks the revolutionary students and masses entrusted him with? The students under the banner of 'Anti-discrimination Student Movement' who put the current interim government into power is willing to give Dr Yunus the required time. In this connection, the ICT adviser Nahid Islam, who is also a leader of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, echoed a similar view during his recent meeting with the Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Professor Luis Franceschi. He stated that various commissions had already been formed for institutional reforms and the polls would be held after the reforms were completed.

The political leadership should in every way help the interim government to complete its task. That is the only way to arrange the next polls as soon as possible.

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