Peelkhana troubles well tackled
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Md. Mahbubur Rahman Bulbul
FOR Bangladeshis it will be difficult to forget the tragic BDR massacre of February 25. The nation has lost some of its best army officers on the day. The nation was lucky that the wise decision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saved it from further troubles. A wrong decision of the government would have jolted the nation seriously. The two-year care-taker government of Dr. Fokruddin Ahmad, supported by the army, gave the nation an elected democratic government. The last two years also saw a spate of anti-corruption cases and arrests of former ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and business magnets. It was also the time for prices of food and other essentials to sky rocket.
But most of the people sued alleged that the anti-corruption commission (ACC) had political motives behind filing the cases against them.
The people have high expectations from present government. Awami League got a massive electoral mandate. The daughter of the Father of the Nations Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangladesh Awami League president Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second time. It was unfortunate that at the outset of the present government BDR massacre came as a bolt from the blue. For any democratic government it was a crisis different to tackle. It was an acid test for the government. But the government successfully tackled it. Sheikh Hasina showed no latitude. As a result, the whole political scenario changed. She aptly handled the crisis. It was very painful that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh were totally silent at the beginning of the crisis. Had the prime given the army chief the order to put down the mutiny, a large number civilians, living around Peelkhana, would have been killed, destroying further much property.
It would then create a rift between the BDR and the Bangladesh Army creating problems of national security. It could also result in a civil war. Army action would not then conform to the interest of national security, because a huge number of civilians living at Hazari Bag, Kamrangir Char, New Market, Azimpur, Dhanmandi and Jikatala would have lost lives.
There was no alternative for Sheikh Hasina, as the head of the government, to go for negotiations with the mutineers to save the civilian population. The nation could avert the danger because of the wise decision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The nation will remember her for long for the decision. The democratic government, which came to power after a gap is facing a host of problems. So, everybody and all the political parties should support it in solving the problems. There should be no destructive and undemocratic activities.
The writer is a staff of ASA
FOR Bangladeshis it will be difficult to forget the tragic BDR massacre of February 25. The nation has lost some of its best army officers on the day. The nation was lucky that the wise decision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saved it from further troubles. A wrong decision of the government would have jolted the nation seriously. The two-year care-taker government of Dr. Fokruddin Ahmad, supported by the army, gave the nation an elected democratic government. The last two years also saw a spate of anti-corruption cases and arrests of former ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and business magnets. It was also the time for prices of food and other essentials to sky rocket.
But most of the people sued alleged that the anti-corruption commission (ACC) had political motives behind filing the cases against them.
The people have high expectations from present government. Awami League got a massive electoral mandate. The daughter of the Father of the Nations Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangladesh Awami League president Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second time. It was unfortunate that at the outset of the present government BDR massacre came as a bolt from the blue. For any democratic government it was a crisis different to tackle. It was an acid test for the government. But the government successfully tackled it. Sheikh Hasina showed no latitude. As a result, the whole political scenario changed. She aptly handled the crisis. It was very painful that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh were totally silent at the beginning of the crisis. Had the prime given the army chief the order to put down the mutiny, a large number civilians, living around Peelkhana, would have been killed, destroying further much property.
It would then create a rift between the BDR and the Bangladesh Army creating problems of national security. It could also result in a civil war. Army action would not then conform to the interest of national security, because a huge number of civilians living at Hazari Bag, Kamrangir Char, New Market, Azimpur, Dhanmandi and Jikatala would have lost lives.
There was no alternative for Sheikh Hasina, as the head of the government, to go for negotiations with the mutineers to save the civilian population. The nation could avert the danger because of the wise decision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The nation will remember her for long for the decision. The democratic government, which came to power after a gap is facing a host of problems. So, everybody and all the political parties should support it in solving the problems. There should be no destructive and undemocratic activities.
The writer is a staff of ASA