Stability key to interim administration’s success

Though the Dr Yunus-led interim government is still in a nascent stage, yet expectations from it from the various disgruntled sections of administration and society seem to be unlimited. However, the methods being used to realise the demands are also the age-old tactics like blocking the traffic at sensitive city intersections or staging gheraos at the different administrative headquarters of the government. The supposedly aggrieved quarters holding such demonstrations are in most cases too aggressive to be calmed down by simple assurances. Some members of the paramilitary auxiliary force, the Bangladesh Ansar, for instance, held such a day-long gherao programme at the Bangladesh Secretariat on August 26. As some seven advisers of the interim government and other senior officials were prevented from leaving office till late in the evening, students from the university had to intervene and clear the way for the government officials to leave the secretariat. But the ansar put up a bloody fight with students before they were forced to leave the place. The armed forces were also called to flush out the troublemaking ansars.
One wonders, why have the programmes to press home demands to be so bellicose and violent when the government in question is new and yet to put its house in order? Since the present government has come into existence to fill in the vacuum left by the previous government due to its sudden exit, is it not too early for those various aggrieved quarters to place their demands? This raises question about the sincerity of their cause and an apprehension if they have any secret agenda up their sleeve. Seeing that the executive branch of the previous government, except some minor reshufflings, is still intact, it won't be surprising if some in the administration who have not given up hope of a return to the old order might still try to destabilise the interim government. There is no reason to believe that such attempts at destabilising the interim government will stop shortly. However, handling of disturbances in most cases will require prompt mobilisation of the law-enforcement agencies. But the incident involving ansars has proved that the law-enforcement agency, the police to be specific, is not yet ready to respond to the law and order issues as and when they arise. Students cannot intervene in every such case. One cannot also expect that the armed forces, in every case of disturbance, big or small, will appear to restore order. Take the case of some ninth graders of the Barishal Government Technical School and College who reportedly ransacked the reception room of the Barishal Kotwali Model Police Station, broke glass and vehicle on the thana premises in the late afternoon of last Friday (August 30). The teenagers went violent as the police allegedly failed to resolve a dispute between them (enraged teens) and the members of their rival group. Another reason for those teenagers' anger, as reported, was that, the Kotwali Model Police Station police advised students to take the army's help to resolve their dispute.
However innocuous, such incidents raise concern about the police's preparedness and ability in its present shape to maintain law and order at a time when the country is passing through one of its most critical phases in history. Why can't the police handle such minor problems themselves, but have to seek the military's support to resolve? Are they so scared that they cannot face even a small group of unruly teens?
True, they have recently gone through a traumatic experience of mob violence against police across the country. But the disruptive time of extreme volatility is over. The hostile crowds have returned home. Gradually, things are settling down. In the changed circumstances, the interim government has given them (the police) the assurances they need to join work and, encouragingly enough, they have responded well to the interim government's call and have already joined their duties. So, what is holding them back from doing their duties wholeheartedly?
The adviser of the interim government for home affairs needs to address the issue seriously towards boosting the morale of the police force. This is urgent if the armed forces are to return to their barracks and the students to their studies.
The police must be adequately equipped to deal with normal law and order issues as well as any act of sabotage by forces of destabilisation. It is only in exceptional circumstances that the military's intervention should be sought.
Commendably, the interim government has meanwhile taken up a number of challenges including restoring discipline in the financial sector. Also, it has, in a welcome move, signed the international convention on enforced disappearances. Some big guns of the previous government have meanwhile been held on charges of corruption and various misdeeds. It is expected that charges brought against them are based on adequate evidence to substantiate those. However, success of all these good gestures of the interim government will depend largely on its main strength, its stability. So, before everything else, the internal challenges to the nterim government's stability have to be dealt with in earnest. The key posts of the civil and military establishments should be replaced with people having unquestionable loyalty to Dr Yunus's interim government. Such replacements have to be made promptly, because the enemies within are still at work to create instability. Also, the government should be alert to any constitutional crisis. The chief adviser should consult experts on this issue and act swiftly to avert any contradictory clauses challenging the legitimacy of the interim government.

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