Complete absence of discipline in politics and administration
Dr Badiul Alam Majumder, secretary, Shujan
# If there is no accountability, incident like this will continuously
Dr Sabbir Ahmed, professor, DU
Bangladesh Awami League (AL) is holding the power of the country for the fourth consecutive time. However, at the beginning of this term, the government is stumbling in several areas which creates embarrassing situations for the party.
In particular, the murder of a ruling party MP on foreign country and the incidents behind the murder has created a very uncomfortable and embarrassing situation. There is also a lot of trolling on social media about the illegal work of the murdered MP. Not only that, there is a lot of talk about getting the nomination of a party like AL who is involved in drugs and smuggling across the border.
Similarly, the US sanctions against a former army chief and his family, and the discovery of illegal wealth worth crores of taka in the name of a former police chief and his wife, and the order to seize those assets have made the government uneasy.
After the formation of the cabinet, at the beginning of this year, the government took a tough stance to keep the prices of essential commodities within the purchasing power of the citizens, and also fixed the prices of several products, although some products were sold at the price fixed by the government, most of the products were being sold beyond the price fixed by the government. When the government was looking for alternative strategies for not being able to control the prices of essential commodities, the government was also keeping a close eye on the news of decreasing reserve of Bangladesh Bank. But in the meantime, the murder of a member of parliament, sanctions against the former army chief and the incredible illegal evening of the former police chief created a different situation.
Anwarul Azim, MP from Jhenaidah-4 constituency, was killed in India on May 13. The AL faced many questions about the murder of the party MP. Despite the allegations of various criminal activities against him, many questions were raised about why an important party like AL nominated him. The general secretary of the AL also had to answer these questions of the citizens, the general secretary of the ruling party had to explain why he was nominated. Analysts believed that this is not a relief for the ruling party.
In 2007, Bangladesh Police issued a Red Notice through Interpol to arrest Anwarul Azim, a murdered lawmaker. An arrest warrant was also issued against him in the country's court. As he remained absconding, a special tribunal in Chuadanga in 2008 issued a notice to the media ordering him to surrender. Besides, as a candidate in the last parliamentary election, he mentioned that there were 21 cases against him in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission.
Now, after the killings in India, law enforcement sources of the two countries believe that the dispute over smuggling on the border was behind the killings. Meanwhile, the announcement of banning former army chief Aziz Ahmed and his family from entering the United States has created a lot of discussion. The US State Department recently imposed the ban on grounds that it weakened democratic institutions and engaged in corruption. However, in response to the ban, the former top army officer claimed that he had not committed any crime to be punished. The government was not prepared for such a ban immediately after US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Donald Lu visited Dhaka.
On the other hand, former IGP Benazir Ahmed is accused of owning huge assets including multiple flats, resorts, Bangla houses and land in Dhaka, Gopalganj, Narayanganj and Cox's Bazar. On May 23, the Dhaka Metropolitan Court ordered to seize his assets. At the same time, all transactions of his 33 bank accounts and financial institutions have been ordered to be closed. The search for the illegal wealth of this officer, who was appointed during this government, was not comfortable in the AL.
Dr Badiul Alam Majumder, editor and analyst of Sushashaner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), said a culture of 'doing whatever you want' has developed. There is no rule of law here. Talking to this correspondent of The Daily Post, he said that corruption, criminalization and arbitrariness have reached an unlimited level here. There is a complete absence of discipline everywhere in our politics, in our administration. It's a terrible situation for us.
Referring to the murder of a member of parliament, the ban against a former army chief and the illegal wealth of a former police chief, Dr Sabbir Ahmed, a professor of political science at Dhaka University, said the modern political system where the government will be answerable to the people for all its activities and that accountability will be done through a process. That process is an institutional process (within the rules). That process is the parliamentary process. In our country, the process of parliament has been weak for a long time, so accountable governance is very weak. Various forces are taking advantage of this weakness. It is manifested through various incidents. Maybe this isn't the end. These will continue to go on one way or another. When there is a crisis of people's confidence in the political system, people do not feel interested in voting in the elections. So there's been a vacuum here for a long time. Taking advantage of this weakness, different forces will work in differently as there is no accountability. After many incidents, those involved were brought under the law. But if you can take action earlier, then it is possible to deal with crime beforehand. Criminals did not become criminals in one day, they have been involved in this crime for a long time. They spent a long time in front of the eyes of those who do administration and politics. They were out of reach. My main point is that if there is no accountability, these (crimes) will happen.
ZH
