Today's Bangladesh

Ali Hamid Khan
Uttara,
Dhaka.
Date: October, 17 2006.


After a lot of scathing verbal exchanges and disagreements leading to hartals, protests, demonstrations etc the major political parties have finally agreed to sit down and hammer out a deal to ensure a free and fair elections without any loop holes or scope for malpractices. The secretaries-general of both the major parties have finally met to discuss face-to-face reform measures. The opposition is trying to convince the government to reconsider their decisions regarding the EC and Chief of Care Taker government and accept their proposals so as to create an atmosphere where elections can be held peacefully and fairly. The two leaders, who have been entrusted with the onus to ensure success of the dialogue, after lengthy and extensive brainstorming with their respective colleagues, have finally come together with all their political repertoire. There is no doubt that the two stalwarts will give their best to make the other relent. Let’s hope for the best. Any positive outcome will be a watershed for the future of politics and elections in the country.

We have reached a very explosive situation in our history. The society is deeply divided and severely polarized. There is abysmal existence of bipartisanism or tolerance in politics and other strata of civil society. The society has become extremely violent and truculent, like a tinderbox always ready to explode at the slightest pretext. What has brought about all this? Definitely, due to the roles of some of the people in the authority who have been very callous and ignorant. They have on the basis of affiliations and ulterior motives carried out their jobs, without compunction, disregarding the impact their actions were having. History has been distorted and recent tirades and rewriting of the facts telecasted on National TV have sent shock waves through the society. This is a clear reflection of the people who hold the rein and have the power and wealth. We are witnessing undeterred, emboldened and flagrant distortion of truth exacerbated by the fact that this trend is getting away without any opposition from the intellectuals and think thanks. Hence, we have to admit that there is something very wrong with the society.

The country today is in the grip of crises so large and threatening that the very social and economic fabrics of the nation are fraying. The pressure is immense but the authority is ignoring them and sweeping them away regarding them as nothing but canards and conspiracies. The minds have been clouded by power and wealth. There are almost daily street confrontations between the people and law enforcing agents and people are being maimed and killed, the government is looking away the other way without any propitiatory stand to find a solution. The atmosphere has become highly vitiated. There are protests and attacks on public properties by the protestors who take to the streets to vent their anger and discontent against the government failure to check the power outages, and garment factories owners’ apathy towards the their demands. There are myriad other reasons for the mass out cry. To name some water paucity in the city and the spiraling prices of essential commodities. Even a relatively peaceful area like Uttara is frequently experiencing the wrath of the people who have become so daring and bold as to attack police stations, banks and other public and government institutions. We are facing the brunt of civil disorder and our lives and properties are threatened and children’s education hampered. These sorts of spontaneous public displays of discontent, which have become very common recently, prove that the country is on the edge. These are wake up calls and no party can afford to sit back and remain complacent, as it doesn’t augur well.

On top of all these, the big parties come out into the streets to show off their strength and popularity by calling long marches, founding days’ fetes, hartals, sieges etc. I am not going to justify or deride them but in today’s world and especially in a country like Bangladesh where majority of the people are struggling to survive and education for them is a dream, ostentatious displays and violent confrontations only prove the depth of discontent and malaise that run in our polarized society.

Corruption has become so pervasive that life for the common man has become very difficult. Amassing of wealth, plundering and looting have reached such enormous proportions that the society has started stirring and coming out to show its anger at the unabated downslide of morality. The common man is harshly affected by the run away corruption. The disparity between the rich and the poor has widened threatening stability. To make things worse it seems even nature revolted. The drought came at a time when the country could do without it. It lingered on to negatively impact the agricultural sector making life even more grueling. The countryside is constantly in the grip of load shedding (not that cities aren’t, they are as bad) which affects every nuance of society, particularly the education of the children. Life has lost its pace and slowed down as a result of uninterrupted power breakdowns. Protests or complaints are of no avail.

Corruption is rampant and reached grotesque proportions. When you look at it with hindsight- going through the pages of history, you will notice an analogy of the prevailing scenario with those civilizations, which lost track and took a leap into the sea of corruption and drowned. Don’t we realize that we don’t control everything some things are in the hands of unseen forces that guide and control our lives? The great Emperor of Rome and the most powerful and successful even admitted, when his life was slowly ebbing, that man controlled nothing. Man thinks he is strong and powerful but the fact is that he has no control over anything and it is all a comedy. Our politicians and the top policy makers should take note and go through the pages of history.

The strain of these crises has started emerging and looming over us. People are getting restive. Backs are against the wall and thus there are such backlashes, which the country hasn’t witnessed in its history of thirty odd years. The politicians have done enough damage and it’s time to shun imperiousness, obduracy and venality. Despite the furor and discontent they are singing away their glories and successes completely blind to the raging fires around them. The unpleasant scenes continue of demonstrators turning violent and the police bludgeoning them. The gory scenes turn ones stomach and it’s hard to believe 30 years on since we won our independence we are still at each other’s throat and things have instead of improving taken a dive for the worse.

Politicians should do more than what they claim they are doing beginning with toning down the rhetoric and diatribes against one another in order to prevent the chaos and uncertainty. There is no iota of tolerance or mutual respect. Even in the face of manifest evidence self-denial prevails. It has become embedded in the psyche. It is a perilous time when the mind has refused to accept the truth and injustices and lies have become the order of the day. It’s time for the politicians to pause and ruminate. They should start healing wounds and mending the damages to get the nation on the track once again. Egoistic and arrogant attitude should be done away with for the sake of consolidation of democracy and stability. It’s a fragile democracy which has traversed a long path through turmoil and uncertainty.
Professor Yunus has taught us that the most intractable and deep-rooted issues can be grappled with and solved if we have the vision, desire, tenacity and sincerity. He should inspire us so that we should take up the challenge to pave a smooth road to prosperity and peace.

Today's Bangladesh

Ali Hamid Khan
Uttara,
Dhaka.
Date: October, 17 2006.


After a lot of scathing verbal exchanges and disagreements leading to hartals, protests, demonstrations etc the major political parties have finally agreed to sit down and hammer out a deal to ensure a free and fair elections without any loop holes or scope for malpractices. The secretaries-general of both the major parties have finally met to discuss face-to-face reform measures. The opposition is trying to convince the government to reconsider their decisions regarding the EC and Chief of Care Taker government and accept their proposals so as to create an atmosphere where elections can be held peacefully and fairly. The two leaders, who have been entrusted with the onus to ensure success of the dialogue, after lengthy and extensive brainstorming with their respective colleagues, have finally come together with all their political repertoire. There is no doubt that the two stalwarts will give their best to make the other relent. Let’s hope for the best. Any positive outcome will be a watershed for the future of politics and elections in the country.

We have reached a very explosive situation in our history. The society is deeply divided and severely polarized. There is abysmal existence of bipartisanism or tolerance in politics and other strata of civil society. The society has become extremely violent and truculent, like a tinderbox always ready to explode at the slightest pretext. What has brought about all this? Definitely, due to the roles of some of the people in the authority who have been very callous and ignorant. They have on the basis of affiliations and ulterior motives carried out their jobs, without compunction, disregarding the impact their actions were having. History has been distorted and recent tirades and rewriting of the facts telecasted on National TV have sent shock waves through the society. This is a clear reflection of the people who hold the rein and have the power and wealth. We are witnessing undeterred, emboldened and flagrant distortion of truth exacerbated by the fact that this trend is getting away without any opposition from the intellectuals and think thanks. Hence, we have to admit that there is something very wrong with the society.

The country today is in the grip of crises so large and threatening that the very social and economic fabrics of the nation are fraying. The pressure is immense but the authority is ignoring them and sweeping them away regarding them as nothing but canards and conspiracies. The minds have been clouded by power and wealth. There are almost daily street confrontations between the people and law enforcing agents and people are being maimed and killed, the government is looking away the other way without any propitiatory stand to find a solution. The atmosphere has become highly vitiated. There are protests and attacks on public properties by the protestors who take to the streets to vent their anger and discontent against the government failure to check the power outages, and garment factories owners’ apathy towards the their demands. There are myriad other reasons for the mass out cry. To name some water paucity in the city and the spiraling prices of essential commodities. Even a relatively peaceful area like Uttara is frequently experiencing the wrath of the people who have become so daring and bold as to attack police stations, banks and other public and government institutions. We are facing the brunt of civil disorder and our lives and properties are threatened and children’s education hampered. These sorts of spontaneous public displays of discontent, which have become very common recently, prove that the country is on the edge. These are wake up calls and no party can afford to sit back and remain complacent, as it doesn’t augur well.

On top of all these, the big parties come out into the streets to show off their strength and popularity by calling long marches, founding days’ fetes, hartals, sieges etc. I am not going to justify or deride them but in today’s world and especially in a country like Bangladesh where majority of the people are struggling to survive and education for them is a dream, ostentatious displays and violent confrontations only prove the depth of discontent and malaise that run in our polarized society.

Corruption has become so pervasive that life for the common man has become very difficult. Amassing of wealth, plundering and looting have reached such enormous proportions that the society has started stirring and coming out to show its anger at the unabated downslide of morality. The common man is harshly affected by the run away corruption. The disparity between the rich and the poor has widened threatening stability. To make things worse it seems even nature revolted. The drought came at a time when the country could do without it. It lingered on to negatively impact the agricultural sector making life even more grueling. The countryside is constantly in the grip of load shedding (not that cities aren’t, they are as bad) which affects every nuance of society, particularly the education of the children. Life has lost its pace and slowed down as a result of uninterrupted power breakdowns. Protests or complaints are of no avail.

Corruption is rampant and reached grotesque proportions. When you look at it with hindsight- going through the pages of history, you will notice an analogy of the prevailing scenario with those civilizations, which lost track and took a leap into the sea of corruption and drowned. Don’t we realize that we don’t control everything some things are in the hands of unseen forces that guide and control our lives? The great Emperor of Rome and the most powerful and successful even admitted, when his life was slowly ebbing, that man controlled nothing. Man thinks he is strong and powerful but the fact is that he has no control over anything and it is all a comedy. Our politicians and the top policy makers should take note and go through the pages of history.

The strain of these crises has started emerging and looming over us. People are getting restive. Backs are against the wall and thus there are such backlashes, which the country hasn’t witnessed in its history of thirty odd years. The politicians have done enough damage and it’s time to shun imperiousness, obduracy and venality. Despite the furor and discontent they are singing away their glories and successes completely blind to the raging fires around them. The unpleasant scenes continue of demonstrators turning violent and the police bludgeoning them. The gory scenes turn ones stomach and it’s hard to believe 30 years on since we won our independence we are still at each other’s throat and things have instead of improving taken a dive for the worse.

Politicians should do more than what they claim they are doing beginning with toning down the rhetoric and diatribes against one another in order to prevent the chaos and uncertainty. There is no iota of tolerance or mutual respect. Even in the face of manifest evidence self-denial prevails. It has become embedded in the psyche. It is a perilous time when the mind has refused to accept the truth and injustices and lies have become the order of the day. It’s time for the politicians to pause and ruminate. They should start healing wounds and mending the damages to get the nation on the track once again. Egoistic and arrogant attitude should be done away with for the sake of consolidation of democracy and stability. It’s a fragile democracy which has traversed a long path through turmoil and uncertainty.
Professor Yunus has taught us that the most intractable and deep-rooted issues can be grappled with and solved if we have the vision, desire, tenacity and sincerity. He should inspire us so that we should take up the challenge to pave a smooth road to prosperity and peace.