CTG and our politics
In the media we hear about the controversial performance of the caretaker government. It is very interesting to watch that the period from January 11 2007 to the election in December 2008 is always mentioned and all blames are put on General Moeen and his army intelligence. But can we forget the period from late October 2006 to the so-called 1/11? Do we remember how president Iajuddin Ahmed misused the provision and the position of the head of the then caretaker government ? Have we forgotten that some invisible power was running the show from behind the screen ? Definitely, the General and his intelligence chief were not behind the screen, public perception and media reports pointed out fingers elsewhere. This is the truth of the matter. If we fail to recall all these events together with the alleged charges being discussed in the media, these will just be forgotten.
Regarding our intelligence service, the less said, the better. They have just been a political tool drastically curtailing their professional capacity to operate freely without being accountable to the appropriate civilian institution and authority. I am really sorry to mention that at one stage the public perception was that the intelligence service of Bangladesh has been out-sourced (?) I know this is a perverted, frustrated thinking and not true, but just a rumour. To convert this service into a effective national service we need basic reform including rigorous training at home and abroad and the most important thing is to make it accountable to the political institutions with full transparency as long as it does not cut across our need for secrecy. Please do not keep them above scrutiny and allow them to create an artificial fear among the citizens that nobody should discuss about the secret services' performance and action.
Coming back to General Moeen, my question is how can you spare other Generals who killed democracy in the past and we gladly accept their illegal and undemocratic actions? This is simply a double standard. If their rules were seriously and constantly questioned and put to trial, perhaps president Iajuddin and General Moeen would never ever come in the picture.
I am neither a supporter of General Moeen nor any kind of martial law. I am interested to see a single standard of our democracy.
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