& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Beneath the Surface

Accords on Record

by Abdul Bayes
THE Dally Star of 15tli January 1996 had two news items, among others. In its front page. The importance of those items are. possibly, revealed by their placement in the front page of a national daily. Both of them appear interesting but frustrating as well. Better looking but tasting bitter, too.
The first is the news on a secret accord readied between two rival student fronts. Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCD and Bangladesh Jatlyatabadl Chhatra Dal (JCD) on the share of extortion money to be reaped home from the upcoming construction works on the Dhaka University campus. It should be mentioned here that the dally newspapers have been forecasting a possibility of armed clash between the two sides on the eve of opening of a tender.
According to The Dally Star, "leaders of the feuding armed cadres agreed on a systematic' sharing of the extortion money' gained from the tender bidding for construction of the third and fourth floors of Sir A F Rahman Hall of the university. The BCL armed cadres will now get 60 per cent of the 2 per cent toll on Tk 2.21 crore construction work.,.the JCD cadres agreed to take the remaining 40 per cent of the collected extortion money..."
A modicum of calm, therefore. is likely to prevail on the campus, at least for a short while. The salutary' deal should be welcome given the fact that tension-free moments are very scarce in today's campuses. But few important observations that tend to follow the suit are worthy of mention. First, campus environments, by and large, continue to be ruled by the armed hooligans. One could also argue that the whole student politics is being dominated by those 'indispensable heroes'. The drama of the devils that occurred in Dhaka University. allegedly, is being staged In other campuses also. Second, it seems that as far as the distribution of extortion money is concerned. BCL and
JCD converge to the same point, (divided we stand, united we ex-tortl). Third, the administrations of all universities so far seem to have failed to clean the campuses and turn them into homes of students rather than hinterlands of hoodlums. Fourth. If this trend is allowed to persist. PM's pledge to supply pens to students (instead of arms) might be lost either.
Some would say that only the tip of the iceberg was flashed by The Daily Star through a news item. More things of heaven and earth are taking place inside campuses which newspaper reporters even dare not to report. Innocent genuine students are being harassed by armed non-stu-
dents, hall dues are not cleared by the so-called occupants. The politics of arms thal swept the campuses since mid-70s continue to gather more strength as time passes on. We all, especially. the residers in the campuses seem to be ruled not by the rules of the land but by the rules of the guns and the goons. However. our expectations are that autocrats of the past supplied arms into the campus, democrats of the present should clean them up.
The second news Item relates to the 4-point accord reached between Bangladesh Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The deal originated from BNP's abstention from attending the JS sessions. We would like to welcome the accord reached because, like in the Dhaka University episode mentioned earlier, tension griped over the stances of the two "unarmed" rival political parties. In this hour of rejoice. the important question that hits the minds of the con-
scious citizens is : Was there any necessity at all of abstaining from the JS on the plea that the 4-point demands were not met earlier? The first point of the'agreement l.e. issue relating to "neutral and objective" coverage of parliament proceedings could equally be enforced upon even staying inside the parliament. An opposition inside parliament Is more powerful than one outside it. The second agreement is well-taken but could also be aired during the session either through walkouts or through holding press conferences. The third agree-ment postulates that proper investigations would be made into cases allegedly harassing BNP workers. We recall that the PM
of Bangladesh made a call to BNP earlier to supply the list of "allegedly harassed" persons but BNP. allegedly, did not do it.
However, what seemingly drives us to the unfortunate but destined conclusion is that both the position and the opposition do not appear to believe in the motto of "prevention is better than cure". On the contrary, they seem to abhor the theme of cure being less expensive than prevention. This is unfortunate that the nation has to live with tensions arising out of almost unnecessary, non-issue problems of the political parties. As a growing nation — a nation that dlrely needs to uplift the economic status of its teeming millions, democratize its institutions and. above all. has to race with the emerging globalisation — can we afford to spend lavishly the scarce time to watch the "hide and seek" games we are gifted with from time to time?
We think not. In the coming days, Bangladesh Is said to
stand with a chance to be the focal point in Asian development, especially. In the wake of the construction of the Asian Highway, the establishment of suo-regional cooperation and also In the face of the upcoming link between the northern part of the country and the main body of the economy. We could only hope that our political parties and learned politicians would be prepared to take up the challenge and the chance to do something positive to better the lots of the millions who voted them to the parliament. Unfortunately, neither the behavioural pattern of the political parties nor their student wings so far seem conducive to the materialisation of the dreams.
The materialisation of the dreams call for the creation of institutions that would cater to the needs of a growing society. The foremost imperatives are. for example, improving the law and order situation, facilitating the establishment of the rule of law, presenting a strong and viable financial sector, reducing the public sector losses (either through privatisation or through overhauling management of the enterprises), opening up of the economy, etc. We are told that the on-going session of the JS would address some of the Imperatives mentioned above. We hope that both the position and the opposition would harness all available opportunities in the parliament to reach an accord in implementing those imperatives. Bear in mind, history gracefully records only those accords that go to contribute to the development and growth of a society. To be in history, you need to create history.
Epilogue: In the Short Story entitled "Jahur Dhopa". Jahur declined to raise complaints. Why? If time is spent in complaining only, when could he do his works?
If the government and the opposition parties spend time in reaching accords only, what time would be left for their contribution to the society?