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FOUR YEARS OF COALITION RULE

Govt eyes polls but many pledges still unfulfilled

SHAKHAWAT LITON
The ruling coalition completes four years in office today while preparations for the next election are on with many of the pledges the BNP-led alliance had made before the last election remaining mired in uncertainty.
In electoral pledges, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies had declared that their first task would be rooting out terrorism and corruption. But in reality the situation has rather worsened under the alliance regime and it does not bode well for the near future as well.
Apart from an alarming rise in corruption at different levels of the administration and violation of human rights, activities of Islamist militants constitute a very dangerous threat to law and order, making good governance a distant dream.
The BNP-Jamaat-led alliance won the last election by a landslide, riding on a number of pledges, which if fulfilled, would ensure good governance. But the prospect now for those being implemented before the next parliamentary election, which is slated for either the end of next year or January
2007, appears to be anything but bright.
The allegations that BNP and its allies had levelled against the Awami League government in the run-up to the last general elections ironically have begun to apply to them as well.
Besides, many of the incidents occurring during the last four years have called into question the ruling BNP's very belief in parliamentary democracy.
For instance, by adopting a resolution, the ruling BNP parliamentary party had forced the elected president to step down, which is unprecedented
in a parliamentary system. On the other hand, when lawmakers from the same forum urged the government to downsize the cabinet and axe the corrupt ministers, the government did not pay any heed.
UNBRIDLED CORRUPTION
The government last year had formed the Anti-Corruption Commission in line with its electoral pledges, but has yet to give it free rein to combat corruption.
In absence of effective measures to check graft, Bangladesh seems to
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have made its own the number one position in the corruption index of the Transparency International.
The parliament, which is commissioned to ensure government accountability, cannot play its role due to indifference of the ruling alliance.
Burning issues are not discussed in the House while parliamentary standing committees have failed to monitor corruption and irregularities in the government expenditure because of unwarranted pressure and interference from the government high-ups.
Highlighting the significance of some vital parliamentary standing committees, the Public Expenditure Review Commission in a report observed that there is no need to form any commission to check graft if the parliamentary bodies like Public Accounts, Estimate and Finance, function properly.
The parliamentary standing committees on various ministries in last two years formed several dozen subcommittees to probe alleged corruption and irregularities in different ministries, but they could not proceed due to non-cooperation of the ministers and undue pressures from the ruling alliance bigwigs.
One of the glaring examples is that the parliamentary standing committee on the communications ministry in January and February in 2004 formed two sub-committees to probe the allegations of corruption in the import of CNG-run autorickshaws and allocation of government lands to set up CNG filling stations. The subcommittees were asked to report back in a month. Since then, 19 months have passed but none of the committees has come up with report.
Even a ruling BNP lawmaker, SA Khaleq, during a parliament session had accused the state minister for communications of bribery in allocation of lands for setting up CNG stations in the capital.
Whenever the parliamentary bodies raise allegations of irregularities and corruption in the ministries, some of the ministers go to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and complain about the committee chiefs. Last year, the prime minister had summoned a number of committee chiefs and asked them not to confront the ministers.
The parliament in fact has been sidelined as a mere rubber stamp for the government. It has not been able to advance its objectives including ensuring the executive accountability and transparency.
The alleged involvement of an alternative power centre in corruption and irregularities in the government expenditure has been a much-talked issue during the present government's term.
SLIDE IN LAW AND ORDER, RISE OF MILITANTS
First, the Operation Clean Heart, a drive using the armed forces, and then Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) comprising members of the armed forces, could not successfully cope with pervasive lawlessness.
Criminal activities including those of militant outfits had soared to unprecedented levels last year when Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) allegedly being patronised by some ministers and ruling party lawmakers unleashed a reign of terror in different parts of the country, particularly in the northwestern districts.
The home ministry that had long ignored the prime minister's orders to arrest JMJB's self-proclaimed operations commander Bangla Bhai at last banned the two Islamist outfits following pressure from the donor agencies in last February.
Taking advantage of the home ministry's slackness and complacency over the activities of the banned outfit, the JMB staged countrywide blasts on August 17.
The law enforcers launched crackdown on militants immediately after the blasts, but the militant kingpins are still at large.
The masterminds behind the assassination attempt on Leader of the Opposition and Awami League (AL) Chief Sheikh Hasina have not been brought to book though an year has gone since the grenade attacks which left 23 people killed and scores injured.
Investigators are still in the dark about the identity of those responsible for the bomb attack on UK High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Chowdhury, killings of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, AL lawmaker Ahsanullah Master and leader Manzurul Imam.
Besides, they have yet to unravel the mystery of the arms hauls in Chittagong and Bogra last year.
PRICE HIKE AND POWER CRISIS
In addition to deteriorating law and order, price hike of essentials and rise in transportation fares have made life difficult for the people. The eversoaring cost of living coupled with unemployment have brought unremitting misery to the lives of commoners.
Besides, there have been power outages to make things even worse. The government claims to have taken a large number of measures, but it has yet to produce a single MW of new electricity in accordance with its election pledges. In fact, the power crisis in the country is more acute compared to that during the previous government.
POLITICISATION AND CONTROVERSIAL POLLS Politicisation in the public administra-
tion and the Election Commission gets worse as the next parliamentary election nears. The government has promoted a significant number of public servants loyal to ruling parties and recruited favoured candidates to different important posts.
Recently, it has recruited over 150 Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) men as upazila election officer through the Public Service Commission.
The BNP ahead of the last election had pledged that if voted to power it would strengthen the local government system by introducing upazila parishad and gram sarkar systems to ensure people's participation in rural development.
But the government policymakers have split over reintroducing the upazila system and thus failed to reach any decision over the important tier of the local government.
The government however had reintroduced the gram sarkar, a nonelected body to assist union parishad, the lowest tier of the local government. But as rampant politicisation and irregularities in the process of forming gram sarkars drew flak from every corner, the High Court declared the system unconstitutional.
Elections to the different local government bodies and by-elections in several parliamentary seats under the alliance rule have been widely criticised as they were marked by irregularities and political influence of the ruling parties. The government indifference to provide the Election Commission with support necessary to conduct election in a free and fair manner has given rise to questions whether the present government really wants to have credible and transparent polls.
The Dhaka-10 by-election held last year broke all previous records of vote rigging in Bangladesh. The election was held ignoring the High Court order to deploy army personnel in each polling station and the ruling party candidate, the political secretary to the prime minister, won the prestigious polls.
During the union parishad election in 2002, the then chief election commissioner termed the polls a futile exercise as the administration failed to check violence and rigging. The government had denied the EC's call for deployment of army in the polls.
The government did not properly carry out its pledge regarding the reintroduction of women reserved seats in parliament. Instead of 64 seats and direct election to those, the government has introduced a system of indirect elections to 45 reserved seats.
The ruling BNP that promised to raise the number of parliament seats to 500 from 300 (now 345 including 45 women reserved seats) has never discussed the issue in any forum after being voted to power.
About the pledge to separate the judiciary from the executive, the government seems to be dilly-dallying by taking repeatedly time extensions from the Supreme Court.
The appointment of the judges to the High Court during the alliance government has been bitterly criticised for alleged politicisation and nepotism in the process.
The government has not yet initiated any move to form a National Human Rights Commission though the country, since last year, has been witnessing an alarming rise in human rights violation, especially at the hands of law enforcers. Extra-judicial killings have surpassed all records.
The government had ordered mass arrests and detention of people in an apparent bid to foil the opposition movement in 2004.
The ruling BNP's pledge to establish and uphold the rule of law in the country was dealt a severe blow when the government in last January granted presidential clemency to a BNP man, who was sentenced to death in a double murder case over 22 years ago.
Besides, there is little possibility for the state-run Radio and Television to have full autonomy in line with the electoral pledge. Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television are rather being used to serve the purposes of the ruling parties.
On foreign policy, many believe, the country has lost some good friends in the international community for the 'wrong' steps taken by the government which promised before election to maintain good relations with all countries. The diplomatic relations with China and countries of European Union have become somewhat strained in last four years.
The parliamentary standing committee on foreign ministry had observed that the relationship between Bangladesh and neighbouring India has reached a record low in recent years.