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Will the PM kindly tell us what is happening?

SHAMSHER CHOWDHURY
HONOURABLE Prime Minister:
I am fully aware as to how busy you must be but there are a host of questions crowding my mind, which I would like to bring to your notice. I have no access to any of your ministers or senior civil servants, not even a high-profile lobbyist who would be prepared to bring to your notice my concerns, and hence I have chosen this path. I seek your indulgence and forgiveness having encroached into your valuable time.
It is my strongest belief that many amongst the team of your close confidantes are sycophants and misleading you, a fact, which is now well established and public knowledge. I bear no grudge against anyone, nor do I have any personal interest in maligning any one of them. I am an uncompromising diehard nationalist.
There is a famous saying in English: "A man is known by the company he keeps." Are you sure that
you have the right kind of people in your administration? I doubt it. I would question the integrity, the moral and ethical calling of many amongst them. A friend of mine the other day asked me not to worry, saying that as far as morality and ethics were concerned, the whole world was on a downward swing. Yet, I would like to urge you to seriously consider this aspect: the question of affordability. Surely what the president of the most powerful country and other developed countries can get away with neither you nor Bangladesh can afford. Your home is slowly and surely getting more and more vulnerable. It has always been my conviction that a graceful exit is far better than a pompous entry.
It is indeed high time, both for your sake and our beloved motherland, that you catch the bull of religious extremism by its horns and bring it to justice and systematically destroy its evil network. Though, of late, many of us are somewhat pleased to see that some actions are
being taken in hauling up these vicious criminals, yet people are confused about the level of commitment of your administration. There exist too many vague areas: what about dealing with the breeding grounds of these terrorists, the Madrassahs, the Tabligh Jamaats? In just a few months we will be hosting the Biswa Ijtema, giving opportunities for religious fundamentalists from abroad to sneak in. It is high time that the administration should put in place concrete plans and keep the public informed. One cannot live and operate from both sides of the fence. Besides, if you are seeking people's co-operation, people must be fully apprised of how and why they should co-operate.
You want to win elections and be in the seat of power? Surely you must try your best, that is what the game of politics all about. But I think the path
you have chosen to arrive at that goal, is a dangerous one and I fear in the end it may even prove to be selfdefeating. The world is a witness today as to how destructive and turbulent that path is, trading and politicking in religion. These champions of Islam, like Frankenstein's monster, will one day sooner than later be sure to turn against you. They do not want you as much as they do not want anyone else. They have an agenda of their own. Look at nations around the world today, what this particular brand of religious extremism has done to Pakistan. It is now fighting enemies both internal and external. Its very existence stands threatened.
Keeping aside the philosophical aspects and the inevitability of consequences thereof, allow me to present before you a few other pertinent and burning issues facing the
nation today. How is it that knowingly you still continue to retain a number of your key cabinet members who have been confirmed nonperformers and evidently corrupt? Although many neo-politicians (there is no dearth of them in this country) would like me to believe that you are doing so under compulsion driven by party interests, I for one, have a hard time accepting that argument. Politics or no politics, no one in this world is indispensable. This brings up the question of cutting down the size of your cabinet.
Now that you have an independent Anti-Corruption Commission, why is it limping for months and for all practical purposes remain inoperative? Cabinet meetings are held regularly and most of its deliberations and decisions rally round approval of some high-profile projects of infrastructure development costing billions of takas matched by
foreign donor funds involving huge overseas purchases primarily aimed at raising party funds and fattening the purses of contractors. Given the prevailing state of the country and the growing discontent amongst all ranks of people across the country, the government's prioritisation and strategic program planning appears to be totally out of focus.
Whatever happened with the appointment of the Ombudsman? Whatever happened to that illusive question of separating the judiciary from the executive? Had this been in place today, the system would have taken care of itself and gone a long way in dealing effectively with many a critical aspects of law and order. Perhaps as the spinning out effects there would have been no need for creating the "elite" force, which has now turned out to be the Achilles' heel for your administration.
Your administration's efforts,
despite claims of success in effective dealing with law and order situation, looks like a fallen man trying hard to save himself from sinking in quicksand. You and your government is seen to be doing a lot, yet it is perceived by the people as little more than sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Have you forgotten the shameless tragic incidents that took place in the highest seat of our education, none other than the University of Dhaka, more recently at the Bangladesh University of Science and Technology, evidently engineered by the student front of your party? It is high time you should put a moratorium on the operations of your party's student front, if not for all times but at least for a period of two to three years. Trust me, should you dare take such an action, contrary to popular belief amongst the ranks of your party members, it is bound to enhance your image nationwide overnight.
I have not been able to sleep
thinking of the high pressures 70 percent of the country's population is subjected to, due to unprecedented spiraling of prices of essentials of daily use. People are extremely worried and already at their wits end thinking of how they would meet their bare minimum during the Ramadan. Many in your administration talk of your party's commitment to " politics of development." Surely there can be no development worth its name whose benefits are beyond the reach of the majority of the country's population. Food first, everything else later. Give us this day, we shall think of tomorrow later.
What I find rather disconcerting is that despite all this and more we are going to witness innumerable Iftar parties through out the month of Ramadan sponsored by the administration on some pretext or the other. I wonder, what is happening?
May Allah protect you.