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What we need

Shamsuddin Ahmed
FINALLY, we now have an elected government after nearly two years under a caretaker government.
Sheikh Hasina has been sworn in as the prime minister amid great expectations that sfi^Will not waNfei1 inlc'eepmgher pre-poll commitments to usher in genuine democracy and nilf <>l law
She heads a 31-member cabinet. This is in keeping with the wishes of people to downsize the cabinet. The 10-member advisory council of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has proved that it is not the size of the cabinet but the quality of the people in charge that matters.
The people have voted AL into power with such overwhelming majority not because they are enamoured of AL and Sheikh Hasina or because they just wanted a change from BNP to AL but because they believe that the new-look AL will bring about a positive change in the system of our governance and, more importantly, in the quality of life of the people.
There are many problems besetting the country, resulting from decades of misrule and criminalisation of politics, which cannot be solved by this government in its five-year tenure.
But what must and can be done by this government is the promotion and fostering of democracy and the democratic culture of political leaders subordinating their personal interests and well-being to the interests of the party that they belong to, and the party interests to the interests
and well-being of the people and the country. This is the theme of change buzzing in the air now.
Khaleda Zia could have risen in stature and also served the cause of democracy if she had congratulated Sheikh Hasina on the victory of die AL-led alliance, and had gone to attend die swearing-in ceremony of the new government -- as is the custom in a democracy.
Sending a 5-member delegation headed by S.Q. Chowdhury, an alleged collaborator and war criminal, to represent her at the swearing-in ceremony was in bad taste. After what she has gone through following the cataclysm of 1/11, one expected her to conduct herself with more sobriety and respect for democratic culture.
But her post-election actions and pronouncements suggest that, perhaps, she intends to carry on the politics of confrontation and violence on the streets rather than play a proactive role in the parliament. But this must not dissuade the government from giving due space to the opposition both within the parliament and outside it
Sheikh Hasina must remember that she has to make good the pledges she made to the people before election. She must address issues that are of vital importance and concern for the people. Price hike of essentials, adequate and timely supply of agricultural inputs to farmers, improvement of road net-work and transportation system, augmenting of power generation and gas supply,
creation of job opportunities, and improvement of law are areas where government thrust is required.
If a city dweller does not get water and electricity for days together, which is a very common phenomenon in summer, and when he cannot sleep at night because of swarming mosquitoes, he does not blame Wasa, Desa and Khoka, the mayor, so much for their inefficiency and corruption as he blames the government for its total insensitivity.
If a girl going to school or college is raped on the way by "bad boys" of the locality, and the police station refuses to accept the complaint of the plaintiff as a rape case because of corruption or party politiesr-whi?h again is .very qommon- in1 this country, the victim and her family will not blame the police as much as they will hold the government responsible for denial ol justice.
Reports of atrocities committed by AL party activists against rival political workers in some parts of the country, and of the frenzy with which BCL students have been occupying various halls of Dhaka University, do not portend well for the government
Nothing will go wrong with this government as long as it holds aloft the ideals of democracy and rule of law. Sheikh Hasina should take the opposition on board with her as she embarks on the task of democratic reforms. If the opposition does not respond favourably, she should go it alone.
The government should form a constitution commission to go in to the whole ambit of reforms needed to make the parliament functional, with the opposition playing its role without boycotting the parliament and agitating on the streets and the government being accountable to the parliament for all its actions and decisions. It will be ideal to have the 1972 constitution restored with suitable amendments.
The government must see that the political and social elites indicted on corruption charges during the rule of the caretaker government are not freed on any pretext until and unless they have gone through the due process of trial by the highest judiciary.
The government must swoop down upon those Islamist extremist outfits, which are funded by, and have trans-border links with, international terrorist organisations. These fanatics and those who had collaborated with Pakistan occupation forces in 1971 have joined hands to pull down everything you call secular and democratic.
Brig. Gen. Shamsuddin Ahmed (Retd) is a former military secretary to the president
***The government must see that the political and social elites indicted on corruption charges during the rule of the caretaker government are not freed on any pretext until and unless they have gone through the due process of trial by the highest judiciary.***