IT would appear that the Bangladesh polity is going to experience more political confrontations in the run-up to the next general election, thus causing severe inconvenience for all segments of the population including the law-enforcers. Political thinkers, who are reputed for their time and space-transcending relevance, have pointed to the inevitable insecurity and suffering consequent upon political instability.

While the fate of the teeming masses of our country may not change due to the confrontationist postures and actions of the mainstream politicians, the game of politics has a rewarding bearing on those who are the players.

The non-deliverance by our politicians has meant demonstration of arrogance by incumbents to somehow stay in power or fearsome manipulation on the part of opposition to grab power. In such a scenario, the country is kept on the tenterhooks and the process carries within itself multidimensional enforcement and security implications.

There is no denying that Bangladesh needs to be presided over by a capable, effective ruling group that can tackle aggressive and destructive forces and provide adequate protection to its citizen. Success of a politi-

cal government is significantly measured by the absence of violence and the presence of confidence of the people in addition to the element of adaptability to new conditions and challenges. In such a background, the scale of our political instability may unfortunately turn out to be the prelude to political decay.

Many factors militate against our quest for a stable political order. The military or civilianised military rule of the not-too-distant past has been a serious damper and a deficit. A political culture conducive to stability is yet

to emerge and unfortunately the facilitating factor of level-headed leadership is in short supply.

Consequently, we have to witness a lack of social cohesion and the crippling State incapacity that is rooted in internal threats. Such deficits pose serious threat to the core values of our independence and sovereignty.

The constitutional goals and the guarantees of freedom define the political frame-work within which the administrative authority and the law

and order agency must function and also point to the directions of future national progress.

The police, as one of the administrative agencies, have a special responsibility not only to ensure the widest possible degree of individual liberty and security in terms of the constitutional guarantees but also to deal with socially disruptive forces.

The police have admittedly a difficult role, and a role that they are often called upon to perform in the most provocative and trying circumstances. The police have always had

to handle problems of law and order. What is new in the situation today is that many of the agitations have a claim to social legitimacy because they are undertaken in furtherance of goals which are recognised by the constitution.

The police, therefore, are being cast in an anti-people role. Even so the police have to maintain law and order and support the constitutional processes in society. Both in a negative as well as a positive sense the police have the obligation to defend and

promote the normal legal and constitutional processes in the country. It is only through these that the desired social objectives can be achieved in a democratic society.

The norms that should govern the relationship of the party in power, the individual politician and the police, have yet to be developed. The development of these norms is connected with the larger question of accountability. It is clear that among the questions which arise are the accountability of the police to the law and the State, democratic control of the police and ministerial responsibility, organisational and functional independence of the police, the statutory duties of the police under the law and executive instructions which interfere with police functioning.

Bangladeshi society remaining afflicted with divisive tendencies is unable to come up with a consensus on major national issues. Most political discourses and deliberations, unfortunately, are not characterised by logic but by politicised emotion and the principal differences have given rise to the tragic social divide.

Social cohesion would be impossible in these conditions. Enforcement becomes a nightmare in such an atmosphere of opposing push and pulls. Sheer good luck and sudden good sense may prevent us from plunging into anarchy.

The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.