Decades of mismanagement and feeble excuses

by Prof. Dr. Adil Hossain
August 10, 2011

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1634/decades-of-mismanagement-and-feeble-excuses

One of the most interesting news reports in English-language dailies of recent was one headlined 'Hartals: Exercising whose democratic rights?' In that Sir Frank Peters, a well-meaning foreigner, approached the subject with a fresh, new, and fascinating perspective and asked why they're allowed to be as horrific and as undemocratic as they are.

While recognising it is the democratic right of people to demonstrate in the street, he points out that people who do not wish to participate in the demonstrations or protests also are equally exercising their democratic rights and should not be harassed, abused or violated in anyway for so doing.

He raised many interesting points throughout that demand attention and consideration and asked the media to consider its role and questioned if the media inadvertently were aiding and abetting the thugs during hartals to accomplish their horrors, simply by carrying the message of hartals. He asks if the oppositon called a hartal, but the media refused to even give it a mention, the chances are there would not be a hartal. I urge any reader who may have not read the thought-provoking feature to do a Google search, it's well worth the read.

For much too long we have accepted the many evil happenings of hartals as 'normal'. Viewed the participants as 'peaceful demonstrators' exercising their democratic rights, but as Sir Frank Peters logically points out in his 'wake-up Bangladesh' report they cannot be peaceful demonstrators if they are wielding bamboo sticks, knives, house-bricks, machetes, iron rods or any other form of weaponry.

The only suitable description for these 'supporters' is terrorists and terrorist positions in Bangladesh are already amply filled, no vacancies left.

If the opposition leaders do not speak out against the criminal behaviour of their supporters and do all in their power to prevent such disgraceful conduct, (which they haven't up to now) then one can only assume they whole-heartedly support the violence and misdeeds and don't deserve to govern at anytime, now or ever.

How is it possible for the opposition to condemn the state of law and order in Bangladesh, if they, during hartals, are the main law-breaking culprits?

Any political party that does not put the wellbeing of the people and the nation first, has no place in this society and that applies to all of them. It's time Bangladesh woke up to the fact the enemy is within and not necessarily those labelled as such.

40-years of government mismanagement and feeble excuses (on all political sides) is quite enough and not what I had in mind back in 1971 for my family to inherit.

DISCLAIMER: Opinion expressed in this article is solely of the author and may not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Weekly Blitz.

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